I really enjoy taking photos when we come to the beach. As you view the pictures above mediate on the glory of God.

Have you ever seen a sunset over the Atlantic or Pacific Ocean when the sunlight streams through the clouds to bring out shades of red, yellow and violet?

Have you ever been to a movie that kept you captivated for two hours?

Have you ever been a the top of a 10,000 foot mountain and seen a panoroma of the city below?

Have you ever been to the Indianapolis 500 or the Coca Cola 600 and heard the sound and seen the speed of those race cars?

Have you ever seen the Grand Canyon?

Have you ever seen Tiger Wood’s make the last putt of the day to win a golf tournament?

Have you ever heard Pavarotti sing Nessun Dorma?

Have you ever seen a great white shark attack a sea lion?

Have you ever been inside St. Peter's cathedral?

Have you ever watched the "Blue Angels" do an air show?

Folks, we are hard wired or you might even say "spring loaded" from birth to be amazed and awed by splendor, greatness, power, and majesty! Just think of the times in your own life when, like the examples listed above, something or someone has caused you to be mesmerized in the moment so to speak. Do you know what happens when you are in that moment? You totally forget or have any awareness of self and you are totally captivated by the richness, power and glory of the thing on which you are focused.

Now just take that thought process and move it over onto God Himself. This is the very reason you and I were made to enjoy and display the glory of God!

This coming Sunday the plan is for us to look at what I will call the front view of the cross. In doing so we will talk about in more detail the words atonement, propitiation and justification. As I have had the privilege to teach over the years I want to tell you what has been criticized the most. It has been those who equate the learning of Bible doctrine, to a person who is a spiritual egghead who ends up knowing all the facts but does nothing about what he knows. However when one comes to a healthy understanding of the Bible it clearly says learn correctly in order to live correctly. My point here is don’t discount or underestimate the power of learning God’s word. We are not people who are worshipping the word, but rather we look to and rely on Christ in all things through His revealed word. I hope you see the difference. Regardless, we are not learning doctrine to be contestants on Bible jeopardy but in order that we may be transformed into the likeness of Christ. In most cases the biggest critics of intense study in Bible doctrine comes from those who have little passion or desire for the word of God. Allow me to challenge you as I was challenged during the early years of Bible study. My former Bible teacher used to make the following statement with piercing eyes and much passion “you can be no closer to the Lord Jesus Christ that you are to His word!” When ever he would make that statement the room would almost always be left in an eerie silence. He would not leave it, but would stay there long enough to come eye to eye with what seemed to be every person in the class. I fully expect and welcome criticism that scours at an intense study of doctrine and words like atonement, propitiation and justification. But these critics whether they be in or outside the church must stand accountable to Christ on that day. And I say if we are ashamed of the digging into and understanding of His word, then that translates into being ashamed of Him. How might we claim that we love Christ and yet we have no love for His word? OK, time for me to get off my soapbox before I fall off and hurt myself.

When we come to the cross we can see that it provides a solution for two basic problems.
We can understand that we are perpetrators, and the Scriptures tell us that while we were enemies that Christ died for us. The Scriptures are telling us of the guilt that we have as humans due our rebellion against God’s holy and just will for our lives. And therefore that puts us under God’s wrath and condemnation. The words atonement, propitiation and justification focus on the significance of what Jesus has done to overcome our problem of guilt in order that we would be able to regain God’s favor. And through His this atonement He has satisfied the penalty that was against us and now God declares us as righteous in His sight. I am calling this the “front view” of the cross.

But there is another side to the cross because there is another problem with sin. We are not only perpetrators but we are also victims. This means that we are brought into this world in bondage to the forces of sin, death and the devil. We do not have the personal resources to rescue us from this bondage in order to live as God intended us to live in a fellowship relationship with Him.

So what I am calling the “back view” of the cross looks at the cross with the terms in the New Testament.
We also come to understand what Jesus has done to deliver us from the evil forces and powers. And in this sense His work on the cross redeems or buys us back, a kind of deliverance by achieving a victory over those forces through redemptive work. We looked at this is some detail during the 5 weeks in our study of Romans 6 which was titled “Be who you are in Christ.” The words that we are going to focus on in regard to the back view of the cross are REDEMPTION and RANSOM.

But for now and the next two weeks we are concerned with a “front view” of the cross as it relates to the Trinity. I want to encourage all of you studying along with us to re-read the notes that I posted this past Sunday. These notes are not exhaustive but enough to get us started as we come to grips with these key Bible doctrines. Within these notes are the subjects of atonement and propitiation and now we need to deal with the last subject which is justification.

