The subject under discussion tonight is the functional
New Testament Christian.
Tonight we're going to look at the pattern
and tomorrow night the power for Christian living.
Now would you turn please to Romans 6
and we'll read from verse 1.
What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abound?
God forbid.
How shall we that are dead to sin
live any longer therein?
Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death?
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death, that like as Christ was raised
up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk
in newness of life.
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 or
as it should be rendered was crucified with
him, that the body of sin might be
destroyed, meaning annulled, that henceforth we should not
serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed or
justified from sin.
Now if we believe, if we be dead
with Christ, we believe that we shall also
live with him.
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead
dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him.
For in that he died, he died unto
sin was, 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.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body, that ye should obey it in the
lust thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God
as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto
God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you,
for ye are not under law, but under
grace.
Now that will do for our initial reading.
When we study the book of Romans, we
are actually studying the subject of a functional
New Testament Christian.
And a New Testament Christian should be one
that is empowered, because the key verse in
this particular book is in the first chapter,
and it is verse 16.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believes.
And the operative word there is power.
And therefore there is in Christian living a
definite element of divine power.
Now when you look at the book of
Romans, at least the first eight or nine
chapters, you will find it is divided into
two.
And first of all it is the subject
of justification or righteousness, and that is seen
from chapters one to three.
When we come to the fourth chapter, it
is a matter of the principle of justification,
which is by faith.
And there are two leading actors, David and
Abraham.
But when we come to the fifth chapter,
it is not the matter of justification, it
is how justified people should live.
And therefore notice the change.
Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the key word in Romans is righteousness,
and that is mentioned thirty-one times.
And the word has nothing basically to do
with a white garment placed on a dirty
floor.
That may be figurative, but that is not
the meaning of the word.
The word righteousness basically means the right way
in which God makes us right with himself.
Can I repeat that?
The right way in which God makes us
right with himself.
And therefore the twin brother to the word
righteousness is justification, and that is mentioned sixteen
times.
Now what does it mean to be justified?
First of all, note the problem.
If a person is in a court and
he is rendered guilty by the judge, there
is no judge in the world, unless he
is immoral, that can justify a guilty man.
He can render him innocent, he can pronounce
a forgiveness, but he cannot pronounce him just.
When a judge pronounces a man just, it
simply means he hasn't done the crime that
he's been accused of.
Now how is it possible for a holy
God, first of all to find us all
thoroughly guilty, for by the law is the
knowledge of sin, and then he goes on
to show that through the law it was
given that every mouth may be stopped, and
all the world might become guilty before God.
How then can a holy God render guilty
people just?
You see that's a problem.
Now there is only one way in which
he can render us just, and that is
by substitution.
Let me explain by illustration and then we
get to a point.
In the old days before the war when
a man was guilty of murder he was
hung.
And in some of the British prisons when
a man was hung for murder they used
to put over the calendar of the prison
words like this, John Brown was guilty at
9.30. At 9.31 he was pronounced
just.
Nice way of putting it.
Now what did they mean?
He was guilty, he bore the full weight
of his guilt and died, and therefore the
law had nothing to say to him.
And therefore it pronounced him just.
But poor man, he couldn't come back to
enjoy it.
Now my dear friends, through the death of
Christ every single believer has died.
And we have died by substitution.
And because we have died God now can
pronounce us just.
But here is the difference.
Through the infusion of the Holy Spirit, meaning
the resurrection life has been given to us,
we have come alive.
And therefore we have died to Adam and
we are alive to Christ and therefore he
can declare us and pronounce us just.
So when he uses that term it simply
means that we have all died, we have
all been buried, we have all been resurrected
and we are pronounced completely just.
Now that is what we are going to
learn tonight.
And once we grip that fact we are
going to be blessed.
Now Paul shows to us that we are
not justified by the works of the law
that condemned us.
But we are justified purely and solely on
the principle of sovereign grace.
We didn't deserve it, we deserve judgment.
But through his love and grace we have
been justified.
Now he is going to answer a problem.
And this was the problem that Jewish people
would raise.
But listen Paul, you are only encouraging sin.
You are telling people that they are justified
through the grace of God.
So shall we go on sinning and take
advantage of God's grace?
And therefore having come to that particular problem
and difficulty he is going to answer it.
And we are going to see that the
subject is thrilling and interesting and I trust
it will be a blessing to you.
