Beyond the Roman Road pt3 | Kevin Wallace Ministries | @rttnchurch ​

0:01 We are all standing for the reading of the word. Our text this morning is found in the book of Romans, the 6th chapter. That's an organ and we believe it is a instrument of victory. Amen. I want to continue our study in the book of Romans this morning. reminding you that we do not shout because of what we don't know. We shout because of what we do know. And uh the deeper I go into the word of God, the greater my praise. Because when you receive revelation from God, it unlocks you from

0:48 the religious bondage and the yolks that try to get on you and the burdens that try to sit on you. They don't they don't stay around when you have a praise. Now, I found out you can you can worship and stay heavy, but if you praise God, praise will make you change a garment and you'll take off heaviness and put on joy. And so today, we thank God for the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. And as I go deeper into the word of God, it sets my soul free, washes me in the water of the word, and I find myself cleansed and liberated, and I'm thankful for the goodness of God. I tell you, this Romans thing is dangerous. I thought I would have just a

1:34 few little sermons, but the more I get into this, we might be here all summer. I don't know. But Romans is setting some people free. Romans chapter 6 verse number one is where I want us to go first today. When you have it, say, "Got it." I want you to do this. Look at your neighbor. Say, "Neighbor? You look 10 lbs lighter than you did on Easter Sunday." Come on, tell them you look so good. You just look wonderful. You look wonderful. Romans chapter 6 verse number one. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that

2:20 grace may abound? Certainly not. Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Verse 5. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death,

3:07 certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Verse six, knowing this that our old man, somebody say old man. that our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves of sin. How many are thankful this morning we are not any longer in the bondage of sin? Now today I I I want to talk um my words Lord let them be measured with accuracy.

3:53 Let them be saturated with the anointing that breaks the yoke. I pray Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus that as we teach the Bible today it would come to life for those who find this subject uh challenging and hard to understand. Would you give me the grace of a teacher so that I may teach with clarity the word of the Lord and they may be able to not only hear it but receive it and it be productive in their life. Now Holy Spirit I thank you for gathering us our minds from all the places of distraction the places we have been stuck this week. Lord, you're pulling us out of paralysis and you're coming into this room today so that

4:40 people can get moving again. And I pray in Jesus' name that there would be an increase in our pace for the kingdom. That we wouldn't be slow and we wouldn't get stuck. We'd be able to run this race with great joy. So bless the people today and give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. And the family said, "Amen." Amen. In Jesus' name, amen. Do me this favor. Help me welcome the online family this morning who are with us all over the world. Tell them good morning. So good to be together today. So today I'm going to do something a bit uh perhaps unexpected.

5:26 I'm going to do something that is uh even to some may seem controversial, but I want to talk not about the new life you received in Christ uh without talking today about a death that happened when you received Christ. We should celebrate when every person who gets saved comes into the kingdom of God. Somebody say amen. Amen. Bible is clear that angels in heaven rejoice over one soul that comes into the kingdom of God. And on many Sundays throughout this year, we are blessed and I am thankful and take nothing for granted that when we give an altar call, people come from their seats and give their heart to Christ. And I always say, come on, let's

6:12 praise the Lord, church. Why do I do that? Because the Bible is clear that the angels in heaven rejoice over one soul that comes into the kingdom of God. If heaven is happy about it, the saints ought to be happy about it as well. And so we celebrate when someone comes into the kingdom of God. But today I want to talk not about what comes into your life the moment you believe in Jesus, but actually what does the what happens in the moment that a person believes in Jesus uh and the death that occurs when a person believes in Christ. Now that me may sound uh like an oxymoron that it may sound counterintuitive that when a person trusts Jesus as Lord and they

6:57 come into the kingdom of God and are born again. Somebody say born again. Yeah. Born again. For every person who was born once, you will die twice. For every person who is born twice, you will die once. Catch that at lunch. You'll catch that at lunch. I want to talk today about the death that occurs when you believe in Jesus. And some who struggle, and I'm talking to Christians today. Hear me. There are Christians in this room struggling with sin who I believe will find this message especially helpful and encouraging because we need freedom and liberty from the sin that so easily besets us sometimes.

7:44 And it's important for you to know this message I'm teaching today because I'm I'm not just saying this and you understand I don't just speak with swelling words and grandiose promises. I believe with all of my heart what I'm going to teach today from the word of God is so viable and necessary for your life of victory over sin. If you do not catch and understand what Paul taught here in Romans 6, you can actually live your whole life thinking you need deliverance from something you've already been delivered from. And you say, "Pastor, you mean people don't need deliverance after they get saved?" No, they do. But it would never have happened had they recognized they already had it and not believe the lie of the devil that they needed it. Because when you come into Christ, you get everything you need in Christ. And

8:31 the great deception is that something is needed that Christ didn't provide. And you walk around your whole life looking for something you you really found already. How many want to live free from sin? Might I remind Amen. Might I remind you that sin is not your friend. Sin is not your friend. Sin is a threat to your future. Sin is actually what wants to kill you. to sin uh um is is dangerous and we don't teach like this anymore in the church because we become apathetic and neutral as it regards sin. But the Bible is very clear the wages of sin is death. And James chapter 1 15- 16 says when sin is finished it brings