The different ways that justification can be used. The first is from a term that people use today when they try to justify themselves, and by that they try and show they are not guilty but they are really OK either in what they have said or what they have done. They are OK because they have done nothing wrong or it really doesn’t matter anyway.

When we think in terms of justification as it appears in the NT as it relates to the salvation of sinners, we are not talking about anything that we do for ourselves, but rather we are talking about something that God does. It does not mean that God is making an excuse for us. We are to acknowledge as God acknowledges that in terms of our character and nature, we are sinners and there is nothing in us that can justify ourselves or make us righteous.

But justification is a term used in the NT to answer the question “so what?” in regard to this atoning work that we have been speaking about in the cross of Christ. And that is to say on the basis of innocent suffering as payment for our sins by the Lord Jesus Christ, God accepts that as an atonement for our sin not as an excuse for our sin. In other words, Christ Himself pays for our sins. And on the basis of that vicarious atonement, He the innocent pays for us the guilty, when that payment is made, almost like a judge in a court of law, God accepting that payment declares us that are sinners to be righteous. Sin has not been swept under the rug or just let by-gones be by-gones but rather Christ has made full payment for our sins. The acknowledgement of that comes by way of God saying to us that we are innocent and right in His sight. Justification is our innocence and righteousness in our standing before God on the basis of the atoning work of Christ on the cross.

There are two senses in which we may use the word justify. There is the moral aspect of the word in which a dirty rotten person is now being changed to a fairly righteous and respectable person. This is not the plan of salvation that God presents in the Bible because we are dead in our tresspasses and sins.

God’s saving plan factors off the atoning work of Christ on the cross. Which means God doesn’t reform us but He atones for us and thereby declaring us to be righteous in His sight. So this justification is forensic or judicial in nature.

This righteousness of Christ is given to us through a process called imputation. Some synonyms for this word would be to reckon or to regard,. When God imputes righteous to us which means that He reckons or regards us before His holy law to be innocent. And that reckoning and regarding is not God playing a game with Him pretending that the sinner is really not that bad or looking the other way. He regards us to be righteous because He imputes that is He gives to us the righteousness of Christ which has been won on the cross.

The difference between the imputation of righteousness and the infusion of grace;
Two models of grace - the term imputed righteousness is the same thing as the forgiveness of sin which means to have righteousness imputed is the same thing as sinners being forgiven. The slate is wiped clean and we no longer carry the guilt of our sin although we are still sinners.

In medieval times grace was understood as yes it did forgive but that forgiveness what never understood to be God’s final requirement in order for us to be fully in His favor. Rather grace was defined as a reforming power that is infused into the sinner through the sacraments of the church that progressively transform our character from being sinful to being more and more righteous until finally we get totally righteous and are acceptable to God. But it was Martin Luther through word studies that discovered in the New Testament that the word justification was a judicial term. Luther being the Greek scholar that he was learned that saving grace is not a transforming power of God but rather the gift and the reckoning of righteousness is that which gives us the full favor of God.

The relationship that we have with God can be spoken of in two senses:
In one sense is how it looks and how it is rendered through the law which shows our natural state before God as we recognize that God is holy, wrathful Judge and His law is hanging over us to accuse us and condemns us.

The second sense is that we may stand before God in our Lord Jesus Christ in His righteousness and in God’s verdict that He gives to us which is His justifying grace in Christ.

Martin Luther referred to the doctrine of justification as the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls. Because it is upon this that all sinful human beings stand or fall. In the creed we confess that the church is holy and yet the church is holy in so far as it embraces and is covered with the righteousness of Christ. And that occurs when the church proclaims such a true gospel as the NT presents and lives by it. This means the holiness and righteousness of the church is fully dependent upon the righteousness and holiness of Christ and that alone. It further means that each individual is unto themselves sinful and we may only reckon ourselves as holy and righteous in our standing before God solely on the basis of the justifying work and the atonement that is ours in Christ Jesus.

Again my notes to you have not been footnoted but come through a study over the years with and under those on whose shoulders I stand. These notes are from a variety of professors, conferences, lectures, sermons, books, audio and videos. They range from Martin Luther to Bruce Ware, so if anything you read sounds particularly brilliant and insightful it did not come from me.

