1 00:00:00,736 --> 00:00:05,250 Please turn in your Bibles to Ephesians 2. 2 00:00:05,250 --> 00:00:08,953 I would like to have us read together 3 00:00:08,953 --> 00:00:16,110 the first seven verses once again. 4 00:00:16,110 --> 00:00:20,931 Remembering the context. 5 00:00:24,569 --> 00:00:32,452 Paul says that he remembers the Ephesians 6 00:00:32,452 --> 00:00:35,342 in his prayers, 7 00:00:35,342 --> 00:00:43,317 and he asks that God would give them 8 00:00:43,317 --> 00:00:45,733 the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation 9 00:00:45,733 --> 00:00:47,596 in the knowledge of Him. 10 00:00:47,596 --> 00:00:48,976 He wanted their eyes, 11 00:00:48,976 --> 00:00:52,642 their hearts enlightened. 12 00:00:52,642 --> 00:00:59,759 The hope of our calling. 13 00:00:59,759 --> 00:01:04,112 That we would know what is 14 00:01:04,112 --> 00:01:07,364 the immeasurable greatness of His power 15 00:01:07,364 --> 00:01:08,994 toward us who believe 16 00:01:08,994 --> 00:01:11,335 according to the working of His great might. 17 00:01:11,335 --> 00:01:14,165 That is the issue on the table. 18 00:01:14,165 --> 00:01:19,067 That we would have revelation of God, 19 00:01:19,067 --> 00:01:23,609 and that we would come to know this power of God 20 00:01:23,609 --> 00:01:28,241 that is being demonstrated on behalf of 21 00:01:28,241 --> 00:01:29,949 those who believe. 22 00:01:29,949 --> 00:01:31,826 That's what verse 19 says. 23 00:01:31,826 --> 00:01:35,179 An immeasurable, or an exceeding greatness, 24 00:01:35,179 --> 00:01:38,499 of God's power toward us who believe, 25 00:01:38,499 --> 00:01:40,791 according to the working of God's great might 26 00:01:40,791 --> 00:01:43,088 that He worked in Christ when He raised Him 27 00:01:43,088 --> 00:01:44,104 from the dead. 28 00:01:44,104 --> 00:01:46,568 That's the issue. 29 00:01:46,568 --> 00:01:50,064 The first three verses of chapter 2 30 00:01:50,064 --> 00:01:53,489 show us the wretchedness 31 00:01:53,489 --> 00:01:56,249 that the power rescued us from. 32 00:01:56,249 --> 00:01:58,000 Let's read those three verses. 33 00:01:58,000 --> 00:02:01,573 "You were dead in the trespasses and sins 34 00:02:01,573 --> 00:02:02,779 in which you once walked, 35 00:02:02,779 --> 00:02:04,647 following the course of this world, 36 00:02:04,647 --> 00:02:06,845 following the prince of the power of the air, 37 00:02:06,845 --> 00:02:08,328 the spirit that is now at work 38 00:02:08,328 --> 00:02:11,571 in the sons of disobedience, 39 00:02:11,571 --> 00:02:13,203 among whom we all..." 40 00:02:13,203 --> 00:02:14,859 All of us. 41 00:02:14,859 --> 00:02:16,453 These first three verses 42 00:02:16,453 --> 00:02:18,660 used to contain all of us. 43 00:02:18,660 --> 00:02:21,504 "We all once lived in the passions of our flesh 44 00:02:21,504 --> 00:02:23,028 carrying out the desires 45 00:02:23,028 --> 00:02:24,573 of the body and the mind, 46 00:02:24,573 --> 00:02:30,885 and were by nature children of wrath." 47 00:02:30,885 --> 00:02:33,656 By nature hell-bound. 48 00:02:33,656 --> 00:02:39,766 By nature under the hatred and anger of God. 49 00:02:39,766 --> 00:02:45,971 Just like all the rest of mankind. 50 00:02:45,971 --> 00:02:50,896 Here is the power that Paul wants us 51 00:02:50,896 --> 00:02:55,428 to be able to perceive. 52 00:02:55,428 --> 00:02:58,555 That our eyes might be enlightened, 53 00:02:58,555 --> 00:03:00,678 the eyes of our hearts enlightened, 54 00:03:00,678 --> 00:03:03,235 that we may know what this is, 55 00:03:03,235 --> 00:03:05,076 what this power is. 56 00:03:05,076 --> 00:03:08,622 Here comes God breaking in to this wretchedness 57 00:03:08,622 --> 00:03:10,006 and this darkness. 58 00:03:10,006 --> 00:03:12,131 This is the demonstration of His power. 59 00:03:12,131 --> 00:03:14,891 God being rich in mercy, 60 00:03:14,891 --> 00:03:17,224 because of the great love with which He loved us, 61 00:03:17,224 --> 00:03:20,146 even when we were dead in our trespasses. 62 00:03:20,146 --> 00:03:22,085 Nothing good in us. 63 00:03:22,085 --> 00:03:23,916 It wasn't because of any beauty, 64 00:03:23,916 --> 00:03:25,444 anything attractive, 65 00:03:25,444 --> 00:03:27,108 anything desirable; 66 00:03:27,108 --> 00:03:28,675 it was even when we were 67 00:03:28,675 --> 00:03:30,391 dead in our trespasses. 68 00:03:30,391 --> 00:03:34,347 God made us alive together with Christ. 69 00:03:34,347 --> 00:03:35,984 And we looked at this last time. 70 00:03:35,984 --> 00:03:37,869 By grace you have been saved. 71 00:03:37,869 --> 00:03:39,875 This is salvation. 72 00:03:39,875 --> 00:03:43,356 It is to be made alive together with Christ. 73 00:03:43,356 --> 00:03:45,734 Today, I want us to focus our attention 74 00:03:45,734 --> 00:03:46,849 in on verse 6. 75 00:03:46,849 --> 00:03:49,636 "And raised us up with Him." 76 00:03:49,636 --> 00:03:51,704 That's what I want to look at. 77 00:03:51,704 --> 00:03:53,065 Next week, Lord willing, 78 00:03:53,065 --> 00:03:56,603 "and seated us with Him (with Christ) 79 00:03:56,603 --> 00:04:01,642 together with Christ in the heavenly places 80 00:04:01,642 --> 00:04:04,980 in Christ Jesus." 81 00:04:04,980 --> 00:04:06,893 Lord willing, two weeks, 82 00:04:06,893 --> 00:04:09,229 "so that in the coming ages, 83 00:04:09,229 --> 00:04:11,031 He might show the immeasurable riches 84 00:04:11,031 --> 00:04:19,756 of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." 85 00:04:19,756 --> 00:04:22,830 What we need to feel here 86 00:04:22,830 --> 00:04:28,564 is the extremity of this. 87 00:04:28,564 --> 00:04:33,055 The extremes here. 88 00:04:33,055 --> 00:04:35,059 In the first three verses, 89 00:04:35,059 --> 00:04:38,354 man is at the absolute lowest point 90 00:04:38,354 --> 00:04:41,580 of wretchedness, despair, and hopelessness. 91 00:04:41,580 --> 00:04:46,469 They are in the very condition of fallen Adam. 92 00:04:46,469 --> 00:04:49,504 And we need to recognize Adam's fall for what it is. 93 00:04:49,504 --> 00:04:51,847 We need to recognize that Adam 94 00:04:51,847 --> 00:04:58,224 took the human race as far down 95 00:04:58,224 --> 00:04:59,575 as can be imagined. 96 00:04:59,575 --> 00:05:01,614 That doesn't mean that every single person 97 00:05:01,614 --> 00:05:05,547 does all the wickedness that is out there potentially, 98 00:05:05,547 --> 00:05:08,501 but what we're saying is, 99 00:05:08,501 --> 00:05:11,969 that his condition at every point - 100 00:05:11,969 --> 00:05:14,384 his condition when it comes to alive or deadness, 101 00:05:14,384 --> 00:05:16,378 his condition when it comes to the world, 102 00:05:16,378 --> 00:05:18,656 his condition when it comes to Satan, 103 00:05:18,656 --> 00:05:21,465 his condition when it comes to disobedience, 104 00:05:21,465 --> 00:05:23,819 his condition when it comes to the wrath of God, 105 00:05:23,819 --> 00:05:29,377 and when it comes to lust... 106 00:05:29,377 --> 00:05:32,725 he's at the bottom of the barrel. 107 00:05:32,725 --> 00:05:36,519 And God flexes His almighty power. 108 00:05:36,519 --> 00:05:39,410 And here's the thing that you have to recognize, 109 00:05:39,410 --> 00:05:41,120 when God saves a man, 110 00:05:41,120 --> 00:05:47,761 He exalts man as high as the man Jesus Christ Himself. 111 00:05:47,761 --> 00:05:49,742 Do you recognize that? 112 00:05:49,742 --> 00:05:52,770 Do you recognize that when God saves a person, 113 00:05:52,770 --> 00:05:57,387 He doesn't take us any place lower 114 00:05:57,387 --> 00:06:00,741 than where Christ is Himself. 115 00:06:00,741 --> 00:06:02,689 That's how high He takes us. 116 00:06:02,689 --> 00:06:04,573 That's the extremity here. 117 00:06:04,573 --> 00:06:07,380 These verses are extreme. 118 00:06:07,380 --> 00:06:10,513 They describe the utter extremities. 119 00:06:10,513 --> 00:06:11,533 And you know what? 120 00:06:11,533 --> 00:06:13,124 Man never dwells in the middle. 121 00:06:13,124 --> 00:06:15,753 And this is a big problem. 122 00:06:15,753 --> 00:06:18,677 This is where we go wrong so often. 123 00:06:18,677 --> 00:06:20,148 When we look at lost men, 124 00:06:20,148 --> 00:06:21,953 we don't think they're as lost as they are. 125 00:06:21,953 --> 00:06:23,577 And when we look at Christians, 126 00:06:23,577 --> 00:06:26,380 we don't recognize that they are as high as they are. 127 00:06:26,380 --> 00:06:31,659 We tend to take the edge off on both ends. 128 00:06:31,659 --> 00:06:33,000 Scripture doesn't do it. 129 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,014 Scripture says if you're lost, 130 00:06:35,014 --> 00:06:37,019 it's extreme! 131 00:06:37,019 --> 00:06:38,410 If you're saved, 132 00:06:38,410 --> 00:06:39,922 it's the other extreme! 133 00:06:39,922 --> 00:06:42,661 Man only lives at the poles. 134 00:06:42,661 --> 00:06:44,809 The farthest reaches of the North Pole 135 00:06:44,809 --> 00:06:47,084 or the farthest reaches of the South Pole 136 00:06:47,084 --> 00:06:48,960 and no one lives in between. 137 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:50,791 And we go wrong there all the time. 138 00:06:50,791 --> 00:06:53,909 We imagine people living in between all the time. 139 00:06:53,909 --> 00:06:57,145 We imagine Christians being much lower than they are. 140 00:06:57,145 --> 00:07:00,090 And we imagine lost man not nearly 141 00:07:00,090 --> 00:07:02,970 being as bad as he is. 142 00:07:02,970 --> 00:07:04,429 But you see it right here. 143 00:07:04,429 --> 00:07:06,583 Listen, this is the way things really are. 144 00:07:06,583 --> 00:07:09,211 This is the Apostle Paul under the inspiration of God. 145 00:07:09,211 --> 00:07:13,408 The Holy Spirit is leading this apostle along 146 00:07:13,408 --> 00:07:17,874 to rightly evaluate the state of mankind. 147 00:07:17,874 --> 00:07:19,222 That's what we have. 148 00:07:19,222 --> 00:07:20,899 There's no middle ground. 149 00:07:20,899 --> 00:07:21,740 None. 150 00:07:21,740 --> 00:07:25,138 Every man is either way down in the depths of wretchedness, 151 00:07:25,138 --> 00:07:28,424 or he is far up 152 00:07:28,424 --> 00:07:32,674 on the great majestic mountaintops of Christianity, 153 00:07:32,674 --> 00:07:36,982 in all the glory. 154 00:07:36,982 --> 00:07:43,434 The problem is it doesn't feel that way often to us. 155 00:07:43,434 --> 00:07:47,709 But, Christian, the real issue here is, 156 00:07:47,709 --> 00:07:52,445 is Paul wants us to know what's true of us, 157 00:07:52,445 --> 00:07:53,856 if we're Christians. 