9:16 forth death. It's important for you and I to have an appropriate respect for the subject of sin. If you do not understand sin is really trying to destroy your life, then you may think you just need to learn how to cope with sin. But Jesus did not come to teach us how to cope with sin. Jesus came to conquer sin. And I don't know about you, I want us to live free from the dominion of sin and the slavery of sin and the bondage of sin so that we can walk in the intended life that Christ came to give us. Jesus did not die on a cross and rise from the dead just so that you could put a band-aid on your bondage. He came to break the yoke so that you could be completely set free. A new creation and a new creature. Old things passed away,

10:04 all things made new. That might sound too good to be true, but that's why it's called the gospel, the good news, because it is indeed a message that should bring us comfort and joy. Somebody say amen. Amen. Uh the death you experience the moment you trust in Jesus is just as important as the life you receive the moment you re you receive Jesus. In the fourth chapter as I told you the first two chapters of actually the first three chapters of Romans are about finding the entire world the entire race of humanity guilty of sin. The fourth chapter is about faith as we talked about several weeks ago. The fifth chapter is about justification. And as we turn from the fifth chapter to the sixth chapter from

10:50 whence I read this morning, we move from justification to the subject of sanctification. Look at somebody tell them that's a big word. Sanctification is a big word. But in order for us to understand sanctification, you must be reminded of what the word sanctification means. It literally means being set apart from something so that you can be set unto something. Now, we used to teach sanctification growing up in the holiness church as abstaining completely from sin. I believe that sanctification is God setting you aside from sin. But that is only half of the story. Sanctification is not just God telling you to step away from sin. Sanctification is actually you, you and I drawing closer to Jesus, being more

11:36 married and more in union with him than we were our previous life. I have discovered that I find more victory over my sin the closer I get to Jesus. You can't just hate sin and that be a remedy for not sinning. You've actually got to fall in love with somebody who is more appealing than the junk he brought you out of. If you don't go if you don't get set unto Jesus, you will eventually run back into what he set you free from. This is why Christians get in cycles of defeat because they get delivered from their sin. when they get convicted when they hear the gospel. Somebody preach a message and they feel like, man, I won't I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to be stuck in that anymore. I don't want to live like that anymore.

12:21 And they hate sin. So, they repent from it and they get set apart from sin. But if you don't fall in love with Jesus, you will eventually find out through religious boredom what it looks like to go back into bondage. And there are people who get stuck in bondage not because they didn't hate sin. It's because they weren't taught. You've got to fall deeper in love with Jesus. And when you get closer to him, it makes you not want to go back to the mess he brought you out of. This is sanctification. So the moment, let me build this for you. The moment that we hear the gospel, everybody say the gospel. The moment we hear the gospel, this is a summary. I'm going to give you a a a one-s sentence summary of Romans 1 through Romans 5. The moment you hear the gospel, the good news of Jesus

13:08 Christ, and believe and put faith in that message, at that moment that you put faith in the good news, it is counted to you as righteousness, you become justified by faith and grace begins to flow in your life. And as I told you last week, the last couple of verses of Romans 5 are a reminder that we are not simply uh surviving till we get to heaven, but according to what Paul said at the end of Romans 5, we are actually reigning in this life in grace. Okay, so somebody didn't catch that. So let me remind you of that cuz that's too good to forget in one week. You, according to Romans 5:19 and 20, you are

13:54 not just a punching bag for the devil to beat up on when he wants to punch on something. You and I are reigning in life through grace. You are actually a king in Christ who is reigning with his authority. And I didn't say you are the king of kings. He is the king of kings. But if he is the king of kings, who are the kings he's the king of? I'm looking at him right now. Which is why I need an explanation from you or somebody talk to me about why we're the ones who are always tired and beat up and hateful and frustrated and we're sad and we're depressed. I know we got bad days, but you're a king with authority serving a

14:41 king who has all authority. And you and I ought to not take what the devil gives. We ought to tell the devil, "You're not in my mind anymore. You are under my feet. For greater is he that is in me than the one living in the world." Come on. Amazing grace is not just a good song. Amazing grace is my testimony. I got saved by grace, but I'm also living every day by the grace of God. The Bible said we're reigning in grace. Do you know what it looks like when you're reigning in grace? R E I G N. Did I spell that right? Yes. R E I G N. When you are reigning in grace, what that literally means is that there is a God

15:28 authority in you. There is a sense of purpose in you. There is a sense of I know I'm on this planet. Come on. The greatest day in your life is the day you got saved. The second greatest day in your life is the day you figure out why he saved you. You are not just saved. Everybody hop up real quick. Hurry. 1 2 3. Turn around and put your hand on your pew. You feel that warm spot? That is not your contribution to the kingdom of God. That is not why Jesus came to save you. You were never saved to warm up you. You were saved to put your feet on this side and everywhere the bottom of your feet touch because of the Christ in you. You have been given authority in the school system, in your job, in your