We live in a world that is about pragmatism and relativism. Today as people look at their spiritual lives there are fewer and fewer absolutes that they are willing to accept. In 2008 Granger Community Church (10,000 member plus mega-church), whose senior pastor is Mark Beeson, reported that 60% of those attending don't believe the Bible is the authoritative word of God. I remind you that Granger is a non denominational evangelical church. Please understand I am not picking on Granger but hopefully you can see where a mission field exists today in America. The key mission field, in my opinion, exists within the walls of the church. I stand with and proclaim with the apostle Paul "that I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power unto salvation for all who believe..."

Therefore this past Sunday, and for the next two Sundays we will be focused on the Trinity and salvation. I am purposesly taking the time to emphasize the different aspects of the gospel as Easter Sunday approaches. Next Sunday I plan to cover three words that are critical to learning and living a cross-centered life.
1. Atonement
2. Propitiation
3. Justification

Romans 3:21-26 are the verses I am asking you to meditate on for this week. Even though the word atonement is not used per say, we can see these Biblical truth vividly displayed in this great text. Atonement means the price that is paid for wrong doing. Therefore since we could not pay for our own wrong doing against God, we in fact needed a substitute. And of course that substitute was Christ Himself. This particular doctrine so essential to the orthodox church is called "substitutionary atonement or vicarious atonement." This means that the Lord Jesus, the one who was tempted as we were and yet was without sin, He is the one who actually makes the payment for our sin. Remember the wages of sin is death and so He in fact atones for sin via His death on the cross, so that we who are guilty before a righteous and holy God may be declared innocent. This isn’t just a show or a nice object lesson to show us the value of sacrifice as an example, but Christ enters into the Holy of Holies before God the Father and makes the payment for our sins. Jesus sacrifices His life through the shedding of His blood and death in our stead and thereby making an atonement for our sins.

Again an important question to ask in relationship to the cross is how does Jesus arrive there a the perfect sinless sacrifice. And as discussed this past Sunday He does so in the power of the Spirit. We have done a good job in the orthodox church in our study of the deity of Christ, but we have spent far too little time in my opinion studying the humanity of Christ.

So when Christ arrives at the cross and atones for sin then the very wrath of God is finally and fully appeased toward sin. The Biblical word for this is propitiation and this word appears not only in Romans 3:25 but also Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 4:10. In our 21st Century pragmatic culture we hear much preaching about the fact that God is love but little about the wrath of God. However I am convinced the more I read and study the book of Romans that the wrath of God is one of the most important themes. The apostle Paul uses the word "saved" in Romans 75% of the time as a future tense verb. I think he is making the point that we will be saved from the very wrath of God. If this is the right take then one can see why and where the word propitiation should fit into our personal theology. When a person experiences the new birth, regneration or born again then the wrath of God is removed both now and in the future. Because Christ has in His death satisfied the very anger of God that was against us because of our sinful condition. I have often wondered how many times we as Christians, have incorporated into our prayer life, a thanksgiving for the fact that we have been absolved from the wrath of God. It was at the cross where the Son of God actually propitiated my sin and your sin in regard to God the Father.

Finally we will take a look at the word justification. Over the years you have probably heard this statement "just as if I had never sinned." However I think a better way to phrase justification is as follows: "just as if I am as righteous as Christ Himself." If you think this doctrine is somewhat minor or one that the church can it take or leave then listen to the words of Martin Luther. He stated that the church stands or falls upon the doctrine of justification. It was the study of this Greek word that God used to reveal to Martin Luther a truth so vital and powerful that it started a reformation and the reason we are known as Protestants today. Therefore we need to take time to study and understand what this word justification means from a Biblical point of view.

Justification is a term used in the New Testament to answer the question “so what?” in regard to this atoning work that we have been speaking about in the cross of Christ. And that is to say on the basis of innocent suffering as payment for our sins by the Lord Jesus Christ, God accepts that as an atonement for our sin not as an excuse for our sin. In other words our sins are being paid for by Christ. And on the basis of that vicarious atonement, He the innocent paying for us the guilty, when that payment is made, almost like a judge in a court of law, God accepting that payment declares us that are sinners to be righteous. Sin has not been swept under the rug or just let by-gones be by-gones but rather Christ has made full payment for our sins. The acknowledgement of that comes by way of God saying to us that we are innocent and right in His sight. Justification is our innocence and righteousness in our standing before God on the basis of the atoning work of Christ on the cross.

Our church history is filled with many, yes many who have been martyred for these very doctrines we consider essential to our faith. I appeal to you these are not throw away truths but life transforming truths that God in His sovereignty has chosen to reveal to us through His word. May our prayer, meditation and study of these things be pleasing to God in such a way that we can better know Him, love Him and serve Him for His glory!