158 00:07:53,856 --> 00:07:56,060 He wants us to know what God has done 159 00:07:56,060 --> 00:07:57,895 to us and for us. 160 00:07:57,895 --> 00:08:01,976 He is still interested that we get 161 00:08:01,976 --> 00:08:06,408 this revelation of a knowledge of God 162 00:08:06,408 --> 00:08:08,936 and what God has done for us. 163 00:08:08,936 --> 00:08:10,133 That's the issue here. 164 00:08:10,133 --> 00:08:12,123 Remember, God is the subject matter here. 165 00:08:12,123 --> 00:08:13,639 We are not. 166 00:08:13,639 --> 00:08:17,922 This is not mainly about what you are 167 00:08:17,922 --> 00:08:20,105 as much as what God has done 168 00:08:20,105 --> 00:08:22,149 to make you what you are. 169 00:08:22,149 --> 00:08:24,473 That's the emphasis in these verses. 170 00:08:24,473 --> 00:08:31,603 But undoubtedly we end up with who we are. 171 00:08:31,603 --> 00:08:32,614 What we are. 172 00:08:32,614 --> 00:08:34,436 Where we are. 173 00:08:34,436 --> 00:08:36,150 And that's a reality. 174 00:08:36,150 --> 00:08:39,326 God's immeasurable greatness of His power. 175 00:08:39,326 --> 00:08:40,846 What has it done for us? 176 00:08:40,846 --> 00:08:42,992 So, let's turn our attention to verse 6. 177 00:08:42,992 --> 00:08:44,173 Look at it. 178 00:08:44,173 --> 00:08:49,993 Further seek to behold this power of God. 179 00:08:49,993 --> 00:08:53,145 What has the power of God done? 180 00:08:53,145 --> 00:08:56,161 You see, we don't see it flash out like lightning. 181 00:08:56,161 --> 00:08:58,885 We don't see it come down as a thunderbolt 182 00:08:58,885 --> 00:09:02,271 and consume Nadab and Abihu. 183 00:09:02,271 --> 00:09:03,885 It's not like that. 184 00:09:03,885 --> 00:09:05,165 We get saved, 185 00:09:05,165 --> 00:09:08,165 and sometimes to the visual eye, 186 00:09:08,165 --> 00:09:09,693 people watching us, 187 00:09:09,693 --> 00:09:11,203 there's changes in the life, 188 00:09:11,203 --> 00:09:13,061 but it's not like all of a sudden 189 00:09:13,061 --> 00:09:14,592 we're branded on the forehead. 190 00:09:14,592 --> 00:09:18,757 It's not all of a sudden like we glow. 191 00:09:18,757 --> 00:09:21,238 And nevertheless, there is a reality here. 192 00:09:21,238 --> 00:09:22,748 Look at this. Verse 6. 193 00:09:22,748 --> 00:09:23,800 "And God..." 194 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:26,974 I'm pulling "God," - that God is the subject 195 00:09:26,974 --> 00:09:29,553 from verse 4. 196 00:09:29,553 --> 00:09:36,150 "God raised us up with Him." 197 00:09:36,150 --> 00:09:39,698 Or together. God raised us up together. 198 00:09:39,698 --> 00:09:47,160 The "with Christ" is implied from the verse before. 199 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:50,501 The verb carries the meaning: 200 00:09:50,501 --> 00:09:55,030 to cause to rise together. 201 00:09:55,030 --> 00:10:00,155 It's the idea of a whole room full of people 202 00:10:00,155 --> 00:10:04,863 rising together. 203 00:10:04,863 --> 00:10:06,566 Listen to this. 204 00:10:06,566 --> 00:10:08,890 In Isaiah 14:9, when you go back 205 00:10:08,890 --> 00:10:11,362 and you look at the Septuagint, 206 00:10:11,362 --> 00:10:13,773 the Old Testament Greek translation. 207 00:10:13,773 --> 00:10:18,720 We find this exact verb. 208 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:21,062 And you know what it's used to describe 209 00:10:21,062 --> 00:10:22,479 there in Isaiah 14? 210 00:10:22,479 --> 00:10:28,682 It's used to describe the destruction 211 00:10:28,682 --> 00:10:32,010 of the king of Babylon. 212 00:10:32,010 --> 00:10:33,801 And do you know what God says? 213 00:10:33,801 --> 00:10:37,704 God says when you, king of Babylon, 214 00:10:37,704 --> 00:10:41,697 are destroyed, the kings of all the nations 215 00:10:41,697 --> 00:10:49,574 are going to stand together from off their throne. 216 00:10:51,611 --> 00:10:54,055 I know a lot of you have things in your lap. 217 00:10:54,055 --> 00:10:55,373 Maybe it's not convenient. 218 00:10:55,373 --> 00:10:56,382 But you know what, 219 00:10:56,382 --> 00:10:58,067 I'm going to ask you all to stand. 220 00:10:58,067 --> 00:10:59,713 When I count to three. 221 00:10:59,713 --> 00:11:01,740 Not yet. 222 00:11:01,740 --> 00:11:03,656 So if you've got something in your lap 223 00:11:03,656 --> 00:11:05,862 that's prohibiting it, set it aside for a second. 224 00:11:05,862 --> 00:11:07,096 I'm going to ask you all to stand. 225 00:11:07,096 --> 00:11:08,342 And what I want you to do 226 00:11:08,342 --> 00:11:11,950 is listen to the sound. 227 00:11:11,950 --> 00:11:17,618 One, two, three. 228 00:11:17,618 --> 00:11:20,340 Ok, sit. 229 00:11:20,340 --> 00:11:23,981 You all stood together. 230 00:11:23,981 --> 00:11:29,764 You all did the action that this verb carries. 231 00:11:29,764 --> 00:11:34,073 The thing is, you all did it in your strength. 232 00:11:34,073 --> 00:11:35,973 The reality that we have here 233 00:11:35,973 --> 00:11:39,855 is that when Christ rose, it was by the power of God 234 00:11:39,855 --> 00:11:42,689 and by that power, we all rose with Him. 235 00:11:42,689 --> 00:11:43,895 That's the reality. 236 00:11:43,895 --> 00:11:47,346 This greatness of the power of God 237 00:11:47,346 --> 00:11:49,447 pulled us all up. 238 00:11:49,447 --> 00:11:51,954 All Christians pulled up with Him. 239 00:11:51,954 --> 00:11:54,197 What Paul is saying, 240 00:11:54,197 --> 00:12:01,146 is that when Christ rose from the dead 241 00:12:01,146 --> 00:12:06,869 and stood and threw off those grave clothes, 242 00:12:06,869 --> 00:12:08,698 there was a sound. 243 00:12:08,698 --> 00:12:10,404 Not literally. 244 00:12:10,404 --> 00:12:15,283 But there was a sound of a multitude 245 00:12:15,283 --> 00:12:17,694 from every tribe and tongue, 246 00:12:17,694 --> 00:12:20,978 from every people, from every nation, 247 00:12:20,978 --> 00:12:25,000 that came up with Him. 248 00:12:25,000 --> 00:12:27,309 That's the reality. 249 00:12:27,309 --> 00:12:28,841 And then, what happens is 250 00:12:28,841 --> 00:12:30,251 Christ went even higher. 251 00:12:30,251 --> 00:12:31,234 We saw it. 252 00:12:31,234 --> 00:12:34,354 He soars through the skies. 253 00:12:34,354 --> 00:12:36,275 Through the heavens 254 00:12:36,275 --> 00:12:38,164 as a great high priest, 255 00:12:38,164 --> 00:12:39,820 He soared through the heavens, 256 00:12:39,820 --> 00:12:42,276 and He's taken up to the right hand. 257 00:12:42,276 --> 00:12:46,491 And you see from the portion of this verse 258 00:12:46,491 --> 00:12:48,740 that we're going to deal with next time, 259 00:12:48,740 --> 00:12:50,884 we went with Him. 260 00:12:50,884 --> 00:12:53,644 There is a sound of a multitude 261 00:12:53,644 --> 00:12:56,242 being taken up altogether with Him. 262 00:12:56,242 --> 00:12:59,075 That's what the power of God has done. 263 00:12:59,075 --> 00:13:02,709 God binds the Christian to Christ. 264 00:13:02,709 --> 00:13:04,755 One with Him. 265 00:13:04,755 --> 00:13:07,759 So that what happened to Jesus Christ in the physical realm, 266 00:13:07,759 --> 00:13:11,175 it happens to us in the spiritual. 267 00:13:11,175 --> 00:13:12,722 Here's the thing. 268 00:13:12,722 --> 00:13:16,352 You have to get this. 269 00:13:16,352 --> 00:13:20,834 The verb itself carries the idea 270 00:13:20,834 --> 00:13:22,798 of raised together. 271 00:13:22,798 --> 00:13:28,314 The context doesn't mean just all of us together. 272 00:13:28,314 --> 00:13:35,283 The context dictates it's together with Christ. 273 00:13:35,283 --> 00:13:37,264 Now think with me. 274 00:13:37,264 --> 00:13:40,096 Do you know what the apostle is doing? 275 00:13:40,096 --> 00:13:43,686 He's got in mind a historical reality. 276 00:13:43,686 --> 00:13:47,099 He's got in mind facts. 277 00:13:47,099 --> 00:13:49,037 Something that actually happened 278 00:13:49,037 --> 00:13:50,935 in the course of time. 279 00:13:50,935 --> 00:13:53,838 He is looking back to an event 280 00:13:53,838 --> 00:13:55,517 that took place, 281 00:13:55,517 --> 00:13:57,944 and he's tying that together 282 00:13:57,944 --> 00:14:01,438 with the reality of the spiritual condition 283 00:14:01,438 --> 00:14:03,808 of every Christian. 284 00:14:03,808 --> 00:14:08,729 The Roman governor Pilate. 285 00:14:08,729 --> 00:14:12,437 He had the scourge laid to His back. 286 00:14:12,437 --> 00:14:14,258 Think with me. 287 00:14:14,258 --> 00:14:16,261 Go back here. 288 00:14:16,261 --> 00:14:21,023 The Roman soldiers... 289 00:14:21,023 --> 00:14:27,242 they twisted together thorns. 290 00:14:27,242 --> 00:14:29,328 You think they were kind in the way 291 00:14:29,328 --> 00:14:32,359 they placed that on His head? 292 00:14:32,359 --> 00:14:34,741 About as kind as the way they placed 293 00:14:34,741 --> 00:14:36,137 the reed in His right hand, 294 00:14:36,137 --> 00:14:41,633 and took it out and began to whack Him in the head with it. 295 00:14:41,633 --> 00:14:45,190 It says that they smote Him with their hands. 296 00:14:45,190 --> 00:14:47,163 It says that they spit on Him. 297 00:14:47,163 --> 00:14:50,021 The Jews had already done that, 298 00:14:50,021 --> 00:14:51,641 there with the high priest, 299 00:14:51,641 --> 00:14:52,989 they'd already spit on Him. 300 00:14:52,989 --> 00:14:56,295 Now the Romans are spitting on Him. 301 00:14:56,295 --> 00:15:02,303 Luke's account says they beat Him. 302 00:15:02,303 --> 00:15:05,838 They robed Him with purple. 303 00:15:05,838 --> 00:15:09,221 They fell down before Him. 304 00:15:09,221 --> 00:15:16,480 "Hail, King of the Jews!" 305 00:15:16,480 --> 00:15:19,315 And you know what they did? 306 00:15:19,315 --> 00:15:24,651 They nailed Him to a tree. 307 00:15:24,651 --> 00:15:26,996 They hung Him on that tree by nails. 308 00:15:26,996 --> 00:15:33,262 He bore our sins in His own body on that tree. 309 00:15:33,262 --> 00:15:36,639 And He hung there and He suffered. 310 00:15:36,639 --> 00:15:38,417 And He came to the place where 311 00:15:38,417 --> 00:15:39,843 He bowed His head 312 00:15:39,843 --> 00:15:41,520 and He gave up His spirit. 313 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:43,844 He gave up His spirit. 