16:13 house. If you've been dealing with the devil back home, you ought to walk back into your house today and tell the devil, "I brought the spiritual U-Haul. You better pack your stuff up and in the name of Jesus, you're getting out of my house." God is going to give grace to those who will walk in it. Somebody say amen. And so we we understand through the fifth chapter. So we trust in Jesus. We are justified. And the moment we are justified is the moment we become righteous. And I told you two weeks ago that you don't get more righteous than righteous. It's not like 30 years from now you're going to be more righteous than righteous. You might be more obedient, but you won't be more righteous. Because

16:58 righteousness is not a wage you earn. Righteousness is a gift of position God gave you the moment you trusted in Jesus. Which is why somebody who just got saved and still got some junk in the trunk and some stuff they're working out. They are just as righteous as the person been saved 50 years. Why? Because righteousness is a gift, not a wage. Righteousness is not even about obedience. It's about faith. Is it important what you do? Absolutely. Which is why I'm going to teach what I'm going to teach today. Because through chapter 5, we are living in justification. But when you flip from chapter 5 to chapter 6, he then begins to talk about sanctification. What is sanctification? Sanctification is the

17:44 working out and the becoming of who we are already positionally declared to be. I'm going to say it again. Sanctification is the working out and the becoming of the person God has already declared you through the blood of Jesus to be. It is the ongoing developmental journey of becoming Christlike in your behavior oh God and your living. Now the problem on one hand in in the Roman church was this thing called legalism. The Jewish believers wanted to keep the law to become

18:29 righteous. That's one extreme. The other problem in the Roman church was antonyomianism. Big words, I know, but that is lawlessness. And literally you had Jews trying to keep the law to become righteous. And you had Gentiles who said, "It don't matter what we do. It don't matter how we live because this is not by works. It's whatever we want to do." And Paul says to those people, "That ain't how this works." The last two scriptures of Romans 5, he says these words. Catch this. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. The next verse is the first chapter of Romans 6. Charles in charge. Can you put

19:15 up Romans chapter 6, please? Please. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? This is not a question he pulls out of thin air. This is a question that he is asking and he's almost asking it rhetorically to to address a mindset that is permeating the Roman church. And the reason this mindset that I'm getting ready to reveal to you is in the Roman church is because they have misunderstood the previous scripture. Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. So what some of them said is well if sin if sin and sinning triggers the release of grace in my life

20:02 should I just go sin some more so that I get some more grace and that's how some Christians are living every time I sin God shows me grace let's go sin some more and what is Paul's question shall we do this shall we continue living in sin in that grace may abound. What is the answer? Verse two. Thank you, Charles in charge. God forbid. Certainly not. Grace is not an invitation to more sin. You don't go sin so you can get more grace. Why do I know this? Because Titus

20:48 chapter 2 says that the grace of God that appears to that that has appeared to all men. Watch this. Teaching us to deny ungodliness. And this is some oldfashioned stuff. And I see some some people they're like, "Man, I don't need this today. I needed some from me." You need to get free from sin. You need to get free from sin. And you and I must recognize that grace is what brings us out of sin. But it also teaches us how we don't need to live in bondage to sin. Zoom in here. Listen up. If you go to a church, and I there are wonderful churches all over this city and around this nation, but if you go to

21:33 a church that normalizes sin patterns and normalizes your living in sin, listen to your pastor. I love you too much to tell you to tell you a lie. Listen to me very carefully, Linda. Listen to me. If you go to a church that tells you sinning is okay, don't put on flipflops. Put on Reebok and run as fast as you can from that den of thieves and that lying preacher. Because sin will keep you longer than you want it to stay. And it will charge you more than you're able to pay. And when it gets through with you, it'll leave you in a life of misery. Sin must be conquered. And sanctification is the developmental

22:22 journey. Now, I I don't have time to go into this too deep, but there are theological camps and there are denominations that have built an entire denomination around the thought that you get sanctified the moment you get saved. Now I want to tell you right now if you believe that that's wonderful but tell me how that works out because although I was justified in a moment I am sanctified throughout my life. You say are you are you calling this progressive sanctific? You call it whatever you want. I am more like him today than I was the day I got saved. I am righteous from the moment I believe.

23:08 That's a gift God gave me. And positionally, when heaven looks down and sees me, it sees Christ's blood covering my sin. And my account has been cleaned because I put faith in Jesus. And when I put faith in him, he called me righteous. That happened immediately. But sanctification, well, it's still happening. And I know that some of us in here, we like, "No, I got it the moment I got saved. Your spouse is winking at me right now, telling me you alive." Sanctification is ongoing. Well, when will it stop? Not when you hit 65 or 70. It will happen all the way up until Jesus returns or

23:55 you leave this planet by way of death. So everybody say sanctification. Justification happens in a moment. You don't have to go get justified and you don't have to go get righteous. The moment you trust in Christ, you are called righteous and you are justified by faith. But when we flip to the sixth chapter and we begin to talk about this journey of becoming, then we are talking about this process of sanctification. So Paul says, "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" And he answers his own question. God forbid. But then he begins to give an appropriate explanation. This is really