Blessings on you

The following Power Points notes will cover the next two weeks:

Carl Barthelson has been involved with the Habitat Restore Ministry for the last 2 years. Thanks to Carl for heading this up in our class and to those who came out and served. Hopefully this will be the start of another opportunity for our SS community to be involved in kingdom building in Charlotte.

We were not able to get his name last week. He came in to the class fast, listened fast, and left so fast that no one saw him, spoke to him or even knew he was there. But I did received an email this week. He has read through the Bible three times this past week, has attended all Bible studies at Carmel, and is presently serving on each committee and is involved in every activity within the church. He officially joined our class and every other community class that meets on Sunday.
Who is this masked man?

In the following weeks I am going to be laying out some basic foundations for our study of the Trinity. The first four I am teaching will be as follows:

The Trinity and salvation - the doctrine of the Trinity is both central and necessary for our salvation. If we should remove the Trinity then the whole Christian faith would disintegrate.

The Trinity and prayer - The Christian’s life of prayer must rightly acknowledge the roles of Father, son and Spirit as we pray to the Father, through the Son, in the power of the Sprit.

The Trinity and worship - If we are going to worship Biblically then worship of the true and living God consciously acknowledges the relationship and roles of God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit.

The Trinity and what makes it distinct from other religions and it’s place in church history - The doctrine of the Trinity is one of the most distinguishing doctrines of the Christian faith and therefore is deserving of our careful study, passionate embrace and thoughtful application.

May I encourage those who are actively involved in this study of doctrine to read again the following blog article? This will set in motion some thought processes as we come this week to the Trinity as it regards our salvation. I start out the blog article with the following statement “First of all in regard to our salvation we must have One that is paying the penalty for our sins.” Another name for this is atonement.

Since this is a term Christians have heard but may not have studied we will take a few minutes in our class to define and discuss ATONEMENT. Here are some introductory notes that you can review for homework prior to class on Sunday.

THE SUBJECT OF ATONEMENT
What is vicarious atonement?
We are more familiar with the word atonement, which means a price to be paid for wrong doing.

Illustration:
If you park in a restricted zone down town to go into a store and you get a ticket, that would be considered a wrong doing before the law and you now must pay $35. This is now considered to be the price for your atonement. And should you pay the $35 your status moves from guilt to innocent through the atonement made via the payment.

But now we bring into the picture a phrase called vicarious atonement.

Go back to the parking ticket illustration. You are the guilty party and you owe the $35, but someone else steps in and pays the $35 for you. As long as they are innocent and don’t owe for parking tickets then the clerk will take their $35 and apply it to your account. And though you were guilty you are not innocent but this time through a vicarious atonement, which means one in the stead of another.

As we look at the cross, this is exactly what the Lord Jesus has done as the innocent one, the one who was tempted as we were and yet was without sin, He is the one who actually makes the payment for sin. Remember the wages of sin is death and so He in fact atones for sin via His death on the cross, so that we who are guilty before a righteous and holy God may be declared innocent.

This isn’t just a show or this isn’t some kind of object lesson to show us the value of sacrifice as an example but Christ enters into the Holy of Holies before God the Father and makes the payment for the sins of the world. Jesus sacrifices His life through the shedding of His blood and death in our stead and thereby making an atonement for our sins.

The New Testament uses a richness of vocabulary in describing for us what Jesus accomplished on the cross. The words like vicarious atonement and sacrifice effect the saving relationship that we have before God the Father.
That is to say sin has alienated us from God, we have become guilty and stand under His wrath and judgment and Jesus through His atonement on the cross becomes One who reconciles us to God and He pays the price so that we can have a restored relationship with God.

We have two aspects of the cross that we need to consider:
Aspect #1 - the view of the cross that focuses upon the significance of what Jesus accomplished in relationship to how we would stand before God.

Aspect #2 - focuses upon the significance of what Christ accomplished in relationship to the bondage that the powers of sin, death and the devil have over us. The fact is we are enslaved to sin and here the cross present to us the important work of Christ’s death on the cross as that which has redeemed and delivered us from these evil powers.

So the real question is what is Jesus doing at the cross?
He is carrying out a saving work that restores a relationship between sinful human beings and their Creator. At the same time He is accomplishing things through that very same death on the cross in which there is a victory and a deliverance for us over the forces and powers of evil that enslave us.

Illustration:
The saving work of Jesus on the cross would be similar to the various facets of a nice cut diamond.
The terms in the NT show us many facets of the cross but no one term shows us all the facets of the cross. But all of them together provides for us the rich and rounded picture of an incredible mystery that takes place in terms of time and eternity. This saving work brings us back into a right relationship with God.