314 00:15:43,844 --> 00:15:46,397 His spirit left His body. 315 00:15:46,397 --> 00:15:48,353 He was dead. 316 00:15:48,353 --> 00:15:51,114 He was actually physically dead. 317 00:15:51,114 --> 00:15:52,806 And they made certain He was dead. 318 00:15:52,806 --> 00:15:56,194 And they rammed a spear up through His side 319 00:15:56,194 --> 00:15:58,240 and blood and water came out. 320 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:01,350 And His lifeless body was taken down. 321 00:16:01,350 --> 00:16:03,711 And they brought myrrh and they brought aloes, 322 00:16:03,711 --> 00:16:05,438 and there was a nearby tomb, 323 00:16:05,438 --> 00:16:07,190 and they put His body in there, 324 00:16:07,190 --> 00:16:09,171 and they took a great big stone 325 00:16:09,171 --> 00:16:11,008 and they sealed the tomb. 326 00:16:11,008 --> 00:16:12,777 And that's historical fact. 327 00:16:12,777 --> 00:16:15,751 And they sealed it. 328 00:16:15,751 --> 00:16:17,428 And He was dead. 329 00:16:17,428 --> 00:16:19,448 And He was in there and He was dead. 330 00:16:19,448 --> 00:16:21,509 For three days. 331 00:16:21,509 --> 00:16:23,220 That is the reality. 332 00:16:23,220 --> 00:16:29,442 Jesus Christ laid down His life for His sheep. 333 00:16:29,442 --> 00:16:31,008 He was dead. 334 00:16:31,008 --> 00:16:32,877 He was physically, actually, 335 00:16:32,877 --> 00:16:36,577 historically, literally dead. 336 00:16:36,577 --> 00:16:38,945 He was dead for three days. 337 00:16:38,945 --> 00:16:41,565 It's historical fact. 338 00:16:41,565 --> 00:16:43,302 And Paul's looking at that. 339 00:16:43,302 --> 00:16:45,790 And he says Christian, 340 00:16:45,790 --> 00:16:48,470 you are not separated from that. 341 00:16:48,470 --> 00:16:50,160 You are integral with it. 342 00:16:50,160 --> 00:16:52,712 You are one with what happened there. 343 00:16:52,712 --> 00:16:54,571 That is not something separate. 344 00:16:54,571 --> 00:16:56,454 What was happening there, 345 00:16:56,454 --> 00:16:57,990 you're tied to it. 346 00:16:57,990 --> 00:16:59,696 You're united to it. 347 00:16:59,696 --> 00:17:01,125 You're one with it. 348 00:17:01,125 --> 00:17:03,524 And glory to God that it be so, 349 00:17:03,524 --> 00:17:05,967 because there is such spiritual realities 350 00:17:05,967 --> 00:17:08,288 that Paul means to communicate to us 351 00:17:08,288 --> 00:17:10,669 about our connection to that. 352 00:17:10,669 --> 00:17:11,955 Here's the thing. 353 00:17:11,955 --> 00:17:13,702 He didn't stay dead. 354 00:17:13,702 --> 00:17:15,224 On the first day of the week, 355 00:17:15,224 --> 00:17:16,671 at the early dawn, 356 00:17:16,671 --> 00:17:19,062 some of His disciples went to the tomb. 357 00:17:19,062 --> 00:17:20,858 And what did they find? 358 00:17:20,858 --> 00:17:22,375 I'll tell you what they found. 359 00:17:22,375 --> 00:17:24,589 They found an earthquake. 360 00:17:24,589 --> 00:17:27,809 They found that the angel of the Lord had descended. 361 00:17:27,809 --> 00:17:31,075 They found the stone, but it had been rolled away. 362 00:17:31,075 --> 00:17:35,132 They found the guards, but they were unconscious from fear. 363 00:17:35,132 --> 00:17:37,299 They found the grave clothes. 364 00:17:37,299 --> 00:17:44,268 They found the linen that had covered His face. 365 00:17:44,268 --> 00:17:50,416 But they didn't find any body. 366 00:17:50,416 --> 00:17:56,502 You go to Mohammad's grave, there's a body there. 367 00:17:56,502 --> 00:18:03,034 You go to all the pope's graves, there are bodies there. 368 00:18:03,034 --> 00:18:08,131 This one was empty. 369 00:18:08,131 --> 00:18:12,027 The body of Christ was gone. 370 00:18:12,027 --> 00:18:13,462 Do you remember the account? 371 00:18:13,462 --> 00:18:16,184 Two angels in dazzling apparel - 372 00:18:16,184 --> 00:18:17,877 says to these ladies, 373 00:18:17,877 --> 00:18:24,594 why are you seeking the living among the dead? 374 00:18:24,594 --> 00:18:27,314 It's not appropriate for them to be here anymore. 375 00:18:27,314 --> 00:18:29,638 Don't you remember what He said to you? 376 00:18:29,638 --> 00:18:31,695 He said He would be taken by the hands 377 00:18:31,695 --> 00:18:33,204 of sinful men, 378 00:18:33,204 --> 00:18:35,072 and they would crucify Him, 379 00:18:35,072 --> 00:18:37,823 and on the third day, He was going to rise. 380 00:18:37,823 --> 00:18:39,424 And that's exactly what happened. 381 00:18:39,424 --> 00:18:41,225 That morning of the third day, 382 00:18:41,225 --> 00:18:44,583 the grave of the Savior of the world was empty. 383 00:18:44,583 --> 00:18:47,513 And Christian, it's got everything to do with you. 384 00:18:47,513 --> 00:18:50,141 That's what Paul is saying here. 385 00:18:50,141 --> 00:18:52,310 He had been dead. 386 00:18:52,310 --> 00:18:54,910 That was very much real. 387 00:18:54,910 --> 00:18:57,826 The truth is there had been a dead body 388 00:18:57,826 --> 00:18:59,327 in that tomb. 389 00:18:59,327 --> 00:19:02,250 Sin and death had done their uttermost 390 00:19:02,250 --> 00:19:03,425 to keep Him there. 391 00:19:03,425 --> 00:19:05,634 All seemed lost, did it not? 392 00:19:05,634 --> 00:19:08,176 The two on the road to Emmaus, 393 00:19:08,176 --> 00:19:10,972 they're saying we thought it had been Him, 394 00:19:10,972 --> 00:19:12,033 but all is lost. 395 00:19:12,033 --> 00:19:13,505 I mean, they killed Him. 396 00:19:13,505 --> 00:19:14,432 What now? 397 00:19:14,432 --> 00:19:16,830 Our hope is dashed. 398 00:19:16,830 --> 00:19:18,135 And the reality is, 399 00:19:18,135 --> 00:19:20,756 as a man, Christ was dead 400 00:19:20,756 --> 00:19:22,487 just as any man dies. 401 00:19:22,487 --> 00:19:24,706 He was in the realm of the dead. 402 00:19:24,706 --> 00:19:27,209 It appeared to be the end. 403 00:19:27,209 --> 00:19:29,647 But, it was not so. 404 00:19:29,647 --> 00:19:34,827 And this is where the raw power of God comes in. 405 00:19:34,827 --> 00:19:38,665 God raised Him up loosing the pangs of death. 406 00:19:38,665 --> 00:19:43,055 For it was not possible for death to hold Him. 407 00:19:43,055 --> 00:19:45,442 Why? 408 00:19:45,442 --> 00:19:51,010 The wages of sin is death. 409 00:19:51,010 --> 00:19:56,722 But if sin is paid, death has no hold. 410 00:19:56,722 --> 00:19:58,970 It couldn't hold Him. 411 00:19:58,970 --> 00:20:07,159 There was no legal right for it to hold Him. 412 00:20:07,159 --> 00:20:10,112 God loosed the pangs of death. 413 00:20:10,112 --> 00:20:11,882 Don't you love that? 414 00:20:11,882 --> 00:20:15,237 It was not possible for death to hold Him. 415 00:20:15,237 --> 00:20:17,510 And when Jesus came to life, 416 00:20:17,510 --> 00:20:18,922 here's the thing, 417 00:20:18,922 --> 00:20:20,580 we looked at last week - 418 00:20:20,580 --> 00:20:21,882 life! life! 419 00:20:21,882 --> 00:20:23,181 But you know what? 420 00:20:23,181 --> 00:20:24,775 When Christ came alive, 421 00:20:24,775 --> 00:20:26,607 can you imagine if He would come alive 422 00:20:26,607 --> 00:20:28,072 and then just stayed there. 423 00:20:28,072 --> 00:20:29,781 Well, this is a comfortable place. 424 00:20:29,781 --> 00:20:32,935 I think I'll just relax here and sleep awhile. 425 00:20:32,935 --> 00:20:35,115 I think I'll just hang out here in the tomb. 426 00:20:35,115 --> 00:20:37,508 That's not what happened. 427 00:20:37,508 --> 00:20:40,370 Living people don't stay under the death clothes. 428 00:20:40,370 --> 00:20:42,620 They come out! 429 00:20:42,620 --> 00:20:45,799 Our Christ is the living Christ. 430 00:20:45,799 --> 00:20:47,424 That's the reality. 431 00:20:47,424 --> 00:20:50,051 He no longer stays there wrapped in the death clothes. 432 00:20:50,051 --> 00:20:51,271 He's alive. 433 00:20:51,271 --> 00:20:53,279 He's arisen. 434 00:20:53,279 --> 00:20:54,699 He's come forth. 435 00:20:54,699 --> 00:20:56,269 We say to Catholicism, 436 00:20:56,269 --> 00:20:59,369 we abominate your dead Christ on that crucifix! 437 00:20:59,369 --> 00:21:01,957 Our Christ isn't there any longer. 438 00:21:01,957 --> 00:21:02,986 He came out! 439 00:21:02,986 --> 00:21:04,076 He's alive! 440 00:21:04,076 --> 00:21:05,124 He's really alive! 441 00:21:05,124 --> 00:21:06,979 And forevermore. 442 00:21:06,979 --> 00:21:09,060 He's not going back there. 443 00:21:09,060 --> 00:21:11,365 Be gone with that. 444 00:21:11,365 --> 00:21:14,058 Forty days later, 445 00:21:14,058 --> 00:21:17,058 He rose even higher. 446 00:21:17,058 --> 00:21:19,416 He soared through the heavens. 447 00:21:19,416 --> 00:21:22,177 And He came down on that throne 448 00:21:22,177 --> 00:21:24,177 at the very right hand of God. 449 00:21:24,177 --> 00:21:26,359 And the reality is, brethren, 450 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:28,320 this is history. 451 00:21:28,320 --> 00:21:30,324 This is not fiction. 452 00:21:30,324 --> 00:21:33,742 This is a historical fact. 453 00:21:33,742 --> 00:21:35,560 And what Paul is doing 454 00:21:35,560 --> 00:21:37,967 is he says that historical fact 455 00:21:37,967 --> 00:21:40,865 and you, Christian, where you are today, 456 00:21:40,865 --> 00:21:42,921 there is a vital connection. 457 00:21:42,921 --> 00:21:46,249 That's the teaching at the beginning of verse 6 here. 458 00:21:46,249 --> 00:21:52,946 You have been raised together with Christ. 459 00:21:52,946 --> 00:21:55,919 That's the reality. 460 00:21:55,919 --> 00:21:58,430 That's the historical reality. 461 00:21:58,430 --> 00:22:01,883 What the Apostle Paul is saying to these Ephesians 462 00:22:01,883 --> 00:22:08,100 is that your salvation is tied to that, 463 00:22:08,100 --> 00:22:12,982 and your salvation is comparable to that. 464 00:22:12,982 --> 00:22:18,526 In other words, what happened there 465 00:22:18,526 --> 00:22:23,636 is true, just as actual, just as historical 466 00:22:23,636 --> 00:22:27,679 a fact it is that He rose, 467 00:22:27,679 --> 00:22:31,743 so there are actual and historical facts 468 00:22:31,743 --> 00:22:33,647 that are true about your life. 469 00:22:33,647 --> 00:22:35,655 Oh yes, what happened to Him was physical. 470 00:22:35,655 --> 00:22:37,317 What happens to you is spiritual. 471 00:22:37,317 --> 00:22:41,700 But just as real, just as historical. 472 00:22:41,700 --> 00:22:47,277 Just as true, just as living and actual. 473 00:22:47,277 --> 00:22:49,010 You think of Christ. 474 00:22:49,010 --> 00:22:51,145 There He was. 475 00:22:51,145 --> 00:22:53,437 He was in a state of corruption. 