Now how are we going to divide these
thoughts?
In Romans 5 we have two heads, Adam
and Christ.
In Romans 6 a two-fold form of
slavery.
A slavery to sin, a slavery to righteousness.
Romans 7 a two-fold form of matrimony.
Matrimony to law and being free from the
law and now matrimony to love and grace.
And Romans 8 a two-fold power, the
power of the flesh and the power of
the spirit.
In Romans 6 it is the blueprint for
a functional Christian life.
In Romans 7 it is the workshop for
a functional Christian life.
And Romans 8 it is the powerhouse for
a functional Christian life.
Therefore in Romans 3, please note this, it
is Christ's death for us.
But in Romans 6 and 7 it is
our death in Christ.
Now isn't this strange?
Every single Christian in this room tonight will
understand completely that Christ died for their sins.
But a very few will understand that we
have died in Christ.
And that's what we are going to learn
tonight.
And once this great truth grips us, I
think I can say this from experience, we
shall never be the same again.
When we learn this fact that we have
died in Christ.
Now let's look at that question, let's look
at the answer and let's get on with
the exposition.
Now you will notice in verse 1 we
have the question.
In verse 2 we have the answer to
the question.
And then from verse 3 right down to
verse 14 we have the detailed explanation of
the answer.
And those who are taking notes, we find
that in verses 3, 4 and 5, baptism
symbolises that we have died for sin.
6, 7 and 8, the cross proves that
we have died for sin.
9 and 10, the resurrection confirms that we
have died for sin.
Verse 11, faith appropriates the fact that we
have died for sin.
And then from 12, 13 to 14, a
yielded light expresses the fact that we have
died for sin.
Now if we can get through that before
9 o'clock, we shall do well.
Right, let's look at the first verse.
What shall we say then?
Shall we continue in sin that grace may
abide?
In other words, if I may paraphrase, shall
we go on sinning and so take advantage
of grace that by our sinning life we
eulogise the grace of God?
The answer is, God forbid.
That's quite good.
Mr. Darby is much better.
He says, ah, be the thought.
Such a thought should never enter the mind
of a Christian.
Mr. Newell is a little more practical.
And he says a thousand times, no.
And therefore, the paraphrase is as follows.
Shall we go on sinning and so take
advantage of the grace of God and by
our sinning life eulogise God's grace?
No, no, no, no, no, no, no.
So the answer is, no.
Having made that very abrupt answer, then he
says something like this.
How shall we that are dead to sin
live any longer therein?
Now quite frankly, dear friends, that's the most
tantalising phrase in the New Testament.
You see, what Paul is basically saying, if
I may now take an elastic paraphrase is
this.
Shall I go on losing my temper?
Shall I go on telling lies?
Shall I go on lusting?
Shall I go on being irritable?
Shall I go on in that time of
sin forever?
No, no, no.
Don't you understand, he says, you have died
to sin.
Now notice what he doesn't say.
He doesn't say that sin is dead.
If he said that sin was dead, then
we could all claim sinless perfection.
But there's not one verse in the Bible
that teaches that.
But he says that we have died to
sin.
Now what does that mean?
Before we were saved, we were in the
Adamic family.
Adam was our head.
And because we were in that family, according
to Roman times, that was the sinning family.
When we were born again of the Holy
Spirit, we were pronounced just by God, because
we had been linked with the death of
the Lord Jesus and burial and resurrection, and
therefore we were put in a new family
under the headship of Christ.
And therefore we left the sinning family and
we moved into the righteousness family, or if
you like a better word, the family of
holiness.
And therefore we die to the sinning family
and we now live in a family that
specializes in holiness.
Let me illustrate so that this point is
clearly understood.
Could you ever imagine a man that has
committed murder and he's guilty?
And he gets a life sentence and he
has to serve for 25 years.
An awful thing really for any man.
Many men would sooner go to the gallows
than have to spend 25 years in solitary
confinement.
Anyhow, he looks out of the window after
two years in solitary confinement and he says
this as he looks at a little worm,
you're a better being than me.
He sees a little robin and he says,
you're freer than me.
And he says something like this, you're alive
to live a day, I'm dead to live.
Now can you imagine someone coming along and
he takes a liking for this rascal and
he says, right I'm going to ransom him.
And he pays $400,000 for the ransom.
And then he takes him out of Britain.
But he doesn't put him on a dole
queue, he brings him into his own palace
where he lives.