Terms with regard to the cross
Atonement
Propitiation
Reconciliation
Justification
Redemption
Ransom

The two most important words would probably be:
Vicarious atonement
Redemption
They both refer to the same event but they see it from two different sides.

One sees it in relationship to our problem of guilt
and that is the word ATONEMENT.

The other word is REDEMPTION sees it from the standpoint of sin which holds us as captive.

Both of these terms are not in conflict but are complementary to one another. In the church there have been some who have embraced one term to the exclusion of others.
While others see the cross as not effecting any particular saving work but rather having ethical significance of showing how we ought to live with God.

There are those who think the cross was an object lesson to display for us the love of God. Others have said this is not only a demonstration of God’s love but it happened to inspire us and to show us an example of how we should be to others.
In other words rather than an atonement it become an ethical lesson for us.

It is important that we understand the relationship between the cross and the resurrection.
The cross is the event which indeed produces the victory over sin, death and the devil.

Special thanks to Dr. Bruce Ware and his book “Father, Son and Holy Spirit” that I am leaning on heavily with much of our teaching. Many others have contributed that have not been footnoted as I blog from my personal study notes.

Our community retreat is May 1-3 at Ridgecrest in Asheville. The topic is going to be “The Gospel.” Therefore over the next couple of months I will include various gospel encouragements on our blog site.

This is a great story regarding the power of the gospel.

See to it that you fasten your attention on God's Word and stay in it, like an infant in a cradle. If you let go for one moment, you have fallen away from the truth. The one intention of the devil is to get people away from the Word and to induce them to measure God's will and works with their reason." ~ Martin Luther

Several weeks ago while teaching I warned those in the class of my past activities. In particular I mentioned a video that I hoped would never surface regarding my background and former business involvement. However in these days of instant information, headline news, internet and you tube the inevitable has happened. Just remember before you watch and make any judgments this was life prior to involvement in full time ministry. Here is the video, again please don't be too critical. Click on this LINK.

On Thursday, March 19, 2009, The Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA) announced the winners of the 2009 Christian Book Awards during the Christian Book Expo in Dallas.

The ESV Study Bible, which has sold more than 180,000 units within five months of release, won both its category for best Bible as well as the overall Christian Book of the Year award. This is the first time in the award's 30-year history that a study Bible was named Christian Book of the Year. Read more about the Christian Book Awards and past winners here.

Crossway President Lane Dennis called the recognition "stunning." He said the reaction to the Bible had been remarkable, and he credited the "tremendous" team at Crossway for its development. "It's amazing to think about the impact it's having worldwide, that especially during challenging times, people are turning to God's Word," he told Christian Retailing. "It's his gift--what an honor it is to publish it."

The Christian Book Awards winners were selected from 218 products submitted by ECPA member publishers in 2008.

In celebration of winning the Book of the Year award, we are pleased to provide a 35% discount on all print editions of the ESV Study Bible thru April 8, 2009. Just click on this LINK.

During the first 8 months we have been focusing on the importance of Bible reading, devotion and study. One of my goals as we continue, is to introduce our community to heroes of the Christian faith down through the church history. Over my years in full time ministry I have noticed much attention that is paid to contemporary writers of Christian material. Record sales have been recorded with books such as “The Prayer of Jabez”, “The Purpose Driven Life” and even more recently “Your Best Life Now.”
However I remember years ago a pastor/theologian said that the first thing after the Bible he recommended were the autobiographies of great Christian men and women throughout church history.

The following is quoted from the autobiography of George Mueller. Please pay close attention to what George Mueller discovered about the word of God and its application for his own life. This article is lengthy but well worth the time and underlining different sections as we continue on in our “learning and living the God-centered life.”

It has recently pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost, though now, while preparing the fifth edition for the press, more than fourteen years have since passed away. The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord.
How different, when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one!
- George Mueller

The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.

For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least for ten years previously, as an habitual thing to give myself to prayer, after having dressed myself in the morning. Now, I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the word of God, and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, by means of the word of God, whilst meditating on it, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.
I began therefore to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning.

The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord blessing upon his precious word, was, to begin to meditate on the word of God, searching as it were into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the word, not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon, but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul.

The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that, though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer. When thus I have been for a while making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the word may lead to it, but still continually keeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation.

The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened, and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me that which, either very soon after or at a later time, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the word that I gave myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.