476 00:22:53,437 --> 00:22:57,686 Now, I know, the psalm says that He wasn't left 477 00:22:57,686 --> 00:22:59,406 in the state of corruption, 478 00:22:59,406 --> 00:23:00,814 but He was dead. 479 00:23:00,814 --> 00:23:02,864 He was dead for real. 480 00:23:02,864 --> 00:23:04,693 For three days. 481 00:23:04,693 --> 00:23:06,920 God didn't leave Him in a state of corruption. 482 00:23:06,920 --> 00:23:08,609 But death is a state of corruption. 483 00:23:08,609 --> 00:23:10,834 And He was in that state. 484 00:23:10,834 --> 00:23:12,973 He was in that realm of death. 485 00:23:12,973 --> 00:23:14,574 That's where He was. 486 00:23:14,574 --> 00:23:16,532 The tomb was closed. 487 00:23:16,532 --> 00:23:19,362 It was dark in there. 488 00:23:19,362 --> 00:23:21,083 But then He's alive. 489 00:23:21,083 --> 00:23:23,890 And once alive, He doesn't keep company with the dead. 490 00:23:23,890 --> 00:23:25,590 What does He do? 491 00:23:25,590 --> 00:23:27,470 Paul over in 1 Corinthians 15 says 492 00:23:27,470 --> 00:23:30,685 He went and He showed Himself to 500 people, 493 00:23:30,685 --> 00:23:32,406 most of whom were still alive 494 00:23:32,406 --> 00:23:35,708 when Paul penned that letter to the Corinthians. 495 00:23:35,708 --> 00:23:38,241 See, brethren, this is real. 496 00:23:38,241 --> 00:23:41,642 Real brethren, upwards of 500 497 00:23:41,642 --> 00:23:44,225 actually saw Him risen. 498 00:23:44,225 --> 00:23:47,577 They were actually able to see what Thomas saw. 499 00:23:47,577 --> 00:23:52,301 Nail prints in His hands. 500 00:23:52,301 --> 00:23:54,897 He bore the wounds. 501 00:23:54,897 --> 00:23:56,464 This is real. 502 00:23:56,464 --> 00:23:58,756 He really appeared. 503 00:23:58,756 --> 00:24:00,949 Paul really wrote a letter to the Corinthians, 504 00:24:00,949 --> 00:24:02,534 and at the time when He wrote it, 505 00:24:02,534 --> 00:24:04,254 there really were the vast majority 506 00:24:04,254 --> 00:24:06,926 of these 500 brethren still alive. 507 00:24:06,926 --> 00:24:11,569 Can you imagine that? 508 00:24:11,569 --> 00:24:14,262 Can you imagine... 509 00:24:14,262 --> 00:24:16,519 you come in from somewhere, 510 00:24:16,519 --> 00:24:21,677 and it's like yeah, 500 of us saw Him! 511 00:24:21,677 --> 00:24:23,464 Tell me! 512 00:24:23,464 --> 00:24:27,480 What was it like? 513 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,225 Man, 500 of you got to see Him? 514 00:24:30,225 --> 00:24:34,591 Lord, why couldn't I have been one of them? 515 00:24:34,591 --> 00:24:36,230 That was real. 516 00:24:36,230 --> 00:24:37,657 But here's the thing, 517 00:24:37,657 --> 00:24:40,381 when you rise from the dead, 518 00:24:40,381 --> 00:24:43,707 you don't go on living in the tomb. 519 00:24:43,707 --> 00:24:45,975 That's the reality. 520 00:24:45,975 --> 00:24:47,887 He doesn't keep the grave clothes on. 521 00:24:47,887 --> 00:24:48,668 Why? 522 00:24:48,668 --> 00:24:50,088 He's alive. 523 00:24:50,088 --> 00:24:55,229 Paul is drawing a direct correlation between 524 00:24:55,229 --> 00:24:57,484 that which was true of Him 525 00:24:57,484 --> 00:25:01,251 and what is true of you, if you are a Christian. 526 00:25:01,251 --> 00:25:06,020 So what does that tell us about a Christian? 527 00:25:06,020 --> 00:25:09,747 Brethren, I'll tell you what it tells us about the Christian. 528 00:25:09,747 --> 00:25:11,420 Do you remember those women? 529 00:25:11,420 --> 00:25:15,656 What were they going there to the tomb to find? 530 00:25:15,656 --> 00:25:17,448 What were they going looking for? 531 00:25:17,448 --> 00:25:21,139 What were they talking about when they were going there? 532 00:25:21,139 --> 00:25:24,199 Anybody remember? 533 00:25:24,199 --> 00:25:25,864 The stone. 534 00:25:25,864 --> 00:25:29,515 What was their concern? 535 00:25:29,515 --> 00:25:31,327 How are we going to roll it away? 536 00:25:31,327 --> 00:25:32,717 We're just a group of women. 537 00:25:32,717 --> 00:25:34,355 That thing is big. That thing is heavy. 538 00:25:34,355 --> 00:25:35,992 It probably took a whole bunch of strong men 539 00:25:35,992 --> 00:25:37,294 to roll that thing there. 540 00:25:37,294 --> 00:25:38,622 They sealed it. 541 00:25:38,622 --> 00:25:41,565 See, they were bringing more spices. 542 00:25:41,565 --> 00:25:43,967 They wanted to anoint His body even furthermore 543 00:25:43,967 --> 00:25:48,510 than the 75 pounds that Nicodemus brought. 544 00:25:48,510 --> 00:25:50,684 But what was the reality? 545 00:25:50,684 --> 00:25:53,000 I'll tell you what the reality is. 546 00:25:53,000 --> 00:25:55,208 The reality is that when they got to the tomb, 547 00:25:55,208 --> 00:25:56,602 they found a bunch of things there. 548 00:25:56,602 --> 00:25:58,497 They found a bunch of things to be true, 549 00:25:58,497 --> 00:26:00,223 but they didn't find a body. 550 00:26:00,223 --> 00:26:02,307 Christ wasn't in there. 551 00:26:02,307 --> 00:26:04,258 Let me tell you this. 552 00:26:04,258 --> 00:26:06,023 You can send a group of women 553 00:26:06,023 --> 00:26:09,204 to go look in the first three verses for you, 554 00:26:09,204 --> 00:26:10,570 if you're a true Christian, 555 00:26:10,570 --> 00:26:12,331 they're not going to find you there. 556 00:26:12,331 --> 00:26:13,874 Same reality. 557 00:26:13,874 --> 00:26:15,154 You're not there anymore. 558 00:26:15,154 --> 00:26:16,355 That's the tomb. 559 00:26:16,355 --> 00:26:17,171 Don't you get it? 560 00:26:17,171 --> 00:26:21,397 The first three verses are the spiritual tomb. 561 00:26:21,397 --> 00:26:23,280 That is death. 562 00:26:23,280 --> 00:26:25,448 Dead in trespasses and sins. 563 00:26:25,448 --> 00:26:27,443 There it is. 564 00:26:27,443 --> 00:26:28,963 That's the grave. 565 00:26:28,963 --> 00:26:31,171 That's the place of death. 566 00:26:31,171 --> 00:26:33,047 Send somebody there to find you now, 567 00:26:33,047 --> 00:26:35,096 you're not there. 568 00:26:35,096 --> 00:26:36,375 Why? 569 00:26:36,375 --> 00:26:42,497 Because you're not going to find the living among the dead. 570 00:26:42,497 --> 00:26:44,228 Same truth. 571 00:26:44,228 --> 00:26:46,368 You see, there's a correlation. 572 00:26:46,368 --> 00:26:48,974 That's the reality. 573 00:26:48,974 --> 00:26:50,847 And the question is, 574 00:26:50,847 --> 00:26:52,181 the question that I have 575 00:26:52,181 --> 00:26:54,494 and the question that I brought up last week is 576 00:26:54,494 --> 00:26:56,279 how do we know this? 577 00:26:56,279 --> 00:26:57,646 I mean, experientially? 578 00:26:57,646 --> 00:26:59,914 That's what I'm interested in. 579 00:26:59,914 --> 00:27:04,517 How do I know this reality? 580 00:27:04,517 --> 00:27:07,445 I don't have it tattooed on my head. 581 00:27:07,445 --> 00:27:09,233 What does this feel like? 582 00:27:09,233 --> 00:27:14,174 What does being raised with Christ look like 583 00:27:14,174 --> 00:27:18,128 in actual experience and practice? 584 00:27:18,128 --> 00:27:20,426 I want to know this. 585 00:27:20,426 --> 00:27:22,353 I think you should want to know this. 586 00:27:22,353 --> 00:27:23,763 Why? 587 00:27:23,763 --> 00:27:26,649 Because one thing I know about this book, 588 00:27:26,649 --> 00:27:30,095 is that this book never assumes that 589 00:27:30,095 --> 00:27:34,449 everybody that's in the church is genuine. 590 00:27:34,449 --> 00:27:36,630 I want the real deal. 591 00:27:36,630 --> 00:27:38,384 I want to see in my life 592 00:27:38,384 --> 00:27:44,342 what this being raised together with Christ looks like. 593 00:27:44,342 --> 00:27:47,248 I want to know that that's real. 594 00:27:47,248 --> 00:27:48,373 What is this? 595 00:27:48,373 --> 00:27:49,823 What does this mean? 596 00:27:49,823 --> 00:27:52,046 We've got wheat and tares. 597 00:27:52,046 --> 00:27:53,899 What's the distinction? 598 00:27:53,899 --> 00:27:55,843 We've got some that Jesus described 599 00:27:55,843 --> 00:28:00,414 as not having root in themselves. 600 00:28:00,414 --> 00:28:02,485 I want the real deal. 601 00:28:02,485 --> 00:28:03,808 I want to know this. 602 00:28:03,808 --> 00:28:05,639 What does it look like in real life 603 00:28:05,639 --> 00:28:08,284 to genuinely be raised together with Jesus Christ? 604 00:28:08,284 --> 00:28:16,805 What is the experience that a person has when this happens? 605 00:28:16,805 --> 00:28:22,847 Because Paul is not saying this happens to some people. 606 00:28:22,847 --> 00:28:25,624 This is Christianity. 607 00:28:25,624 --> 00:28:30,456 Remember, by grace you have been saved. 608 00:28:30,456 --> 00:28:32,508 Those are the words right before this. 609 00:28:32,508 --> 00:28:35,341 This has to do with salvation. 610 00:28:35,341 --> 00:28:37,713 Not just the elite. 611 00:28:37,713 --> 00:28:40,204 Not just apostles. 612 00:28:40,204 --> 00:28:46,333 Not just certain privileged early first century Christians. 613 00:28:46,333 --> 00:28:50,735 This is saved. 614 00:28:50,735 --> 00:28:53,707 Well, brethren, the Apostle Paul 615 00:28:53,707 --> 00:28:59,978 gives us the most detailed commentary 616 00:28:59,978 --> 00:29:04,229 on this in Romans 6. 617 00:29:04,229 --> 00:29:06,001 So let's go to Romans 6. 618 00:29:06,001 --> 00:29:10,550 We're going to spend the rest of our time there. 619 00:29:10,550 --> 00:29:13,579 Because there really is no place... 620 00:29:13,579 --> 00:29:17,438 for one, this is great, because it's Paul. 621 00:29:17,438 --> 00:29:20,532 Because it's the same author of Ephesians. 622 00:29:20,532 --> 00:29:23,389 His terminology, his thought process, 623 00:29:23,389 --> 00:29:25,725 the way he communicates is going to tend 624 00:29:25,725 --> 00:29:26,892 to be the same. 625 00:29:26,892 --> 00:29:30,602 It's the same person. 626 00:29:30,602 --> 00:29:33,828 This is where the apostle gives us 627 00:29:33,828 --> 00:29:45,128 the greatest commentary on this whole idea. 628 00:29:45,128 --> 00:29:49,401 Just to let a little light through 629 00:29:49,401 --> 00:29:51,976 let's read the first 14 verses. 630 00:29:51,976 --> 00:29:56,030 I know we simply cannot attempt to fathom 631 00:29:56,030 --> 00:30:01,097 and explore the depths of this right now. 632 00:30:01,097 --> 00:30:04,723 And I don't even want to try to do that. 633 00:30:04,723 --> 00:30:07,092 But I want to pull several things out of here 634 00:30:07,092 --> 00:30:10,300 that I think are extremely helpful. 