And this is what he says, I'm going
to treat you as my son.
And this is your bedroom, a magnificent room.
And you will come and have meals with
us at the table.
And I would like you to call me
father and my wife mother.
We're going to bring you into the family.
Now immediately he looks out of the window,
he says this, thank God, I'm completely dead
to captivity.
I'm alive to liberty.
I'm a new man because of the grace
of my new master.
And he enjoys that liberty.
But if he wants, he can go back
to the old prison and he can buy
a convict suit and wear it if he
wants to.
If he wants to he can bring back
bars and put them up at the window.
Or he can take away the beautiful oak
door and he can put up an iron
door.
If he wants to he can still live
on stale bread and cheese.
But he would be foolish to do that.
Why?
He has died to a prison life.
He's alive to liberty.
Beloved because we have been justified we have
died to a life of sin.
And we're alive to a life of holiness.
And that's what that basically means.
And we've got to discover that.
Now in order to get that truth home
to us, and it's all done for us
by our God, he explains that baptism symbolises
that.
Now let's look at these verses together.
Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptised into Jesus Christ, or as
it should be rendered in Christ Jesus, were
baptised into his death.
Now when we read of the word baptism
we mustn't imagine that it always refers to
baptism in water.
Here of course it is applied.
But there is in scripture as most of
you know a baptism in fire.
There's a baptism in the spirit 1 Corinthians
12.
There's a baptism in suffering that the Lord
Jesus said.
I have a baptism to be baptised with
and how shall I be strengthened until it
be accomplished.
So we cannot say every time we read
of the word baptism it always refers to
baptism in water.
Now what does this word baptise mean?
It comes from a very strong word which
means to dye a garment.
Now once we can see this, we shall
see that here it has two meanings.
First of all it has the meaning of
unification.
And what they used to do in the
time of the apostle, especially certain people that
lived at Philippi, they used to take some
white cloth and they would dip it into
a purple dye and they would leave it
in that dye for 48 hours.
And when they pulled that white garment out
of the dye it would be purple.
And when it was dried you could take
that garment and you could pull it to
pieces and you would not find one speck
of the original colour.
What had happened?
It had been placed right into the dye
so that it became one with it.
Complete union.
Absolute identification.
Now what the apostle Paul is saying is
this.
Since you have been rendered justified, you have
been linked inseparably with a risen Christ.
And you have been dyed right into him.
And you are inseparable.
And because you have been placed right into
Christ Jesus, you have been baptised into his
death.
What does that mean?
When he died upon the cross you died
with him.
You died by substitution.
In other words all your sins and all
the judgement of your sins and all the
root of that judgement was all laid upon
him.
And in God's sight when he died not
only you died but the whole church of
Christ died with him.
Furthermore God saw you dead in Christ before
the foundation of the world.
And therefore the moment you were saved you
were born crucified.
You died completely judicially in his death.
Now that word judicial needs an explanation.
Theologians use it over and over again but
it can puzzle young men.
I used to go to bible readings in
London when I was about 16 and they
used to say of course that is judicial.
And I got hold of the word.
And anything I couldn't understand I would say
that's judicial.
Now we must explain these terms and make
them clear.
Now what does it mean a judicial state
to be in?
Well in London there was an old lady
and she used to sell flowers on the
corner of the street there where we used
to live.
And she sold beautiful flowers and she had
been selling them for years and everybody knew
her and loved her.
We were all loves and ducks and darlings.
Well a new priest man came along and
he apprehended her.
And little did he realise that this woman
was an old cockney lady but she had
her wits about her.
So being a very wealthy woman and she
was because she had a right roaring trade
on the corner of the street.
She hired a very brilliant Jewish solicitor and
she went to both streets.
And all the time she was there she
was getting a little nervous and her solicitor
was saying this to her and he was
a typical Jewish man.
Alright I'll get you off mum.
And she was wise and this is what
she said.
Listen mate don't pacify me.
Pacify all wigs up there and I'll be
satisfied.
Now have you got it?
Don't pacify me.
Pacify all wigs up there and I'll be
satisfied.
In other words I want you to do
it judicially.
Now what we mean by a judicial state
is being right before God.
And in God's sight every single one of
us whether we understand it or not we
have died substitutionally in the Lord Jesus.
And that's why he says know ye not
that so many of us as were baptised
into Jesus Christ were baptised into his death.