With this mode I have likewise combined the being out in the open air for an hour, an hour and a half, or two hours, before breakfast, walking about in the fields, and in the summer sitting for a little on the stiles, if I find it too much to walk all the time. I find it very beneficial to my health to walk thus for meditation before breakfast, and am now in the habit of using the time for that purpose, that when I get into the open air I generally take out a New Testament of good-sized type, which I carry with me for that purpose, besides my Bible; and I find that I can profitably spend my time in the open air, which formerly was not the case, for want of habit. I used to consider the time spent in walking a loss, but now I find it very profitable, not only to my body, but also to my soul. The walking out before breakfast is of course not necessarily connected with this matter, and every one has to judge according to his strength and other circumstances.
The difference, then, between my former practice and my present one is this: Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time.

At all events I almost invariably began with prayer, except when I felt my soul to be more than usually barren, in which case I read the word of God for food, or for refreshment, or for a revival and renewal of my inner man, before I gave myself to prayer. But what was the result ? I often spent a quarter of an hour; or half an hour, or even an hour, on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour; I only then began really to pray.

I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it) about the things that he has brought before me in his precious word.

It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this point. In no book did I ever read about it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private intercourse with a brother stirred me up to this matter. And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is, to obtain food for his inner man.

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow. Now what is the food for the inner man? Not prayer, but the word of God; and here again, not the simple reading of the word of God, so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. When we pray, we speak to God.

Now, prayer, in order to be continued for any length of time in any other than a formal manner, requires, generally speaking a measure of strength or godly desire, and the season, therefore, when this exercise of the soul can be most effectually performed is after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the word of God, where we find our Father speaking to us, to encourage us, to comfort us, to instruct us, to humble us, to reprove us. We may therefore profitably meditate, with God's blessing, though we are ever so weak spiritually; nay, the weaker we are, the more we need meditation for the strengthening of our inner man. There is thus far less to be feared from wandering of mind than if we give ourselves to prayer without having had previously time for meditation.

I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my follow believers to ponder this matter. By the blessing of God I ascribe to this mode the help and strength which I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials, in various ways, than I had ever had before; and after having now above fourteen years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, recommend it. In addition to this I generally read, after family prayer, larger portions of the word of God, when I still pursue my practice of reading regularly onward in the Holy Scriptures, sometimes in the New Testament and sometimes in the Old, and for more than twenty-six years I have proved the blessedness of it. I take, also either then or at other parts of the day, time more especially for prayer.
How different, when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one!

This past Sunday morning I included a quote from A.W. Tozer (1897-1963) in our teaching lesson. I am particularly fond of his best selling book “The Knowledge of the Holy.” In these days of trendy Christian books and self help messages may I recommend to you A.W. Tozer.

Have you ever looked at Romans 3:21-26 from a Trinitarian perspective? Allow me to go through this with you for a minute in this blog article. The objective is to show why the Trinity is essential for us in our own salvation and in the church.
Rom. 3:21 ¶ But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
Rom. 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
Rom. 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Rom. 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
Rom. 3:25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
Rom. 3:26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

First of all in regard to our salvation we must have One that is paying the penalty for our sins. In Romans 3:21-26 we can see that person is in fact God the Son. Please keep in mind, and we will study this later, God the Son is both fully God and fully man. He is not part God and part man but is all of each. Therefore as man, Christ is the one who make the substitute for us. The Lord Jesus has to be one of us, in order to take our place by His death on the cross. But if He is just one of us that will not accomplish the atonement. Therefore He must be 100% man in order to take our place, and 100% God in order to make an acceptable sacrifice.

Next I want us to think about the role of God the Spirit in terms of our salvation. Maybe it is best to ask a question at this point.
How does God the Son arrive at the cross as the perfect sacrifice for us as one who was sinless? Let’s be careful at this point as to how we answer this question. Look at the following verse from Hebrews 4:15 - For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. So from this verse we understand that Jesus was really tempted as He lived on planet earth. But also we need to take into account James 1:13 - Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. Therefore the Lord Jesus dealing with sin can’t be within the divine nature, so it must be in relationship with the human nature.
So again, how does the human Jesus resist temptation every moment of every day of His life, in order that as Christ obeys the Father every day in every way and He goes to the cross as sinless?
Well, the answer to that question is found in the gospels. Read the following verses;
Luke 4:16 ¶ And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read.
Luke 4:17 And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And He opened the book and found the place where it was written,
Luke 4:18 “THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD IS UPON ME,
BECAUSE HE ANOINTED ME TO PREACH THE GOSPEL TO THE POOR.
HE HAS SENT ME TO PROCLAIM RELEASE TO THE CAPTIVES,
AND RECOVERY OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND,
TO SET FREE THOSE WHO ARE OPPRESSED,
Luke 4:19 TO PROCLAIM THE FAVORABLE YEAR OF THE LORD.”