635 00:30:10,300 --> 00:30:12,595 So, Romans 6:1, 636 00:30:12,595 --> 00:30:16,866 "What shall we say then?" 637 00:30:16,866 --> 00:30:19,114 Ok, that tells us something else has 638 00:30:19,114 --> 00:30:20,584 already been said here. 639 00:30:20,584 --> 00:30:22,207 Let me tell you what's been said 640 00:30:22,207 --> 00:30:25,168 in very compact form. 641 00:30:25,168 --> 00:30:34,184 Paul has just said that where sin abounds, 642 00:30:34,184 --> 00:30:39,500 grace also doth much more abound. 643 00:30:39,500 --> 00:30:46,884 In other words, nobody is too bad to be saved. 644 00:30:46,884 --> 00:30:49,620 You say, yeah, I see that guy over there got saved, 645 00:30:49,620 --> 00:30:52,336 but I've got ten times as much. 646 00:30:52,336 --> 00:30:55,104 And Paul says, where sin abounds, 647 00:30:55,104 --> 00:31:02,469 God's grace is sufficient to go even higher than that. 648 00:31:02,469 --> 00:31:05,576 There's no amount of sin you can confess 649 00:31:05,576 --> 00:31:09,095 that God's grace is not higher still. 650 00:31:09,095 --> 00:31:10,798 That's the point. 651 00:31:10,798 --> 00:31:13,049 But see, somebody comes along and says, 652 00:31:13,049 --> 00:31:15,393 Whoa, whoa, whoa... you teach that, 653 00:31:15,393 --> 00:31:17,480 and you are basically going to give people 654 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,143 a license to sin. 655 00:31:20,143 --> 00:31:22,676 Because people will say, well, if that's true 656 00:31:22,676 --> 00:31:25,684 what prohibits me from being twice as bad 657 00:31:25,684 --> 00:31:27,555 as the worst man who ever lived? 658 00:31:27,555 --> 00:31:31,579 And still isn't grace sufficient? 659 00:31:31,579 --> 00:31:37,672 And we would say, yes, it is. 660 00:31:37,672 --> 00:31:40,394 What then? 661 00:31:40,394 --> 00:31:42,405 Should we just continue in sin, 662 00:31:42,405 --> 00:31:43,845 that grace may abound? 663 00:31:43,845 --> 00:31:45,069 I'll tell you this. 664 00:31:45,069 --> 00:31:49,486 Brethren, the Gospel is a dangerous truth. 665 00:31:49,486 --> 00:31:50,795 But I'll tell you this, 666 00:31:50,795 --> 00:31:53,402 you're not preaching it right if you don't 667 00:31:53,402 --> 00:31:56,922 lead people to think that it's so absolutely free 668 00:31:56,922 --> 00:32:00,065 that it produces this question in their minds. 669 00:32:00,065 --> 00:32:03,556 You're not preaching the Gospel free enough, 670 00:32:03,556 --> 00:32:05,588 if it's not leading people to say, 671 00:32:05,588 --> 00:32:06,697 wait a second! 672 00:32:06,697 --> 00:32:08,621 Because that's what happens in people's minds. 673 00:32:08,621 --> 00:32:10,893 If you say that there's nothing for me to do 674 00:32:10,893 --> 00:32:13,264 and it's not my works and it's not my morality 675 00:32:13,264 --> 00:32:16,423 and it's not my goodness and it's none of that? 676 00:32:16,423 --> 00:32:17,917 You're saying the grace of God 677 00:32:17,917 --> 00:32:20,410 just comes in and nothing on my part, 678 00:32:20,410 --> 00:32:22,916 no merit on my part, 679 00:32:22,916 --> 00:32:25,617 and it's just going to wash away all my sins, 680 00:32:25,617 --> 00:32:27,826 I'm going to be forgiven and taken to heaven? 681 00:32:27,826 --> 00:32:31,803 And we say, that's exactly right. 682 00:32:31,803 --> 00:32:33,222 But if that's true, 683 00:32:33,222 --> 00:32:36,606 what keeps me from just living on in sin? 684 00:32:36,606 --> 00:32:38,153 Grace. 685 00:32:38,153 --> 00:32:40,119 It should be sufficient even to cover 686 00:32:40,119 --> 00:32:43,302 the sin I commit tomorrow, right? 687 00:32:43,302 --> 00:32:45,195 And Paul confronts that. 688 00:32:45,195 --> 00:32:47,427 And he says, what then? 689 00:32:47,427 --> 00:32:48,832 Is that what we're saying? 690 00:32:48,832 --> 00:32:52,712 Do we just continue in sin now that we're Christians? 691 00:32:52,712 --> 00:32:56,303 That grace might abound? 692 00:32:56,303 --> 00:32:58,548 And he says, 693 00:32:58,548 --> 00:33:02,929 how can you? 694 00:33:02,929 --> 00:33:04,852 There's a reason why you can't. 695 00:33:04,852 --> 00:33:05,858 Watch. 696 00:33:05,858 --> 00:33:07,604 By no means. 697 00:33:07,604 --> 00:33:10,487 How can we? 698 00:33:10,487 --> 00:33:13,217 Why? Well, something has happened. 699 00:33:13,217 --> 00:33:17,967 How can we who died to sin still live in it? 700 00:33:17,967 --> 00:33:19,762 "Do you not know that all of us 701 00:33:19,762 --> 00:33:21,776 have been baptized into Christ Jesus?" 702 00:33:21,776 --> 00:33:23,974 That we're baptized into His death. 703 00:33:23,974 --> 00:33:25,954 So what you see here is... 704 00:33:25,954 --> 00:33:30,101 with Christ; into Christ; 705 00:33:30,101 --> 00:33:32,975 there's "into His death." 706 00:33:32,975 --> 00:33:34,329 There's a oneness. 707 00:33:34,329 --> 00:33:35,759 The union. 708 00:33:35,759 --> 00:33:38,218 We were buried therefore, with Him, 709 00:33:38,218 --> 00:33:39,772 by baptism into death. 710 00:33:39,772 --> 00:33:41,448 Now, here it is. 711 00:33:41,448 --> 00:33:42,979 Here's the resurrection. 712 00:33:42,979 --> 00:33:46,689 Here's the being raised. 713 00:33:46,689 --> 00:33:49,972 "Just as Christ was raised from the dead 714 00:33:49,972 --> 00:33:52,542 by the glory of the Father..." 715 00:33:52,542 --> 00:33:58,486 we too will be raised. 716 00:33:58,486 --> 00:34:00,161 Now he doesn't use that language, 717 00:34:00,161 --> 00:34:02,490 but that's clearly what he implies. 718 00:34:02,490 --> 00:34:08,582 He describes it as we too... what? 719 00:34:08,582 --> 00:34:13,342 "We too walk in life." 720 00:34:13,342 --> 00:34:15,295 See, we've been raised to life with Him. 721 00:34:15,295 --> 00:34:18,968 It's a newness of life. 722 00:34:18,968 --> 00:34:25,226 "For if we have been united with Him," 723 00:34:25,226 --> 00:34:27,194 see the union? 724 00:34:27,194 --> 00:34:28,558 "in a death like His, 725 00:34:28,558 --> 00:34:31,654 we shall certainly be united with Him 726 00:34:31,654 --> 00:34:38,245 in a resurrection like His." 727 00:34:38,245 --> 00:34:41,971 Now, brethren, he's not talking here 728 00:34:41,971 --> 00:34:46,523 about resurrection when your body comes out of the grave. 729 00:34:46,523 --> 00:34:48,524 That's not what he's talking about. 730 00:34:48,524 --> 00:34:51,182 He's talking about why Christians 731 00:34:51,182 --> 00:34:54,669 don't continue in sin right now. 732 00:34:54,669 --> 00:34:57,626 You say, but it's future tense. 733 00:34:57,626 --> 00:34:59,597 We shall certainly be united with Him 734 00:34:59,597 --> 00:35:00,819 in a resurrection. 735 00:35:00,819 --> 00:35:02,167 Yeah, but see, the thing is 736 00:35:02,167 --> 00:35:06,506 he's putting it in relationship to the death. 737 00:35:06,506 --> 00:35:07,687 There's a death 738 00:35:07,687 --> 00:35:11,525 and the resurrection follows. 739 00:35:11,525 --> 00:35:16,659 We have a resurrection like His. 740 00:35:16,659 --> 00:35:19,558 You basically look at the vast majority 741 00:35:19,558 --> 00:35:20,723 of commentators - 742 00:35:20,723 --> 00:35:22,492 they're all on the same page here. 743 00:35:22,492 --> 00:35:25,131 That the argument has to do, 744 00:35:25,131 --> 00:35:27,475 notice verse five starts with a "for." 745 00:35:27,475 --> 00:35:30,439 It means, he's going on to explain further 746 00:35:30,439 --> 00:35:33,303 the idea, the concept of Christ being raised from the dead, 747 00:35:33,303 --> 00:35:37,356 and we too also being raised to this newness of life. 748 00:35:37,356 --> 00:35:39,749 We've been united with Him in a death like His. 749 00:35:39,749 --> 00:35:41,551 And then what follows is 750 00:35:41,551 --> 00:35:43,323 we shall certainly be united with Him 751 00:35:43,323 --> 00:35:45,274 in a resurrection like His. 752 00:35:45,274 --> 00:35:46,287 And the argument is, 753 00:35:46,287 --> 00:35:49,414 why doesn't the Christian continue in sin? 754 00:35:49,414 --> 00:35:50,757 Newness of life. 755 00:35:50,757 --> 00:35:52,077 Regeneration. 756 00:35:52,077 --> 00:35:55,545 We have experienced a resurrection like His. 757 00:35:55,545 --> 00:35:57,296 He came forth from the grave. 758 00:35:57,296 --> 00:35:59,142 We come forth from the grave. 759 00:35:59,142 --> 00:36:02,277 We're no longer in those first three verses of Ephesians 2. 760 00:36:02,277 --> 00:36:03,150 We've come out. 761 00:36:03,150 --> 00:36:04,471 Send the women to look for you. 762 00:36:04,471 --> 00:36:06,636 If you're a Christian, you're not in there. 763 00:36:06,636 --> 00:36:08,732 If you can look and somebody can finds you 764 00:36:08,732 --> 00:36:10,389 back in those first three verses, 765 00:36:10,389 --> 00:36:13,159 it's because you have not been raised. 766 00:36:13,159 --> 00:36:15,152 That's the reason. 767 00:36:15,152 --> 00:36:16,633 Six. 768 00:36:16,633 --> 00:36:18,293 "We know that our old self 769 00:36:18,293 --> 00:36:21,278 was crucified with Him in order that the body 770 00:36:21,278 --> 00:36:24,101 of sin might be brought to nothing. 771 00:36:24,101 --> 00:36:26,432 So that we would no longer be enslaved to sin." 772 00:36:26,432 --> 00:36:28,161 This is why you cannot continue. 773 00:36:28,161 --> 00:36:29,218 Regeneration. 774 00:36:29,218 --> 00:36:30,281 You are a new person. 775 00:36:30,281 --> 00:36:32,588 You're no longer enslaved to sin. 776 00:36:32,588 --> 00:36:33,900 You can't. 777 00:36:33,900 --> 00:36:37,448 The body of sin being brought to nothing. 778 00:36:37,448 --> 00:36:40,553 "For the one who has died..." 779 00:36:40,553 --> 00:36:44,916 The word here "set free," 780 00:36:44,916 --> 00:36:47,926 in the ESV is actually the word "justified." 781 00:36:47,926 --> 00:36:49,983 It seems like what he's saying here is 782 00:36:49,983 --> 00:36:53,256 you who are dead to sin 783 00:36:53,256 --> 00:36:55,621 are the ones who are truly justified. 784 00:36:55,621 --> 00:36:56,494 In other words, 785 00:36:56,494 --> 00:37:02,114 this free reality of grace abounding 786 00:37:02,114 --> 00:37:07,058 to the chief of sinners. 787 00:37:07,058 --> 00:37:13,394 That if you've actually experienced this, 788 00:37:13,394 --> 00:37:14,892 you've died to sin. 789 00:37:14,892 --> 00:37:16,221 The two go hand in hand. 790 00:37:16,221 --> 00:37:18,112 That seems like the truth there. 791 00:37:18,112 --> 00:37:19,902 But we don't have time to stay there. 792 00:37:19,902 --> 00:37:22,928 "Now, if we have died with Christ, 793 00:37:22,928 --> 00:37:25,762 we believe we will also live with Him." 794 00:37:25,762 --> 00:37:26,521 There it is. 795 00:37:26,521 --> 00:37:28,057 The life with Him. 796 00:37:28,057 --> 00:37:28,942 Now notice, 797 00:37:28,942 --> 00:37:30,863 he's not talking about the future. 