And we have all died substitutionally.
But then he goes on.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death.
Now what does that mean?
That speaks of the finality of death.
When you bury someone you are burying a
person who has died and burial is the
finality of the act.
But there's a difference.
When you bury a loved one that is
the finality of death and you do so
with tears.
And this is tears.
And the Lord Jesus wept.
But if you were in Africa and you
were being plagued by three man eating lions.
And if you buried three of those you
would be jubilantly happy.
Therefore you are not burying something that you
love.
You're burying something that you hate.
And when Jesus Christ died upon the cross
your old life substitutionally died in him.
And when he was buried substitutionally in God's
sight that old life was buried with him.
Therefore it's all in the past.
Therefore he goes on.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death.
That like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father.
Even so we also should walk in newness
of life.
Now in Romans 1 the resurrection expresses the
power of God.
In Romans 6 the resurrection expresses the glory
of God.
You see when he raised the Lord Jesus
from the dead he expressed the full manifestation
of his power.
When he raised the Lord Jesus from the
dead he revealed the majesty of his glory.
It's all in the resurrection.
Therefore he says even so we also should
walk in newness of life.
Now go on don't stop there.
For if we have been planted the word
is grafted together in the likeness of his
death we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection.
Now what does that mean?
The same power that raised the Lord Jesus
from the dead is the same power that
comes into your life.
Romans 8 teaches if the spirit of him
that raised up the Lord Jesus from the
dead dwelling you.
Therefore the same glorious Holy Spirit that raised
him from the dead according to Romans 1
comes into a believer's life and his born
of God and he links him with a
risen head the Lord Jesus.
So every Christian is taken completely out of
Adam and his place in Christ and hallelujah
is there forever.
And that's how God sees you complete in
Christ.
Now when you're baptized it will take you
just five seconds to be baptized but it'll
take you a lifetime to live it up.
Hundreds of people have been baptized only a
few live it out.
Now what does baptism mean?
It means that you first of all are
submerged right under water.
What does that speak?
That you have died in Christ to a
life of sin and no longer are you
related to Adam and then you are buried.
You are totally immersed.
That speaks of the finality of your death
once and for all.
Then the brother brings you out of the
water and that speaks of emergence.
To show that you're linked with a new
man in the glory and therefore you walk
in newness of life.
Now what Paul is saying is simply this.
You mustn't continue in sin.
Why?
That's the main teaching of baptism.
Can I ask a very difficult question?
You've been baptized.
Are you living it out?
Dead to sin?
Alive unto God?
If we live that out we would live
in perpetual revival.
But then go on.
Look at verses.
Knowing this or coming to know this that
our old man is crucified or was crucified
with him.
Now what basically is the old man?
The old man is the person you were
before you were saved.
Your old unconverted self.
In fact as you read Romans 6 it's
divided into two.
It's a biography of your past life.
It's a biography of your new life.
And your old man was the person you
were in Adam.
And hallelujah that person you're no more.
And really it's a wonderful thing when we
can look back and see that all that
we were in Adam.
Our sins, the evil things that we did.
Our sin, the root that came from our
flesh nature.
Was all judged completely at the cross.
And therefore we can say the person that
I was in Adam.
My old man has been crucified with Christ.
And who did that?
The Lord Jesus.
Can I say it again?
That's a judicial state of every Christian before
God.
And that's how God saved you.
Well go on.
Knowing this that our old man was crucified
with him.
That the body of sin might be destroyed.
Now unfortunately the word destroy is too harsh.
When we think of the word destroy it's
always associated with annihilation.
Well that's not the meaning of the word.
Mr. Darby is more correct when he renders
it annulled.
And Mr. New is much more practical and
he says rendered unemployed.
And I like that.
I really feel that that gets to the
root of the word.
Now what is the body of sin?
The body that you have now.
But instead of sin reigning.
You give that kind of body where sin
reigns it's cards and money and sad.
And now your body is the temple of
the Holy Spirit.
And we're going to see in a few
moments.
It's a body that's yielded up to God
because it's a body that's alive from the
dead.
So then in our body there should not
be the reigning of sin.
Let's go on.
That henceforth we should not serve sin.
Now please if you're fond of underlining your
bible.
Underline the word serve.
Now I am not a serious Greek reader.
I have to really work hard on my
lexicon.
But the word serve in this chapter is
always associated with bondage.