24:41 what I want us to look at today. He actually asked another question. The first question is, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. Second question, how shall we who are dead to sin live in sin any longer? Now, I want you to write down a phrase, and this is the big thought for today. And if you don't catch anything else I say today, this thought is the one I want you to carry with you all week. Write this down everybody. On your brain, on your phone, on your hand, your finger, write it on your Write it on your your husband's cheek. Do something. Write it somewhere. Okay? Write this down. Sin may remain, but it shall not

25:28 rain. Sin may remain, but it shall not rain. Sin has been dethroned from being the king and the owner of your heart. Now Paul says, "How shall we who are dead?" This is a loaded statement. How shall we who are dead to sin live any longer in it? And the word key word is live in. He doesn't say how shall we are who are dead to sin not occasionally fall or struggle or decide to sin. He says how shall we are dead to sin live in it. And when he's talking about living

26:13 in it, he's talking about sin being more than something that you do occasionally. It's actually something you do daily. And it's actually what you do by the moment. It's what a person who is bound by sin does and they live in it. Let me help everyone in this room understand something. If you are truly born again, you do not practice as a way of life sinning. If you liked the same, if you like the same stuff now that you did before you got saved, if you talk the same way now that you did before you got saved, if you smoke the same stuff and sleep with the same stuff and do the same stuff, and it's just every day you get up and you are led by the flesh and you are led by sin. If that's how you're living now, I love you enough to tell you, you may be in church. You may have

27:00 even been baptized in water, but you are not truly born again if something in you doesn't hate the old life. [Applause] Well, that's strong. That's what's wrong with the church. That's why we're raising sons and daughters who are weak in their theology. We are telling them that all you got to do is make a confession. And some people said the right stuff but didn't get born again. You need to make more than a confession. You need to pray until grace captures your heart. Until you believe the Bible, the God of the Bible, you trust in Jesus and his sacrifice. Until that takes root in your heart, and it changes the very uh affections of your heart. Until then, you may have gotten religion, but you did not get born again.

27:49 A a Christian who sins feels some kind of way. Anybody else have a mama like mine? You You could be in a crowd and I'm talking about a hundred people in the crowd. Everybody acting a fool. Nobody getting in trouble. But when I acted like a fool, Llaya Gail said, "Oh, no, no, snatch me. Just just it was violent." And she would take me over there. That is not that is not how my son is going. Mama, ain't nobody else getting a spanking. You know why? Cuz nobody else belonged to [Applause]

28:36 her. The greatest favor God ever did you is love you enough not to let you act like a child of the devil. If you belong to God, God is not going to let you get away with what the children of the devil get away. Y'all not going to help me. And I know this sounds too oldfashioned for somebody in this church, but I'm going to tell you right now, those he loves, he chasens. And the next time God loves you enough to pull you over in a corner and to wear you out, you ought to tell him with tears, "Thank you. That you love me too much to get away with my foolishness. You love me too much to get away with my craziness. God loves you too much to let you have and keep a nasty attitude. God will give you and me an attitude adjustment. And the

29:21 adjustment is not punishment. It is discipline that has been given in order to keep me from aborting my destiny and losing my purpose. When God disciplines you and I, he is not punishing us. Because punishment is about paying you back for sins you committed. When God disciplines you, it is not about your past. It is about your future. And he loves you too much to let you keep getting away with what may rob you of your purpose in God. And so Paul says in Romans chapter 6, you can't continue living in sin if you're dead to it. Now this was a whole new thought. This is what I want to

30:07 intro. All that was an introduction. This is a whole new thought for Paul and I believe it was a whole new thought for the people in the Roman church. He starts talking about being dead to sin. And he's in the process of talking about this sanctification, he establishes this in the sixth chapter. And I want you to receive this today. Catch this. He says to them that we were baptized into Jesus Christ. Verse three, and we were baptized into his death. All we've talked about here before is life. But Paul is about to break down that the key to living in peace with God is actually in recognizing you are dead

30:54 to some things. And in order to c in order to understand this, you must first understand in the mind of Paul, the old man was being led by the sin nature. Let me help everybody in this room understand something. And everybody in the online family, listen to me very carefully. You don't have to go find a sin nature to start sinning. You and I had it when we were born. Nobody had to teach a three-year-old child to lie. It just lies. No one had to teach it selfishness. It's just selfish. No one that Oh, yes. I can feel people getting antsy right now. What's he talking about? I'm talking about little Junior. I'm talking about the one we

31:40 take pictures of and put it all over Facebook and tell everybody she's the sweetest thing in the world. Yeah. It's like a It's like the problem child, Chucky. Come on, somebody. It's The reality of it is foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child. It's it's innately in us. And watch this. What sin needed to manifest was a body. Sin could not manifest without a body. So when you were born, sin took your body and my body and used it for its own pleasure. And that is why Paul says in

32:27 the sixth chapter of Romans that the members of your body, everything about you at one time in your life was utilized by the sin nature for pleasure. This is where we get the word flesh. the flesh. Now, the flesh has dual meaning. This can be called flesh. Everybody touch yourself. Come on, touch yourself. Touch yourself. Okay, that that's the that's the physical natural flesh. But the other side of the flesh is the thing that manifests or survives because of this. There's a nature called the sin nature that actually needed a person who was