798 00:37:30,863 --> 00:37:33,124 He's not talking about when we die. 799 00:37:33,124 --> 00:37:35,624 He's not talking about when Christ returns. 800 00:37:35,624 --> 00:37:38,467 Notice, "we know that Christ being raised 801 00:37:38,467 --> 00:37:41,661 from the dead will never die again. 802 00:37:41,661 --> 00:37:43,806 Death no longer has dominion over Him. 803 00:37:43,806 --> 00:37:46,506 For the death He died, He died to sin." 804 00:37:46,506 --> 00:37:48,440 How did He die to sin? 805 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:51,543 He died because He became sin for us 806 00:37:51,543 --> 00:37:53,486 in our place, 807 00:37:53,486 --> 00:37:56,111 that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 808 00:37:56,111 --> 00:37:57,910 That's how He died to it. 809 00:37:57,910 --> 00:37:59,836 And He was done with it. 810 00:37:59,836 --> 00:38:03,659 Look, the reality is, the life He lives now, 811 00:38:03,659 --> 00:38:04,955 He lives to God. 812 00:38:04,955 --> 00:38:07,735 So, here's the conclusion of all of that. 813 00:38:07,735 --> 00:38:09,834 Not something out there in the future 814 00:38:09,834 --> 00:38:12,056 about your body being raised from the dead. 815 00:38:12,056 --> 00:38:14,275 The reality of this truth has to do 816 00:38:14,275 --> 00:38:16,428 with how you live your life right now. 817 00:38:16,428 --> 00:38:19,823 And why you cannot continue in sin right now. 818 00:38:19,823 --> 00:38:23,297 So, you must right now consider yourselves 819 00:38:23,297 --> 00:38:28,696 dead to sin, alive to God in Christ Jesus. 820 00:38:28,696 --> 00:38:31,085 Now, brethren, here's the thing. 821 00:38:31,085 --> 00:38:37,816 Death here is not the same as 822 00:38:37,816 --> 00:38:41,740 death in Ephesians 2. 823 00:38:41,740 --> 00:38:45,112 In Ephesians 2:1, it says you were dead 824 00:38:45,112 --> 00:38:48,463 in trespasses and sins. 825 00:38:48,463 --> 00:38:50,577 That's when you were lost. 826 00:38:50,577 --> 00:38:55,000 The death here in Romans 6 827 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:58,656 is death to sin. 828 00:38:58,656 --> 00:39:01,488 Not dead in sin. 829 00:39:01,488 --> 00:39:03,802 It's dead to sin. 830 00:39:03,802 --> 00:39:09,281 It's actually the death that you experience as a Christian. 831 00:39:09,281 --> 00:39:11,881 The death over in Ephesians 2 is a death 832 00:39:11,881 --> 00:39:14,356 you experience as a non-Christian. 833 00:39:14,356 --> 00:39:16,129 That is the importance. 834 00:39:16,129 --> 00:39:20,252 The resurrection here is the same as the resurrection over there. 835 00:39:20,252 --> 00:39:26,214 But Paul is speaking about two different deaths. 836 00:39:26,214 --> 00:39:28,382 It's important that you see that. 837 00:39:28,382 --> 00:39:31,323 But here's the thing, 838 00:39:31,323 --> 00:39:35,994 brethren, are we supposed to continue in sin? 839 00:39:35,994 --> 00:39:38,807 That's the question that's on the table. 840 00:39:38,807 --> 00:39:40,889 He takes us to resurrection. 841 00:39:40,889 --> 00:39:42,765 He takes us to newness of life. 842 00:39:42,765 --> 00:39:45,008 He takes us to being raised with Him. 843 00:39:45,008 --> 00:39:48,863 He takes us to being alive to God. 844 00:39:48,863 --> 00:39:53,965 But here's the reality of all of it. 845 00:39:53,965 --> 00:39:58,848 Here's the flow of the argument. 846 00:39:58,848 --> 00:40:00,771 He's not trying to convince us about 847 00:40:00,771 --> 00:40:04,308 any realities concerning our future resurrection. 848 00:40:04,308 --> 00:40:06,153 Now all that's true. 849 00:40:06,153 --> 00:40:08,772 As a Christian, your body's coming out of the grave. 850 00:40:08,772 --> 00:40:11,785 But if you want to know about that, 851 00:40:11,785 --> 00:40:13,745 this isn't the text. 852 00:40:13,745 --> 00:40:15,372 Some place like 1 Corinthians 15, 853 00:40:15,372 --> 00:40:17,506 that's where you want to go to see 854 00:40:17,506 --> 00:40:20,591 the beauties and the reality of that. 855 00:40:20,591 --> 00:40:24,744 Here he's speaking about the same spiritual reality 856 00:40:24,744 --> 00:40:27,609 that takes place in the life of the Christian 857 00:40:27,609 --> 00:40:29,872 as he's talking about over in Ephesians 2. 858 00:40:29,872 --> 00:40:33,360 Which is directly connected with this reality 859 00:40:33,360 --> 00:40:38,477 that we are raised together with Christ. 860 00:40:38,477 --> 00:40:41,709 That's the thing. 861 00:40:41,709 --> 00:40:45,419 And the whole thrust of the argument, 862 00:40:45,419 --> 00:40:47,787 what shall we say then? 863 00:40:47,787 --> 00:40:49,723 Are we to continue in sin? 864 00:40:49,723 --> 00:40:53,806 Now, brethren, he's not talking perfection. 865 00:40:53,806 --> 00:40:56,723 Don't miss that. 866 00:40:56,723 --> 00:40:59,132 You say how do you know that? 867 00:40:59,132 --> 00:41:02,339 What makes you think that this isn't perfection here? 868 00:41:02,339 --> 00:41:08,068 Saying you're dead to sin sounds pretty dogmatic. 869 00:41:08,068 --> 00:41:13,666 Sounds pretty all-encompassing. 870 00:41:13,666 --> 00:41:15,617 Well, we could go over some place 871 00:41:15,617 --> 00:41:17,282 like 1 John and I could say, 872 00:41:17,282 --> 00:41:20,971 little children, I write to you that you sin not, 873 00:41:20,971 --> 00:41:23,631 but if you sin, we have an Advocate with the Father. 874 00:41:23,631 --> 00:41:24,952 We could go somewhere else. 875 00:41:24,952 --> 00:41:26,867 But just looking right in the context, 876 00:41:26,867 --> 00:41:28,244 what might be some giveaways 877 00:41:28,244 --> 00:41:37,116 that he's not actually speaking about total perfection here? 878 00:41:37,116 --> 00:41:42,704 Brethren, I think the reality of this 879 00:41:42,704 --> 00:41:47,622 is that you see the battle. 880 00:41:47,622 --> 00:41:51,789 For one, he uses the terminology dominion. 881 00:41:51,789 --> 00:41:53,719 Notice it in verse 9. 882 00:41:53,719 --> 00:41:58,446 "Death no longer has dominion over Him." 883 00:41:58,446 --> 00:42:01,671 No longer dominates Christ. 884 00:42:01,671 --> 00:42:03,119 But notice this word again, 885 00:42:03,119 --> 00:42:05,941 at least in the ESV if you go down to 14, 886 00:42:05,941 --> 00:42:13,709 "Sin will have no dominion over you." 887 00:42:13,709 --> 00:42:15,480 That's the issue. 888 00:42:15,480 --> 00:42:18,819 It's dominance. 889 00:42:18,819 --> 00:42:20,389 It's dominion. 890 00:42:20,389 --> 00:42:22,537 It's not total eradication. 891 00:42:22,537 --> 00:42:25,188 In fact, you get a further idea of this 892 00:42:25,188 --> 00:42:30,366 just in the nature of the battle 893 00:42:30,366 --> 00:42:32,710 as it's portrayed by Paul here. 894 00:42:32,710 --> 00:42:37,043 Do you all see it there? 895 00:42:37,043 --> 00:42:41,042 Notice, verse 10, 896 00:42:41,042 --> 00:42:42,863 "the death He died, He died to sin 897 00:42:42,863 --> 00:42:44,905 once for all, but the life He lives, 898 00:42:44,905 --> 00:42:46,427 He lives to God. 899 00:42:46,427 --> 00:42:51,181 So, you also must consider yourselves 900 00:42:51,181 --> 00:42:57,082 dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." 901 00:42:57,082 --> 00:43:02,045 This is a reality that he wants flooding your minds. 902 00:43:02,045 --> 00:43:04,420 But notice the battle here. 903 00:43:04,420 --> 00:43:08,895 Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body 904 00:43:08,895 --> 00:43:11,643 to make you obey its passions. 905 00:43:11,643 --> 00:43:15,374 In other words, sin is going to seek to reign 906 00:43:15,374 --> 00:43:17,602 in your mortal bodies. 907 00:43:17,602 --> 00:43:19,267 Fight it. 908 00:43:19,267 --> 00:43:22,737 You go further in this letter to Romans 8:13, 909 00:43:22,737 --> 00:43:26,378 "by the Spirit, we put to death the deeds of the body." 910 00:43:26,378 --> 00:43:28,399 That's life. 911 00:43:28,399 --> 00:43:31,400 This is life here. 912 00:43:31,400 --> 00:43:32,576 Verse 13. 913 00:43:32,576 --> 00:43:33,573 This is the battle. 914 00:43:33,573 --> 00:43:36,390 "Do not present your members to sin 915 00:43:36,390 --> 00:43:39,324 as instruments for unrighteousness, 916 00:43:39,324 --> 00:43:42,089 but present yourselves to God as those 917 00:43:42,089 --> 00:43:43,918 who have been brought..." 918 00:43:43,918 --> 00:43:45,421 Here it is. 919 00:43:45,421 --> 00:43:53,414 Live as one who's been brought from death to life. 920 00:43:53,414 --> 00:43:59,937 You have come out with Christ. 921 00:43:59,937 --> 00:44:03,878 Here's the experiential reality 922 00:44:03,878 --> 00:44:06,265 about being raised together with Christ. 923 00:44:06,265 --> 00:44:08,405 It's got everything to do with sin. 924 00:44:08,405 --> 00:44:10,638 Because listen, 925 00:44:10,638 --> 00:44:15,313 the death of those first three verses of Ephesians 2, 926 00:44:15,313 --> 00:44:20,049 it's dead in sin. 927 00:44:20,049 --> 00:44:24,144 Dead in sin. 928 00:44:24,144 --> 00:44:26,986 The opposite: alive to God. 929 00:44:26,986 --> 00:44:29,242 Because sin is everything that's against Him. 930 00:44:29,242 --> 00:44:31,801 Sin falls short of the glory. 931 00:44:31,801 --> 00:44:33,250 It doesn't seek the glory. 932 00:44:33,250 --> 00:44:35,101 It doesn't desire the glory of God. 933 00:44:35,101 --> 00:44:36,735 It's beneath the glory. 934 00:44:36,735 --> 00:44:39,187 It's constantly living for self. 935 00:44:39,187 --> 00:44:42,203 God isn't in the focus. 936 00:44:42,203 --> 00:44:43,170 It's not that. 937 00:44:43,170 --> 00:44:47,713 And it's coming away from that death of sin. 938 00:44:47,713 --> 00:44:50,325 Being made alive to God. 939 00:44:50,325 --> 00:44:52,272 That's the reality. 940 00:44:52,272 --> 00:44:57,024 How can we who have died to sin still live in it? 941 00:44:57,024 --> 00:44:58,055 Why? 942 00:44:58,055 --> 00:44:59,145 You can't. 943 00:44:59,145 --> 00:45:01,576 Because you've been raised together with Christ. 944 00:45:01,576 --> 00:45:03,385 He came out of the grave. 945 00:45:03,385 --> 00:45:06,468 You've come out of the grave of those first three verses. 946 00:45:06,468 --> 00:45:09,329 Listen. 