It comes so the scholars tell me of
that brilliant Greek word you lost.
And it means a slave.
Therefore what he is basically saying is this.
Because now your old man has been crucified.
And the Lord Jesus has done this for
you substitutionally.
And the body of sin has now been
set.
And it belongs to a new master.
You should not be under the bondage of
sin.
It doesn't say you mustn't sin.
But you mustn't be under the bondage of
sin.
That means a Christian should not perpetually have
a bad temper.
Or constantly lie.
Or be constantly loving.
There will always be a time of the
occasional sin.
Because we've got to be practical.
But it's the idea of being in bondage
to it.
And that's the idea here.
So you can see the cross confirms it.
Now look at verse 7.
For he that is dead is justified from
sin.
Now I know that translators and expositors will
expand this in various ways.
But what I believe he is basically doing
is this.
He gives us the fact.
The cross proves that the old man has
been crucified with Christ.
Then he gives us an illustration.
He that is dead is freed from sin.
For instance if a man commits an awful
crime and the police surround the house they
can apprehend a living man.
But if that man commits suicide they can't
apprehend a dead man.
You can't bring a corpse into a courtroom.
The moment he's dead he's freed from sin.
Ah but someone might say brother Peter as
some said here when Paul wrote this.
But surely surely when you're dead that's a
fact.
This idea of a substitutional death is an
effect.
What a terrible accusation.
Now note the death of Christ is the
greatest reality in history.
And my dear friends you have died substitutionally
as far as God is concerned far more
when a person dies physically.
For having given us the illustration showing that
when a man is dead he is freed
and justified from sin.
He applies it and says now if we
be dead with Christ we believe that we
shall also live with him.
Therefore he gives us the fact.
He gives us an illustration of the fact
and then he applies the fact that we
have died in Christ.
Now isn't it strange in the western world
we find this hard to understand.
And yet in the eastern world especially in
China they have gripped this truth beautifully.
Let me give you a case in point.
I was ministering on Colossians 3.
You are dead and your life is hid
with Christ in God.
And I was explaining to the congregation that
judicially we have all died.
And I went up to a man I
knew very well and I said to him
and I hadn't seen him for three years.
Brother John I heard that you died.
Oh dear he said when did you hear
that.
I said I've heard that you've died.
Oh dear he said what authority have you.
I said I have very good authority.
Oh dear dear dear he went white.
He said what do you mean.
Well I said I've just been propounding you're
dead and your life is hid with Christ
in God.
Oh he said you mean that.
Now can you see the point.
The substitutional death wasn't really important.
Physical death was essential and factual.
Beloved the Lord Jesus calls physical death sleep.
And a believer will never die.
His body will sleep.
We've already died in Christ.
And what we call death the Lord calls
sleep.
And when the Lord Jesus comes he'll swallow
it all up in victory.
And isn't it lovely to lay hold on
that fact.
Now if we be dead with Christ we
believe that we shall also live within in
resurrection power.
And then nine and ten the resurrection confirms
it.
Let's look at these verses because they are
tremendous.
But you're not in the flesh.
Oh I'm sorry I'm reading the eighth chapter.
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead
dies no more.
Death has no more dominion over him.
That means when the Lord Jesus died upon
the cross he became so obedient to the
will of God that he submitted himself to
death.
For us apart from the coming of the
Lord Jesus physical death that the Bible calls
sleep will be a necessity.
But for the Lord Jesus it wasn't a
necessity.
He became obedient unto death.
And he died unto sin once.
And in the fact that he died unto
sin once he now lived unto God and
therefore the question of death has no more
authority over him.
He has tasted death for every man.
For in that he died he died unto
sin once.
Now that means two things.
First of all it has to do with
the completeness of his testimony.
When he was on the cross he became
obedient unto death and there was never a
time when the father loved him more as
when he was in that cross and brought
glory to God.
And when he had gone through that testing
he brought glory to God and that was
the finality and that was the end of
all the testings on the Lord Jesus.
Now the testings were not to show whether
the Lord Jesus could sin or not.
The testings were to show to us all
the upper proficiency of the son.
There are two ways in which you can
test a new aeroplane.
You can test it to see whether it
will break to pieces under pressure.
And when you have tested it in that
way you go to a certain place at
Fabra where there's an international showing of the
aircraft and there the testing is to show
to all the international customers the upper proficiency
of that plane.