The answer is that Jesus goes to the cross sinless because He lives each moment of each day in the power of the Spirit.
“THE LIFE THAT CHRIST LIVED QUALIFIED HIM FOR THE DEATH THAT HE DIED, BUT THE DEATH THAT HE DIED QUALIFIES US TO LIVE THE LIFE NOW THAT HE LIVED THEN”
And the life Christ lived that brought Him to the cross as the sinless Savior was totally lived by the empowering of the Spirit.
We see here the third person of the Trinity which is God the Spirit.

And finally we have the first Person of the Trinity which is God the Father. Look at the verse above in Romans 3:25. It should be clear to us at the cross itself you must have wrath being poured out on the Son by His Father in order that the wrath of the Father may be fully propitiated. Therefore we read that God the Father executes His own Son in order to demonstrate His righteousness.

In summary each time we think of our own salvation we should think of it in terms of the Trinity.
God the Son is the one who pays our penalty in full.
God the Spirit is the one who empowers God the Son to go to the cross as one who is sinless and fulfills the law in every way.
God the Father executes His wrath on sin to the point where it is now been fully satisfied by the perfect atonement of the Son.

As you can see the Trinity is an essential doctrine for us to study, embrace and know in the church.

INTRODUCTION: THE DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY

This morning Pat and I made an appeal for those not yet signed up to “come away” with our community to the retreat on May 1-3 at Ridgecrest in Asheville, NC. As I said this morning the structure will be as follows:

• Teaching
• Fellowship
• Breaking of Bread
• Prayer

When is the last time you spent 2-3 days away from the hustle and bustle of life just to have some extended time to meditate on Christ and His word? We will be posting a formal retreat schedule within the next couple of weeks. But here is the basic layout as we see it at this point.

Friday evening - May 1
Dinner is served @ 5:30 - 6:30
7:30-9:00 PM - Teaching session #1

Saturday - May 2
Breakfast served 7:15 - 8:15
8:30-10:00 AM - Teaching session #2_part1
10:00-10:30 - morning break
10:30-11:30 AM - Teaching session #2_part2

Lunch served @ 12:00 - 1:00
1:30 - 3:00 PM - Teaching session #3

Dinner served @ 5:30 - 6:30
7:00 - 8:30 PM - Teaching session #4

Sunday - May 3
Breakfast @ 7:15 - 8:15
Check out of rooms
8:30-10:00 - Teaching session #5
10:00-10:30 - morning break
10:30-11:30 - Question and Answer session
Lunch @ 12:00 - 1:00
Home after eating lunch

NOTE TO CLASS
Please don’t let the finances stop you from coming as we have scholarships available for those in our community. All you need to do is call or email Pat Jones (pjones3@carolina.rr.com) and he will take care of those details.

We are still in a bit of a teaching transition as we move from the doctrine of the Bible to the Doctrine of God. The article that I gave you for homework last week is an excellent resource to prepare you for what is coming as we study the Trinity. In the last part of the article Michael Patton writes:

“We need to recognize that giving people the truth (*SOUND DOCTRINE) is our first priority. The fragrance produced by this truth (*SOUND DOCTRINE) will be inevitable. It is the nature of belief to find expression. I can’t always tell you exactly what this expression will look like and in what manner it is identified. But the belief is the foundation. The belief brings great glory to God. Belief is always enough. So long as it is true belief, the fragrance will permeate from us. If it does not, then the belief is not there. This is what James meant: “Belief is not true belief when it does not have a fragrance.” But he was not try to elevate the action above its source.
Will there be people who believe—truly believe—but don’t have this fragrance? No. Never. What is our mission? To do our part to make God known. Truth, orthodoxy, belief, (*SOUND DOCTRINE) and understanding are foundational to Christianity as the substance is foundational to the aroma produced.” article footnote *(SOUND DOCTRINE) added by Bert for emphasis

In class this morning the outline was as follows:
Part 1 - A word about DOCTRINE
Part 2 - Why do we need to study the DOCTRINE OF THE TRINITY
Part 3 - A.W. Tozer’s evaluation of the modern churches view of God
Part 4 - Foundations of the Trinity - Reason #1 The Trinity and Salvation

In class next week, Lord willing, we will begin with The Trinity and Salvation. During these coming months I will be pulling notes, audio, video and resource materials from many different authors, pastors, theologians and teachers. The list will include people like John Frame, Stephen Charnock, Wayne Grudem, Paul Washer, Mark Kielar and Dr. Bruce Ware just to name a few. In many cases this information comes to you straight from notes I have gathered through my own personal study over the years and does not alway have the footnotes available. In the next few weeks I will lean heavily on Dr. Bruce Ware and his tremendous insight in regard to the Trinity. For those of you who are interested in more study on this topic may I highly recommend his book THE FATHER, SON AND HOLY SPIRIT.