947 00:45:09,329 --> 00:45:12,008 Think about how ludicrous it would be 948 00:45:12,008 --> 00:45:14,817 to imagine Him being made alive 949 00:45:14,817 --> 00:45:18,533 and to stay there under the linen, 950 00:45:18,533 --> 00:45:20,189 in the dark, 951 00:45:20,189 --> 00:45:21,944 in the tomb, 952 00:45:21,944 --> 00:45:26,091 behind the rock. 953 00:45:26,091 --> 00:45:28,134 The women didn't find Him. 954 00:45:28,134 --> 00:45:29,371 Why? 955 00:45:29,371 --> 00:45:30,953 Because when you're made alive, 956 00:45:30,953 --> 00:45:33,123 you don't stay in the tomb. 957 00:45:33,123 --> 00:45:34,958 When you're made alive, 958 00:45:34,958 --> 00:45:36,881 it's an obvious fact. 959 00:45:36,881 --> 00:45:39,158 Didn't the angels think it was very obvious? 960 00:45:39,158 --> 00:45:44,474 Why are you seeking Him among the dead? 961 00:45:44,474 --> 00:45:46,968 Don't you know that you don't find 962 00:45:46,968 --> 00:45:51,818 the living among the dead? 963 00:45:51,818 --> 00:45:55,259 This is the experiential reality. 964 00:45:55,259 --> 00:45:59,083 Brethren, we came out from among the dead. 965 00:45:59,083 --> 00:46:01,329 Among whom we all once lived 966 00:46:01,329 --> 00:46:04,288 in the passions of our flesh. 967 00:46:04,288 --> 00:46:07,745 Carrying out the desires, 968 00:46:07,745 --> 00:46:10,756 the lusts of the flesh, 969 00:46:10,756 --> 00:46:12,504 the lusts of the body, 970 00:46:12,504 --> 00:46:14,871 the lusts of the mind. 971 00:46:14,871 --> 00:46:17,019 This is what we came out of. 972 00:46:17,019 --> 00:46:19,909 But you don't stay there. 973 00:46:19,909 --> 00:46:22,126 That's the reality. 974 00:46:22,126 --> 00:46:23,735 Brethren, that is the reality. 975 00:46:23,735 --> 00:46:25,917 That's what we find to be. 976 00:46:25,917 --> 00:46:29,332 Our relationship with sin has entirely changed. 977 00:46:29,332 --> 00:46:32,331 Jesus' relationship with sin, with death, 978 00:46:32,331 --> 00:46:33,684 had entirely changed, 979 00:46:33,684 --> 00:46:35,748 and He doesn't stay in the grave. 980 00:46:35,748 --> 00:46:38,409 He was dead to sin forevermore. 981 00:46:38,409 --> 00:46:40,247 Not that He ever committed any sin. 982 00:46:40,247 --> 00:46:41,853 He was dead to it in another way. 983 00:46:41,853 --> 00:46:42,826 He conquered it. 984 00:46:42,826 --> 00:46:43,805 He became sin. 985 00:46:43,805 --> 00:46:44,746 He paid it. 986 00:46:44,746 --> 00:46:46,301 He was done with it, period. 987 00:46:46,301 --> 00:46:48,242 Once and for all. 988 00:46:48,242 --> 00:46:49,872 All over. 989 00:46:49,872 --> 00:46:51,764 You have been brought out of the grave, 990 00:46:51,764 --> 00:46:53,343 once and for all. 991 00:46:53,343 --> 00:46:54,952 You are no longer a slave to sin. 992 00:46:54,952 --> 00:46:56,682 You are no longer a servant to sin. 993 00:46:56,682 --> 00:46:59,556 You're a slave to God. 994 00:46:59,556 --> 00:47:00,734 Peter says it. 995 00:47:00,734 --> 00:47:01,740 Paul says it. 996 00:47:01,740 --> 00:47:02,975 A slave to God. 997 00:47:02,975 --> 00:47:05,067 Yes, the translations don't like to use it. 998 00:47:05,067 --> 00:47:08,516 It's politcally an incorrect term. 999 00:47:08,516 --> 00:47:10,493 You listen to some of the translators 1000 00:47:10,493 --> 00:47:12,655 as they talk about why they chose one word 1001 00:47:12,655 --> 00:47:14,986 over another in the English translations. 1002 00:47:14,986 --> 00:47:16,696 It's a hot topic. 1003 00:47:16,696 --> 00:47:17,663 It's a hot word. 1004 00:47:17,663 --> 00:47:19,023 People don't like to use it. 1005 00:47:19,023 --> 00:47:21,486 Because it just produces too much negative imagery. 1006 00:47:21,486 --> 00:47:24,992 Especially with the history that we have in the United States of America. 1007 00:47:24,992 --> 00:47:26,652 But I'll tell you this, brethren, 1008 00:47:26,652 --> 00:47:28,346 we are free. 1009 00:47:28,346 --> 00:47:29,242 We are free. 1010 00:47:29,242 --> 00:47:36,052 And the truest freedom is to live unto the will of God. 1011 00:47:36,052 --> 00:47:37,782 That is true freedom. 1012 00:47:37,782 --> 00:47:40,702 True freedom is when we love God 1013 00:47:40,702 --> 00:47:43,111 and we're no longer in the bondage of sin. 1014 00:47:43,111 --> 00:47:46,307 To be a slave under that master, 1015 00:47:46,307 --> 00:47:49,186 is to be under the whip all the time. 1016 00:47:49,186 --> 00:47:53,226 Do this, do that, do this other thing! 1017 00:47:53,226 --> 00:47:56,882 Brethren, that's not how we live any longer. 1018 00:47:56,882 --> 00:47:58,408 You get people that say, 1019 00:47:58,408 --> 00:48:05,048 "show me in the Bible where that's wrong!" 1020 00:48:05,048 --> 00:48:07,622 Brethren, that's to miss the whole spirit. 1021 00:48:07,622 --> 00:48:09,692 Of course, we go to our Bibles. 1022 00:48:09,692 --> 00:48:14,478 But it's like we found there in Peter. 1023 00:48:14,478 --> 00:48:18,868 It's the will of God. 1024 00:48:18,868 --> 00:48:20,999 It's what God loves. 1025 00:48:20,999 --> 00:48:22,182 We're not always asking, 1026 00:48:22,182 --> 00:48:23,379 what's the rules? 1027 00:48:23,379 --> 00:48:26,976 Show me the rules? 1028 00:48:26,976 --> 00:48:29,697 Show me all the lists. 1029 00:48:29,697 --> 00:48:31,730 That's not it. 1030 00:48:31,730 --> 00:48:33,793 That's what people do who are 1031 00:48:33,793 --> 00:48:36,071 under the slave master. 1032 00:48:36,071 --> 00:48:39,047 Who are under law. 1033 00:48:39,047 --> 00:48:42,598 We are free to live to the will of God. 1034 00:48:42,598 --> 00:48:43,353 Why? 1035 00:48:43,353 --> 00:48:44,423 We've been made alive, 1036 00:48:44,423 --> 00:48:45,861 alive to God. 1037 00:48:45,861 --> 00:48:51,353 Our heart jumps for the things of God. 1038 00:48:51,353 --> 00:49:01,305 Listen, Christ entered into the realm of sin once. 1039 00:49:01,305 --> 00:49:03,920 And He came out. 1040 00:49:03,920 --> 00:49:05,682 So have we. 1041 00:49:05,682 --> 00:49:09,372 The realm of sin by becoming sin. 1042 00:49:09,372 --> 00:49:11,724 He finished with it. 1043 00:49:11,724 --> 00:49:13,874 So have we. 1044 00:49:13,874 --> 00:49:17,960 Brethren, sin has no claim on you. 1045 00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:20,230 You can look at every temptation, 1046 00:49:20,230 --> 00:49:23,046 you can look at the devil himself straight in the face 1047 00:49:23,046 --> 00:49:25,606 and say I don't have to follow you. 1048 00:49:25,606 --> 00:49:27,920 I'm a free man. 1049 00:49:27,920 --> 00:49:30,839 Good day. 1050 00:49:30,839 --> 00:49:35,680 My Lord is alive and I'm one with Him. 1051 00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:38,015 And we haven't even got here yet. 1052 00:49:38,015 --> 00:49:40,848 But you can look at the devil and say 1053 00:49:40,848 --> 00:49:44,195 do you recognize I am seated in the heavenly places 1054 00:49:44,195 --> 00:49:50,808 with Christ Jesus, by the way? 1055 00:49:50,808 --> 00:49:55,265 Brethren, the truth of all this is, 1056 00:49:55,265 --> 00:50:01,225 we need to recognize who we are. 1057 00:50:01,225 --> 00:50:03,568 Everything that Jesus Christ did, 1058 00:50:03,568 --> 00:50:07,605 it was designed to take us out of the realm of sin 1059 00:50:07,605 --> 00:50:09,852 and death and to put us into this realm 1060 00:50:09,852 --> 00:50:12,542 of being alive to God. 1061 00:50:12,542 --> 00:50:13,402 That's it. 1062 00:50:13,402 --> 00:50:15,016 That's Paul's meaning. 1063 00:50:15,016 --> 00:50:18,688 Have you been raised up to this? 1064 00:50:18,688 --> 00:50:21,321 Being made alive to God. 1065 00:50:21,321 --> 00:50:23,644 Not where sin is just a bunch of rules 1066 00:50:23,644 --> 00:50:24,895 that you have to keep. 1067 00:50:24,895 --> 00:50:26,287 Not always asking, 1068 00:50:26,287 --> 00:50:27,712 well, what's wrong with that? 1069 00:50:27,712 --> 00:50:29,448 Do you ever hear people like that? 1070 00:50:29,448 --> 00:50:31,480 It's like that's how they live their life. 1071 00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:33,303 "What's wrong with that?" 1072 00:50:33,303 --> 00:50:37,523 Brethren, that's slave talk. 1073 00:50:37,523 --> 00:50:41,994 It's like what does God delight in? 1074 00:50:41,994 --> 00:50:44,507 Let me do that. 1075 00:50:44,507 --> 00:50:47,786 What's going to bring His smile upon me? 1076 00:50:47,786 --> 00:50:51,016 Oh, is there a possibility He's going to frown on that? 1077 00:50:51,016 --> 00:50:52,990 Is there a possibility that this is going 1078 00:50:52,990 --> 00:50:54,797 to cause a shadow to pass between us? 1079 00:50:54,797 --> 00:50:58,066 Then I don't want to go there. 1080 00:50:58,066 --> 00:51:01,242 Versus: "Show me in the Bible where it says that!" 1081 00:51:01,242 --> 00:51:03,736 Well, of course, we want to be shown in the Bible. 1082 00:51:03,736 --> 00:51:10,624 But that's to totally miss it. 1083 00:51:10,624 --> 00:51:16,839 Brethren, we should be disgusted with that kind of attitude 1084 00:51:16,839 --> 00:51:19,127 among those who profess to be Christians. 1085 00:51:19,127 --> 00:51:21,594 That is purely slave talk. 1086 00:51:21,594 --> 00:51:26,216 It's just basically what must I do to avoid punishment? 1087 00:51:26,216 --> 00:51:29,964 Show me the list of rules. 1088 00:51:29,964 --> 00:51:36,122 Christians have been raised way up above and beyond that. 1089 00:51:36,122 --> 00:51:40,087 Up into the heights and the majesty. 1090 00:51:40,087 --> 00:51:42,117 Up there on that mountain top. 1091 00:51:42,117 --> 00:51:44,497 The glory. 1092 00:51:44,497 --> 00:51:47,883 That's where we're seated. 1093 00:51:47,883 --> 00:51:53,427 Brethren, it's David coming along and saying 1094 00:51:53,427 --> 00:51:59,917 I pant after God like a deer pants after water. 1095 00:51:59,917 --> 00:52:03,318 You see, people like that aren't constantly asking, 1096 00:52:03,318 --> 00:52:04,879 show me the rules! 1097 00:52:04,879 --> 00:52:06,563 Show me where it says that I can't 1098 00:52:06,563 --> 00:52:07,874 listen to music like that. 1099 00:52:07,874 --> 00:52:11,279 Show me where it says I can't go to a move like that. 1100 00:52:11,279 --> 00:52:20,152 Show me where it says I can't wear that. 1101 00:52:20,152 --> 00:52:23,592 Yes, we want to search Scripture 1102 00:52:23,592 --> 00:52:26,304 to find out the will of God. 1103 00:52:26,304 --> 00:52:27,959 We want to be taught. 1104 00:52:27,959 --> 00:52:29,670 We're ignorant about so much. 1105 00:52:29,670 --> 00:52:31,126 I recognize that. 1106 00:52:31,126 --> 00:52:34,408 Scripture needs to be our basis for sanctification, 1107 00:52:34,408 --> 00:52:37,821 our basis for truth. 