Now when the Lord Jesus was being tested
it wasn't to see whether he would sin
or not.
But it was to show to the whole
universe the absolute perfection of Jesus Christ on
the cross.
So he died unto sin and then he
died once and for all for sin.
And he dealt with it once and for
all.
And as far as God is concerned sin
has been put away once and forever.
And therefore he says for in that he
died he died unto sin once.
But in that he lives he lives unto
God.
And now he lives unto God having dealt
with sin once and for all.
And that's how you live.
You have died judicially.
You have been buried.
You have been raised again.
You are seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
And therefore God pronounces you as just.
And that's how he sees you.
And that's how he's going to see you
forever.
It would be lovely dear friends if we
could float out of our bodies.
And if we could get where God is.
And if we could see ourselves as God
sees us.
I think some of us would say this.
That's not me.
I'm wrapped in Christ.
Can't be me.
You see all the time I'm saying oh
wretched man that I am.
That can't be me.
And then the almighty God would say something
like this.
Do you think I could have your flesh
life unjust in my presence?
Oh no.
Go back to the cross.
And there on the Lord Jesus you would
see every single sin that you would ever
commit just.
And you would see the sin of your.
And you would realize in God's sight you
have gone down into death.
And you would quietly say oh thank you.
And then you would see yourself a completely
new creature.
Much more new than you could ever appreciate.
And the almighty God would say to you
now look you're a saint.
I've made you a saint.
You're holy.
I've made you holy.
Now live a holy life.
Now live a saintly life.
What I've done for you judicially now you
live out experimentally.
But then you will say how can we
do that?
Now look at verse 11.
Faith reckons it.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now this is a practical and it's an
operative verse.
The word reckon has three meanings.
First of all it has to do with
correct calculation.
In the old days we used to say
he was a good reckoner out.
In other words he was good at math.
And what the word really means is to
get your theological accountancy right.
Shall we do that?
Shall we get our spiritual math correct?
We have left the Adamic family through the
death of Christ.
All that's associated with Adam has been judged.
Whether we know it or whether we don't
know it that's the fact.
All that we were in Adam has been
buried finally put out of the way.
In God's sight we are completely new creatures.
More new than we shall ever realize.
And therefore we have a new head.
We have a new society and therefore we
all have a new life.
We are complete in Christ.
That's how he sees it.
So let's get our maths right.
Secondly the word has to do with total
commitment.
Now unfortunately we are taught that faith is
like stepping on a platform and putting faith
in the platform.
We are taught faith is like getting on
a bus and putting faith in the driver
and the bus.
Faith is like sitting on a form and
putting our faith totally in the form.
I've heard it.
Faith is like getting on an aeroplane and
putting our faith completely in the pilot and
the plane.
Well my dear friends that is not faith.
In the realm of logic that is mathematical
probability.
You do it by instinct.
Well you say what is faith?
It's seen in the fourth chapter of Romans
and I'm going to take Abraham.
He was a man about 99 and he
was longing for a child that came from
himself through Sarah.
He realized that really all her productive organs
were dead.
He realized that he was quite sterile at
that age and God came to that man
and simply said if I may paraphrase his
language Abraham you're going to have a mighty
nation and it's going to be so multifarious
and multitudinous it's going to be like the
stars of heaven and like the sand of
the desert and he hadn't got a baby.
Sarah was well over 90.
He was 99.
Now note this the law of nature must
have said to him Abraham you're a fool
to believe that rabbit.
Biologically your wife cannot have a child but
the law of faith said all things are
possible only believe and this is what he
did.
He stepped out of the law of nature.
He stepped into the law of faith.
He implicitly trusted God.
He implicitly trusted his word and this is
what the scripture says.
Against hope he believed in hope and staggered
not at the promises of God but was
strong in faith.
He didn't stand on his feelings.
He didn't go by visions and revelations.
He believed God and his word.
Now there comes a moment in your experience
when God takes you back to the cross
and intelligently he wants you to apprehend that
you have died in Christ.
Intelligently he wants you to apprehend that you're
alive in Christ.
You're a new creature and intelligently he wants
you to apprehend that you have died to
the reign of sin and you're alive unto
God and all of the glory of God
and his power is open to you.
So that daily you reckon yourself dead to
sin and alive unto God and as you're
doing that you can live a holy life.
I think I can say this.
I would not really like this to be
repeated.
I know this is going to be recorded
but they can rule this out.