33:13 surrendered to the flesh and the things of this world in order to continue to manifest through. But the moment you got saved and become justified, in that very moment you came to life spiritually, something died as well. It's called the old man. The old man. My my my. How the saints have forgotten about the old man. But he can be seen in a tongue-talking Christian. He can be seen sometimes. And what Paul says is the moment that you died, first of all,

33:59 let's thank Russell Ford and the funeral home for delivering the casket this morning. Come on, somebody help me. Thank God for the Ford [Applause] family. Not many times you call somebody say, "Can you bring a casket to church?" Why you need a casket? Cuz pastor's going to use it in a sermon. Okay, praise God. This is a casket. And I brought this today because I want you to be reminded not just of the new life you have in Christ, but the reason you're able to have a new life in Christ is because he dealt with the old you. Because there's a new you that's supposed to be walking on this planet. How then do we deal with the old man who

34:46 is controlled and dominated by the sin nature? And I don't care how long you've been saved. And I don't care how much money you got. And I don't care what denominational stripe you wear. And I don't care what color our skin is. And it doesn't matter what it does. None of that matters. I'm going to tell you something universal about all of us. You ready for this? All of us had an old man. And if you don't understand that the moment you were born again and became a new creature that an old creature died, you will walk around your whole life dragging a dead corpse. And the Bible says, let's just

35:31 read it. I don't have to preach it. I just need to read it. It's in the Bible. Watch this. Ready for this? Do you not know verse three that as many of us were baptized into Christ Jesus? When did this happen? The moment you were saved, you were baptized into Christ. And he says, catch this, verse three, you were baptized into his death. You did not just come to Jesus for new life. Jesus did not just die for you. He died as you. Because the key to getting into new life is not just stepping into the new. Who

36:16 wants to step into a new life if the old you is still creeping around following you? So the way we get delivered from the old man is to come to Christ and be baptized into Jesus which that's another whole sermon because that's not water baptism that's moment you believed in Jesus you were taken into and brought into union with Christ and Paul is clear that when you come into Christ and are baptized immersed submerged into the person of Jesus in that moment the first thing that happens is that you were you were united with him in his death. You remember this when he's dying on the cross on Friday afternoon. He's hung high. He is stretched wide. He is

37:04 hanging on a cross between heaven and earth. The sky grows dark. The sin of all humanity is being nailed on Jesus. And he nailed it to the cross. Watch this. While he is suffering and dying, he is dying not just for you. He is dying as you so that you and your old self could die with him. If you don't catch that, you will live your life in confusion thinking that you have two natures trying to rule when in reality there's only one nature left in a born again man. And the only thing wrong in a in a man who is born again, who is struggling with sin, is that they have

37:50 failed to be reminded that man is dead. There's not a battle going on in between me from the old life and the new life. The old man died. I don't know if I believe that. Read the Bible. The old man did not just get put to [Music] sleep. Jesus said, "Remember Friday? I died on Friday." Rick, weren't you in a funeral home business? You might have to help me shut this in a minute cuz I don't know how to shut these doors on this thing. I'm sorry. A personal conversation there. You're not interested in cowboy boots and you I mean today we

38:38 just got it going on. Watch. When you die, when you said yes to Jesus, you were put in Christ. And when you came into Christ, the old man, the drug addict, the homosexual, the heterosexual sinner, oh God, the womanizer, oh God, here we go. The prostitute, the seduction, the lying, the cheating, the gambling, the gossip. [Applause] I'm going to get all them people who were raised in church but didn't think they had a real problem. You had some lying people who were sitting up in church. You had some Oh yes, we had all kind of sin. And if you want to know

39:23 what it's like, run, read the book of Galatians where you see the works of the flesh that produced death. Hear me, family. Everything you were, and everything I was, everything that Do you understand that your pastor used to have a nasty mouth? I mean, I cussed like a junkyard dog. I invented ways to cuss. When God really got a hold of my life and reminded me I was born again, he took that mess out of me. He took that anger out of me. He took that malice out of me. He took that hate out of me. How did he take it out? He didn't just pull it out. He took the me that was comfortable manifesting a life of

40:09 sin. And when I put my faith in Jesus, he opened up the casket. The same tomb I'm I can see it now. The same tomb they put him in on Friday afternoon. That became the place where they drugged Kevin Wallace. And I got put in the tomb right beside Jesus and I died with him. Well, that sounds like heresy. It's cuz you hadn't read your Bible. We died with him. He didn't just die for me to be saved. He died as me because the old man must be killed. Let's keep going. Verse four.