1108 00:52:37,821 --> 00:52:41,045 But that is just a world away from saying 1109 00:52:41,045 --> 00:52:45,557 oh, my heart hungers, it longs after God. 1110 00:52:45,557 --> 00:52:47,647 Where can I find God? 1111 00:52:47,647 --> 00:52:49,822 The sighs and moans... 1112 00:52:49,822 --> 00:52:52,259 It's like, hey, brother, you want to go do this? 1113 00:52:52,259 --> 00:52:54,782 And you're thinking man my ache in my heart 1114 00:52:54,782 --> 00:52:56,338 is to find God. 1115 00:52:56,338 --> 00:52:59,582 If I do that, that may take me backwards. 1116 00:52:59,582 --> 00:53:01,081 That may take me in a direction 1117 00:53:01,081 --> 00:53:02,176 I don't want to go. 1118 00:53:02,176 --> 00:53:03,561 That may interrupt the fellowship, 1119 00:53:03,561 --> 00:53:05,141 and I'm trying to get more fellowship. 1120 00:53:05,141 --> 00:53:07,145 And you want to take me over there to do that? 1121 00:53:07,145 --> 00:53:08,589 It'll be fun! 1122 00:53:08,589 --> 00:53:11,915 No, it's not fun if I lose the sight of His smile. 1123 00:53:11,915 --> 00:53:15,479 That isn't fun. 1124 00:53:15,479 --> 00:53:21,076 That's exactly what you don't want. 1125 00:53:21,076 --> 00:53:25,272 Brethren, what we've been raised to, 1126 00:53:25,272 --> 00:53:28,133 is think about Christ raised up. 1127 00:53:28,133 --> 00:53:30,823 He's the delight of His Father. 1128 00:53:30,823 --> 00:53:32,152 Proverbs 8 1129 00:53:32,152 --> 00:53:33,529 The delight... 1130 00:53:33,529 --> 00:53:35,354 that's what happens with us. 1131 00:53:35,354 --> 00:53:38,480 It becomes a relationship of delight 1132 00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:40,543 and feeling the smile of God 1133 00:53:40,543 --> 00:53:42,318 and enjoying His joy. 1134 00:53:42,318 --> 00:53:44,240 Delighting in His salvation. 1135 00:53:44,240 --> 00:53:47,092 It's living this thankful life, 1136 00:53:47,092 --> 00:53:48,718 and living in holiness, 1137 00:53:48,718 --> 00:53:50,122 and wanting to be holy. 1138 00:53:50,122 --> 00:53:51,998 Christ said, "Blessed are those who 1139 00:53:51,998 --> 00:53:54,691 hunger and thirst after righteousness. 1140 00:53:54,691 --> 00:53:57,285 Blessed are the pure in heart." 1141 00:53:57,285 --> 00:54:00,297 There's a singleness. 1142 00:54:00,297 --> 00:54:04,410 We're evaluating things, not on a list of rules all the time. 1143 00:54:04,410 --> 00:54:06,136 Show me where I can do this, 1144 00:54:06,136 --> 00:54:08,589 or show me where I can't do that. 1145 00:54:08,589 --> 00:54:10,792 We should abominate that as much as 1146 00:54:10,792 --> 00:54:16,094 we abominate Catholicism's dead Christ. 1147 00:54:16,094 --> 00:54:20,405 Brethren, there's a life that spills forth 1148 00:54:20,405 --> 00:54:21,873 from being raised up; 1149 00:54:21,873 --> 00:54:23,383 a life that is within us. 1150 00:54:23,383 --> 00:54:25,900 Because we're no longer in the grave. 1151 00:54:25,900 --> 00:54:27,087 We've come forth. 1152 00:54:27,087 --> 00:54:30,073 We've been raised up. 1153 00:54:30,073 --> 00:54:32,046 You think of Polycarp. 1154 00:54:32,046 --> 00:54:34,122 Some of us were talking about him. 1155 00:54:34,122 --> 00:54:39,251 His famous quote when they told him 1156 00:54:39,251 --> 00:54:42,201 they wanted him to offer the incense to Caesar. 1157 00:54:42,201 --> 00:54:44,266 They wanted him to deny Christ. 1158 00:54:44,266 --> 00:54:46,730 And he said, 1159 00:54:46,730 --> 00:54:49,528 "80 and six years have I served Christ, 1160 00:54:49,528 --> 00:54:52,367 nor has He ever done me any harm. 1161 00:54:52,367 --> 00:54:57,701 How then could I blaspheme my King who saved me." 1162 00:54:57,701 --> 00:55:02,868 You see, they wanted him to blaspheme. 1163 00:55:02,868 --> 00:55:05,544 He didn't turn to the other Christians and say 1164 00:55:05,544 --> 00:55:07,424 show me a law in the Bible 1165 00:55:07,424 --> 00:55:12,281 that says that I can't do that. 1166 00:55:12,281 --> 00:55:14,363 Brethren, that's not being raised. 1167 00:55:14,363 --> 00:55:19,932 Being raised is... what kindness! 1168 00:55:19,932 --> 00:55:24,067 He has loved me even when I was dead 1169 00:55:24,067 --> 00:55:26,632 in my trespasses. 1170 00:55:26,632 --> 00:55:28,916 He loved me with a great love. 1171 00:55:28,916 --> 00:55:31,682 He showed me great mercy. 1172 00:55:31,682 --> 00:55:34,324 Riches of mercy. 1173 00:55:34,324 --> 00:55:37,430 He spilled the blood of His Son. 1174 00:55:37,430 --> 00:55:40,971 I just think of all the different times 1175 00:55:40,971 --> 00:55:42,885 that He was spit on. 1176 00:55:42,885 --> 00:55:45,229 They plucked out His beard. 1177 00:55:45,229 --> 00:55:46,723 You get that from the Psalms, 1178 00:55:46,723 --> 00:55:50,409 not so much from the Gospel accounts. 1179 00:55:50,409 --> 00:55:53,482 Smitten. 1180 00:55:53,482 --> 00:55:57,625 Think of God smiting His Son. 1181 00:55:57,625 --> 00:56:00,774 He's the Beloved. 1182 00:56:00,774 --> 00:56:04,984 He's hitting Him. He's hitting Him. 1183 00:56:04,984 --> 00:56:10,323 He didn't spare His own Son 1184 00:56:10,323 --> 00:56:12,629 for you. 1185 00:56:12,629 --> 00:56:18,498 And brethren, you've been raised. 1186 00:56:18,498 --> 00:56:25,429 You need to consider yourselves raised. 1187 00:56:25,429 --> 00:56:26,591 Dead to sin. 1188 00:56:26,591 --> 00:56:28,363 Alive to God. 1189 00:56:28,363 --> 00:56:31,258 That needs to be the mindset. 1190 00:56:31,258 --> 00:56:34,052 You can go out of here, 1191 00:56:34,052 --> 00:56:36,411 to be quite honest, 1192 00:56:36,411 --> 00:56:39,099 the computer does not own you. 1193 00:56:39,099 --> 00:56:40,955 You are raised. 1194 00:56:40,955 --> 00:56:44,404 Pornography does not own you. 1195 00:56:44,404 --> 00:56:48,596 You are raised. 1196 00:56:48,596 --> 00:56:50,079 Food doesn't own you. 1197 00:56:50,079 --> 00:56:51,477 Drink doesn't own you. 1198 00:56:51,477 --> 00:56:54,641 Entertainment doesn't own you. 1199 00:56:54,641 --> 00:56:58,137 The truth is, your family does not own you. 1200 00:56:58,137 --> 00:57:00,115 You're a slave to God. 1201 00:57:00,115 --> 00:57:01,762 And as a slave to God, 1202 00:57:01,762 --> 00:57:05,206 free to do right. 1203 00:57:05,206 --> 00:57:08,035 Free to live holy. 1204 00:57:08,035 --> 00:57:12,888 Free, free, yearning, living like David. 1205 00:57:12,888 --> 00:57:16,104 As a deer pants for flowing streams, 1206 00:57:16,104 --> 00:57:18,551 so pants my soul for You, O God. 1207 00:57:18,551 --> 00:57:21,494 My soul thirsts for God, 1208 00:57:21,494 --> 00:57:22,802 for the living God, 1209 00:57:22,802 --> 00:57:25,052 when shall I come and appear before God. 1210 00:57:25,052 --> 00:57:29,321 My tears have been my food day and night. 1211 00:57:29,321 --> 00:57:30,102 Why? 1212 00:57:30,102 --> 00:57:31,902 Because they're saying where is your God? 1213 00:57:31,912 --> 00:57:33,621 And he's saying, yeah, where is He? 1214 00:57:33,621 --> 00:57:35,028 He's weeping for Him. 1215 00:57:35,028 --> 00:57:36,903 He's longing. He's groaning. 1216 00:57:36,903 --> 00:57:38,288 He's crying. 1217 00:57:38,288 --> 00:57:40,391 That's what drives us. 1218 00:57:40,391 --> 00:57:41,873 This is the life. 1219 00:57:41,873 --> 00:57:43,444 Alive to God. 1220 00:57:43,444 --> 00:57:46,423 We've been raised. 1221 00:57:46,423 --> 00:57:49,904 You've been raised to this. 1222 00:57:49,904 --> 00:57:54,310 Consider this reality 1223 00:57:54,310 --> 00:57:56,499 as one being raised... 1224 00:57:56,499 --> 00:57:58,422 we find in Colossians, 1225 00:57:58,422 --> 00:58:02,785 set your minds on things above. 1226 00:58:02,785 --> 00:58:07,361 You're not in those first three verses anymore. 1227 00:58:07,361 --> 00:58:11,211 Set your mind on things outside of there. 1228 00:58:11,211 --> 00:58:15,320 Don't send your mind back in there. 1229 00:58:15,320 --> 00:58:17,317 Colossians 3:1 1230 00:58:17,317 --> 00:58:19,854 As one who has been raised with Christ, 1231 00:58:19,854 --> 00:58:22,731 you are to set your minds upon things above 1232 00:58:22,731 --> 00:58:24,060 where Christ is seated. 1233 00:58:24,060 --> 00:58:26,241 And what we're going to find in Ephesians 2 1234 00:58:26,241 --> 00:58:29,713 is you're seated there too. 1235 00:58:29,713 --> 00:58:31,533 That's next week. 1236 00:58:31,533 --> 00:58:32,958 But alive to God. 1237 00:58:32,958 --> 00:58:36,231 That's what Paul says happens when we're resurrected and raised up. 1238 00:58:36,231 --> 00:58:38,201 Brethren, do you know that? 1239 00:58:38,201 --> 00:58:43,841 Is that a reality? 1240 00:58:43,841 --> 00:58:45,130 Hunger pangs. 1241 00:58:45,130 --> 00:58:47,823 Tears, aching, groaning... 1242 00:58:47,823 --> 00:58:49,485 What a change this is! 1243 00:58:49,485 --> 00:58:52,439 Out of the realm of sin. 1244 00:58:52,439 --> 00:59:01,498 Brethren, Christ made an end to sin. 1245 00:59:01,498 --> 00:59:04,121 It's over. 1246 00:59:04,121 --> 00:59:08,244 That's an end to you living beneath the glory of God. 1247 00:59:08,244 --> 00:59:11,257 All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. 1248 00:59:11,257 --> 00:59:14,567 You don't live there anymore. 1249 00:59:14,567 --> 00:59:16,232 Dive into the glory. 1250 00:59:16,232 --> 00:59:23,700 God is saying, Come up! Higher! Come up! 1251 00:59:23,700 --> 00:59:27,228 You're not living in those first three verses 1252 00:59:27,228 --> 00:59:28,750 of Ephesians 2. 1253 00:59:28,750 --> 00:59:31,249 Don't even put your mind there. 1254 00:59:31,249 --> 00:59:32,987 Come up. 1255 00:59:32,987 --> 00:59:34,904 Set your mind on these things up here. 1256 00:59:34,904 --> 00:59:35,921 Come up. 1257 00:59:35,921 --> 00:59:37,730 Up, up, up. 1258 00:59:37,730 --> 00:59:39,253 Sensitive to God. Loving God. 1259 00:59:39,253 --> 00:59:40,239 Seeking God. 1260 00:59:40,239 --> 00:59:42,543 This is the test. 1261 00:59:42,543 --> 00:59:45,757 Do you sincerely desire to draw near to God? 1262 00:59:45,757 --> 00:59:48,148 Have a revelation of this knowledge of Him 1263 00:59:48,148 --> 00:59:49,854 that we're talking about here? 1264 00:59:49,854 --> 00:59:54,653 So, Christian, you've been raised together with Christ. 1265 00:59:54,653 --> 00:59:59,774 Consider yourselves dead to sin 1266 00:59:59,774 --> 01:00:02,528 and alive to God. 1267 01:00:02,528 --> 01:00:03,905 Why? 1268 01:00:03,905 --> 01:00:09,011 Because it's true. 1269 01:00:09,011 --> 01:00:12,705 And may God help us to do just that.