Every morning before I meet my dear wife
and she's here now I go through a
death burial and resurrection service.
Otherwise I'm a rascal and I tell the
Lord that wicked corrupt Peter Brandon has died
in Christ and I let out a little
hallelujah.
Praise the Lord and then I have a
burial service without flowers.
I tell the Lord I've been buried and
that old vicious wicked man has gone and
then I tell the Lord there's only one
life in me and that's his resurrection life
and I quietly thank him for making me
a new man and I face up to
sin as a dead man.
The temptation is always there.
There's no idea of eradication in scripture.
The flesh has to be judged every day
but I face up to it as a
dead man and I face up to Christ
and God as a resurrected man and whilst
I'm reckoning I live the life of faith
and that's a life of day by day
victory but we mustn't stop there.
I'm still living in a body.
Now let's look at verse 12 and with
this we close.
Oh that's it.
Neither or perhaps I should read verse 11
again.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
indeed unto sin but alive unto God through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal
body.
In other words don't let sin be there
as a monarch controlling you that ye should
obey it in the lust the evil desires
thereof.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin but yield yourselves unto God
as those that are alive from the dead
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto
God.
Now we see here that faith not only
appropriates it but yielding expresses that we have
died to sin and we're alive unto God.
Now what does the word yield mean?
Now I believe it's true to say that
the best scholars inform us that the word
has to do with examination.
When a member of the imperial guard went
on parade the leading centurion would come round
and he would want to see that all
the soldiers were wearing the uniform and they
were wearing it correctly.
For instance when I went into the navy
during the war I had to put off
my civilian clothing once and for all.
Never allowed to put it on again not
in those days and then I had to
put on a naval uniform and quite frankly
I hated it.
The top part was like a bathing costume
the bottom was like a lady's skirt and
when you weren't used to it it was
an awful uniform but the commodore used to
come round every other morning and I can
see him now he was wobbly on his
feet with alcohol and his nose was redder
than it should have been and you could
smell his breath as he passed you but
he looked right up to see two things
that you were wearing the uniform and you
were wearing it correctly.
Now that's the meaning of the word and
that means we put off the uniform once
and for all that's associated with Adam and
the life of sin and the word there
to put off is always in the airiest
and then we wear Christ we put on
the very uniform of Christ and that's what
baptism's all about you're telling the world that
you're walking in newness of life.
Secondly the word has to do not only
with examination but consecration.
You will notice now it's a matter of
yielding up yourselves to God as those that
are alive from the dead.
Now with consecration our motive must be pure.
Now this is what I have discovered and
the discovery has brought a sense of tragedy
that people will yield themselves to God in
a mission to get blessing and when the
mission is over they go back to their
former life.
Now that is an impure motive.
When we consecrate ourselves to God we consecrate
ourselves to God for no other purpose than
for the glory of Christ and when we
are there then we're fixed.
Whether we get blessing or whether we have
no blessing we're going to be yielded to
God and of course he will give blessing
if our motive is pure.
But then you will notice we don't yield
up the old members we yield up the
new members.
I begin to see that I'm a new
man in Christ and therefore it's no longer
the body of sin it's the Holy Spirit
and therefore my body as a new body
with new members that belongs to a resurrected
Christ is yielded up to him.
Now how is that done?
I take my mind and say Lord I'm
yielding it up.
Think through it.
I take my eyes, I yield up my
eyes that ask him to see through them.
I take my ear and I yield up
my ear that he may hear through them.
I take my lips and I yield them
up for God.
I take my heart and yield it up
to God.
I take every part of my being and
yield it up to God.
New members and I want him to use
each part.
And what is the purpose?
The whole purpose of being yielded to God
is for the manifestation of the life of
the Lord Jesus.
So that year by year the loveliness of
Christ is seen in you.
Beloved we only have one body.
We live in this body approximately five seconds
in comparison and I know this is obvious
the body of glory.
Would you mind if I counted that?
One, two, three, four, five.
And that's your life all over.
We mustn't waste a second and therefore we
only have a little time for Christ to
be magnified in this body.
And the loveliest thing in life is to
see just 12 people in one little assembly
filled with the beauty of the Lord Jesus.
And when you see that you see functional
New Testament Christianity.
And here's the secret.
When they were edified they multiplied.
May the Lord teach us what it means
to die in Christ.
What it means to be risen with Christ
so that we might be yielded up to
him.