40:56 Therefore, we were buried with him. I told you they buried him after they crucified him. And when they buried him, they buried me and you. The old man is dead. We were buried with him through baptism into death. That just as Christ, now watch this, catch it. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we should also walk in newness of life. You cannot walk in newness of life if the old you is still large and in charge. And I'm going to give you the key in a minute to understanding how to

41:44 live in newness of life. But you must first understand that God was not just pleased by giving you and I new life without first dealing with the old life. So all the stuff that we did before we got saved, that was a life that was generalized and summarized by a life of sin. Now, here's the thing. You You think and I think just because, you know, we didn't do really evil stuff, we weren't all that bad. We were bad. Sin is sin. I know we classify sin and we think, "Oh, that person does

42:30 that. Oh, that's a really, really, really bad sinner." But can I tell you something? In the eyes of God, all sin is sin. And while some sin carries with it a different measure of judgment, the reality of it is all sin carried the judgment of death, which is why Christ had to die so that we could find life. The old you. The old you summarized by its sinful pleasure and the sin nature dominating and ruling it. That old person died with Christ the moment you trusted and believed in the Lord. And when you understand that it was buried, does this mean sin doesn't come

43:15 back? and knock on our heart and tempt us doesn't mean that at all. Why? Because sin remains. Till we get to heaven, sin is a possibility. Here's the difference. When sin comes knocking on the door of my heart, the sin has to talk to the dead man that's already been buried and dealt with. The only way for sin to find a way to function and manifest in me is to actually get me out of my new identity. Cause me to go back and live under the old me. And if I'm living my life

44:00 thinking I'm the old me, then I'm welcoming sin when it knocks on the door of my heart. I'm fixing to show you Bible for this. If you don't understand the old you is dead, you will continually give sin the permission when temptation comes to take over a heart that's been justified by faith. Sin does not have dominion over you. Which means unlike the former you, this new you in Christ has the ability to look temptation in the eye and to run from it and not fall into it. Why? Not because sin isn't powerful, but because greater is he that is in me than the one that is living in this world. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life

44:47 is of the world, and the world pass I'm in 1 John chapter 4. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof. But he who does the will of God shall abide forever. If the enemy is tempting you, don't let him make you think you're still bound to what he's tempting you with. Remind the devil that is the old me and the old me was buried in Christ and you can't find it anymore. So sin comes knocking. Temptation comes to you. Here we go. About to get real deep. Temptation comes to you and and the

45:33 enemy comes and says, "Why don't you go look on those images on your laptop?" You don't You You ready for this? It is hard for a dead man to go looking at those images. Mr. Dead Man. Mr. Dead Man, don't you want to surf the net and see some of that pornography? Don't you want to see that? Yeah. If he's dead, he can't respond to the temptation. Oh, you're missing what I'm saying. Mr. M Mr. Mr. Dead Man, don't you want to go snort another line of crack? Don't you want to go get wasted again? Don't you want to go live in adultery? Don't you want to break away from all the all the stress and all of the pressure of life? Hey, hey, hey. Don't you want to go do what you used to do? And you know what? He's a dead man. A dead man can't

46:20 respond to what the enemy is presenting him in temptation. There are too many people who think they're trying to get free from sin. You have been freed from the power of sin. And the old man who wanted it is not the one living. It's the dead one that ought to be buried in Christ. So, let me give you this and I'm done cuz some of our old mans want some chicken right now. I see you. You need to kill that old man before he gets you. Verse five. Verse five. Look at it on the screen. I'm just going to walk

47:05 through the text. If we have been united together in the likeness of his death, do you recognize the union you had with Jesus? The union you have with Christ and in Christ is not just a union about heaven one day. It is a union you share with him that takes you all the way back to a hillside where he was crucified. You died with him because he died as you. He crucified the old man. Certainly we also shall be raised in the likeness of his resurrection. Keep going. Knowing this that our own man was crucified with him that the body of sin

47:51 might be done away with. Touch yourself again. Flesh. That is the mechanism and the instrument Satan used to keep you in sin. That nature of sin only is permitted to rule and reign in the life of a person who does not have the lordship of Jesus Christ resting on them. If you are in Christ, the reason sin is flagrant is because it means that you actually stepped out of your proper identity and allowed the old man to heed and yield to the temptation of sin. Keep going. Verse seven. For he who has died, who he who has

48:37 died, here we go. He who has died, she who has died is free from the sin. And what he's talking about there are not individual acts of sin. He's talking about the sin nature. He's not talking about a a Christian who messes up and says something or a Christian who is walking through life and they see something that they're not necessarily strong in and the weakness in them causes them to be pulled back and they do it and they yield to it and they sin and they feel horrible and they repent and they get overtaken. It's not talking about that. If a man or woman has has died, the old

49:25 man is dead, then that person is no longer bound by sin because the thing in your life and mine that caused us to live in bondage to sin and gave sin the permission to be our master, that thing is dead. The old man is dead. We are now freed from the dominion of sin. Sin shall remain but it will not rain. Next verse. Keep going. We're almost done. Julian, help me uh do that thing we do now. If we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. Jesus did not come just to die as

50:11 you so that you could die with him. He come to die for you so that you could live with him. It's really important to get the old man dead. And you couldn't kill him. You couldn't kill the old man without really taking your life and killing your life. Jesus is the only one who's able to kill the old man and let you live. For I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. How did he pull that off? Crucifixion means death. So, I am crucified and killed with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. How do you do that? How do you die but live? I'm telling you how. He's telling you the old man is what died so that God could

50:59 pull the new man out of you and make you walk in a in a way in a righteousness, in a victory, in a grace that you could have never accessed without Jesus. And Jesus was good enough not just to give you justification. He was good enough to take care of the old man that kept you and I from living a sanctified life. He conquered the old Kevin. I hope this is so soaking in. So what happens then when I'm attempted to sin? What does that mean? The only way sin can conquer and win in you, Christian, in you, child of God. The only way sin can manifest through you is when you allow the enemy to cause you to believe that sin still has permission to

51:44 reign in your life. And it can't just rain. It's dead. I'm getting there. Watch this. Watch this. Uh for he has died is free from sin. Look at verse nine. knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, Jesus, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Verse 11, most important scripture of the day. Highlight it, write it down. Say it a lot this week. One word in this scripture is the key to walking in victory over

52:30 sin. Likewise, you also reckon. This is like some hillbilly stuff right here. I reckon. Is it going to rain? My papa said, I reckon. Rec. Reckon is the Greek word from where we get the English word to log something. It's a financial term. It's a it's a term of accounting. Logitzi. It's where we get the word log. And what he's saying is this. Reckon yourself dead indeed to sin. When

53:15 sin, who is your enemy, who is trying to kill you and trying to send you to hell, when sin comes knocking on your door, do you want to look at some images? Do you want to get back get another hit of that that that drug that you had when you do do you want do you want to go back into that crazy lifestyle you were living and you feel like, man, I might want that? The key is account yourself, declare yourself, understand that that person that used to do that is dead. Listen, listen, listen, listen,

54:02 listen, listen. It's not that you couldn't do that. It's that you don't want to do that. And the way not to do that is to reckon that the person who did want to do that is the dead part of you. Now there will be people who tell you you don't have two natures. Hear me. Yeah, you [Music] do. There is a voice of temptation that comes to every person in this room and watching me online. And Paul says the way to live victorious over sin is to go ahead and just understand in a very accountingike way. It's already

54:47 been logged. It's already been decided. Stand with me. I'm through. I'm dead to that. So I know this is crazy. And we're not going to come touch a casket or do nothing crazy like that. Jesus. No. No. That's not what we do. We don't do that. But here's what I am going to tell you today. Oh, let's see if I can do this. Oh, God. That's how God did it. Right there. Just like that. [Music] He just come up here, Rick. You don't want to work at a funeral home. Got Rick working a funeral home and Pastor Jeremy picks up dead bodies sometimes.

55:34 Just push it in. No, it ain't. Find Russell. Okay. I'm not going to break it. I'm not going to break it. It It [Music] closes. Listen to me today. I felt like God said to me in prayer, I want some people to know that the dead, the old them is the dead them. Don't drag around a dead corpse of who you used to be. Cuz the closer you get and the closer you stay to who you used to be, the easier it is for sin to find a place in you. The further you get away from that old life and the closer you get to Jesus, the harder it is for sin to find a way

56:20 in. If you're in this room and you're a Christian, you're a Christian, but you're struggling in sin. I think the key for us today is in that verse that I just read to you. Reckon yourself, declare yourself, decide that that identity and that person and that sin is all dead. And that's a that's a positive thing. I know you want to sin. I'm not even telling you sin don't feel good and it's not attractive. It is. Whenever you see those billboards

57:07 with all those young teenage boys and girls scantly clad and they're drinking Bud, but ain't nobody getting wiser. Man, I got some jokes today, Doc. Cowboy boots, Rick and Budweiser. Come on, listen to me. The enemy shows you all of the glitz and the glamour of sin. Sin never shows you the car crash because inebriation rob them of their senses and ability to stay between the lines. The enemy never shows you

57:55 sexually transmitted diseases. Y'all don't like me now. Y'all trying to run to lunch now. But hear me. Sin doesn't show you the demise. It just makes you feel like you can't live without it. And the thing in you that feels like it can't live without sin is the very thing Jesus died to kill. The old man is dead. So don't let the old man be like a corpse that drapes on your life and you walk around and every time sin comes knocking, that old you shows up. That old you is dead. The key is this. If you reckon that to be so, then you walk in the newness of

58:43 life. If you've been saved for 20 years and still struggle with some things that rise up every now and then, it blow your mind how many precious people of God struggle. The struggle is real. But the part of you who's been made new in Christ is not the place where the struggle exists. The part of you struggling is with the old man that's dead. And you got to remind yourself and remind the old man and remind the devil that is not who I am [Music] anymore.

59:29 Amazing grace will always be my song of [Music] praise. For it was grace that bought my liberty. I do not know just why he came to love me so. He looked beyond my faults and saw my [Music] needs. I shall forever lift my eyes to Calary.

1:00:19 to view the cross where Jesus died for me. How marvelous his grace that called my falling soul. He looked beyond my faults and saw my [Music] needs. Heads bowed and eyes closed. And this is just a different kind of altar call. But if you needed this message today, if you love Jesus, but you need help reckoning the old man is

1:01:07 dead. If you need a cycle of sin to be broken, I come against the hopelessness and the shame that would make you feel damaged and as if God doesn't care or love you anymore. Some of us in this room, somebody in this room, somebody watching me online has been dealing with this for so long, you have allowed it to become your identity. But today, I'm going to remind you about a place Jesus prepared so that the old man could die. And if you want to be free from a life of sin, it's in reckoning. The old man is dead. If I'm talking to you, I don't know if

1:01:52 it's It doesn't matter what kind of sin it is. If you're struggling and you want freedom, heads are bowed and eyes are closed, just lift your hand up and say, "Pastor, that's me. I needed this today. Throw your hand up. Don't be embarrassed, ashamed. Nobody coming to ask you what. Nobody going to get up in your business. I don't need no prophets running around today asking people what they're tell. I need to be free. Lift your hand. There are hands up all over this church right now. You can put your hands down. God bless you. Everyone in this room, lay hands on your own heart. Just just just lay hands on your life. God, today let truth penetrate. Let truth break people free from lies. The lie that they will always be bound. They will not. The old man is dead. The

1:02:37 old them is dead. The old desires do not reign in them anymore. And I pray today that you would snatch them out of the mess that they feel like they've made and remind them of the newness of life that they have in Christ. Today we declare sin is forgiven in Jesus. And so I pray Lord that people would repent all over this room. But that's not just listen to me family. That's not just I'm sorry. Repentance is not just forgive me. Repentance is Lord change the way I think. I have come into agreement with an identity that is not in keeping with the one Jesus gave me. Satan found permission when you decided you were not

1:03:24 free. You thought I'm still bound. And that's how sin found a place in you. The old man is the only place where sin reigned. And I declare over you right now, sin does not have dominion over you. The next time the temptation comes, and it is real. I'm not telling you you don't need an accountability partner. I'm not telling you you don't need to be honest and authentic and and and confess your faults one to another. I that's all scriptural. I get that. But I'm going to tell you right now, somebody in this room, you won't have to do sin recovery. If you'll understand the power that sin was defeated when Christ died for you and he died as you so the old man could be [Music]

1:04:10 crucified. So for every person that lifted their hand right now, God, I say we're taking the old man to the graveyard. We will not carry the corpse of who we used to be another day in Ola Mashia. Thank you, Lord. We will not carry the corpse of who we used to be around for the rest of our life. We're going to bury the old man in the casket. In the tomb. We're putting him in the tomb. We put him in the casket. The old man is dead. The old me is dead. Jesus, you killed. You killed the old I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. The old me is dead. And so now, Lord, let temptation when it comes, let it come knocking on the door of a dead man, a dead

1:04:55 woman, may it find no place of connection in our life. Heads are bowed, eyes are closed. If you're in this room and you need Jesus to save you, I'm I'm not talking about do you go to church. I'm not talking about are you, you know, um, do you feel bad for something. I'm talking about you need Jesus to save you, forgive you, cleanse you, make you new. I'm not talking about if you're going to church cuz church attendance don't get you to heaven. Talk to me, family. Church attendance don't get you to heaven. You ought to come to church, those of us who are born again. But don't be deceived. Membership in a church don't get you into heaven. You must be born

1:05:40 again. If you need Jesus to save you and you want him to break the chains of sin off you and you want him to give you new life and you want to be forgiven for every sin you've ever committed and freed from the old man that you are right now, I want you right now when I say three, lift your hand and say, "Pastor Kevin, pray for me. I need to get born again. I need to be for real saved and transformed today. Jesus, I want you to come into my life." 1 2 3. Lift your hand right now. Hands are up. Hands are up. Hands are up. Everybody look, put your hand down and look at me right now. I want you to look at your neighbor on your left and on your right, and I want you to ask them one question. I don't care if you've known them your whole life or you've never met them before. This Sunday morning, I want you to ask your neighbor on your left and on your right, this one question. Do you need someone to go to the altar and pray with you cuz I don't want you to go by

1:06:26 yourself. I'll go with you. And if you lifted your hand, or you should have, when they ask you that question, come stand with me right down here in this altar. And today, Jesus is going to save people. Come out of your seat right now. Just ask everybody near you right now. Do you need someone to go to the altar with you? I'll go with you. God bless you. Come on, young man. Come on. Come on. Come on. They're coming. God bless. Got a family coming. Come on. Come on. Today I need to come to Christ. I want to be saved and forgiven. Come on. People are coming. And I want the saints to do what the angels are doing. Come on and give God a praise. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. They're still coming. We're still praising. Come on. People are coming out of their seat and they're coming into the kingdom. Come on. My God, they're still coming. Come [Applause]

1:07:12 [Music] on. At the cross. At the cross. Where I first saw the light and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there. By faith I received my sight. Come on, they're still coming. Let them in. Let them in. The altars are filling up with people this morning. Thank you, Lord. At the cross where I first saw the light and the burden of my

1:08:00 heart. They're praying. They're praying. Let them pray. Come on. There by faith I receive my [Music] sight. Let them pray. I want every person in this room to lift your hands. I want to bless you before you begin to leave. Father, in the name of the Lord Jesus, I pray for the saints today, the people of God as they leave this room. I pray this week they'd be carried by the grace of God. protect us and watch over us, Lord, and be with us and keep us in all of our ways. I pray, Lord, the revelation of your goodness and the reminder that we are dead to sin and will not live any longer in it. I pray it settle on us and we walk in obedience this week and experience the new life that we have in

1:08:46 Christ. If you receive it, say in Jesus name, amen. Let them.