The notes from today that you can view below will give you a review and preview of next week’s class. Please be patient as we move into the DOCTRINE OF GOD. Some of these things will require some time and meditation but I promise you it will be worth it.
Allow me to continue to exhort you to know these basic doctrines of the Bible. Again I point us all to 2 Timothy 2:15 - “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”
I am so excited to be on this journey with you as we together are learning and living the God-centered life. May the notes serve to encourage you in personal study as you get in the word so the word can get into you!



Also note that audio CD’s are available each week at the table as you come into our class . These are free resources and we encourage you to take them, to listen, and share with others.

This article from Dr. John Piper at Desiring God ministries.

Seek to see and feel the gospel as bigger as years go by rather than smaller.

Our temptation is to think that the gospel is for beginners and then we go on to greater things. But the real challenge is to see the gospel as the greatest thing—and getting greater all the time.

The Gospel gets bigger when, in your heart,

* grace gets bigger;
* Christ gets greater;
* his death gets more wonderful;
* his resurrection gets more astonishing;
* the work of the Spirit gets mightier;
* the power of the gospel gets more pervasive;
* its global extent gets wider;
* your own sin gets uglier;
* the devil gets more evil;
* the gospel's roots in eternity go deeper;
* its connections with everything in the Bible and in the world get stronger;
* and the magnitude of its celebration in eternity gets louder.

So keep this in mind: Never let the gospel get smaller in your heart.

Pray that it won’t. Read solid books on it. Sing about it. Tell someone about it who is ignorant or unsure about it.

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel.... For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)

From the Contending and Defending Blog Site:

Whenever you hear this it’s usually followed up with “we all worship the same God” and “can’t we all get along?”

Whenever the mantra “doctrine divides” is employed, it’s always with a negative connotation. But have you stopped to ponder why?

Allow me to submit for your consideration, that “doctrine divides” is actually a good thing–a positive thing. It’s true that “doctrine divides,” and here’s what it divides:

The ones just wanting to be fed from the ones willing to take up their cross.

The false conversions from the true conversions.

The ones under law from the ones under grace.

The swine from the pearls.

The profane from the holy.

The tares from the wheat.

The goats from the sheep.

The wolves from the flock.

The hirelings from the shepherds.

The “other gospels” from the one true Gospel.

The false christs from the one true Christ.

The darkness from the Light.

The lies from the Truth.

The errors from the facts.

The wicked from the righteous.

The wide gate from the narrow gate.

The broad road from the narrow road.

and

The many paths from the only Way.

Doctrine divides; doctrine divides; thank God Almighty, doctrine divides!

Sunday was moving day for our community called “Learning and Living the God-centered life.” We moved from an 8 month study of the importance of Bible reading, study and devotion and now we are transitioning into the DOCTRINE OF GOD.
The first task for us to undertake in this doctrinal area is that of the TRINITY. So in our class on Sunday my objective was three-fold.
Objective #1 - to help us as a community look toward the future which is our upcoming retreat May 1-3 which we are calling “The Gospel.” I also gave a short bio on myself for those new to the class who are wondering about my background, and how Nancy and I came to teach at Carmel.

Objective #2 - to be sure we understand the past by challenging the community with 5 questions to consider from Romans 6:1-14. I called this section during our time together yesterday “A Blast from the Past.”

Objective #3 - to move us into our study of the Trinity. How many of us have studied the Trinity in the last year, 3 years, 5 years or at all in our Christian lives? Well, I am so excited about us studying this aspect of the Doctrine of God. Here is the format for our study of the Trinity during the weeks to come:

Introduction to the Trinity
Foundation as to why we need to study the Trinity
Historical look at the Trinity in the church
Theological definition and relationships of each member of the Trinity

The power point notes reflect more than we cover in the class. I also have included with the notes part of your homework assignment for this week. You will find the article on “Application” with some bold highlights for further consideration. Also in these notes are the first 3 reasons why it is so important for believers to have a solid foundation in the Trinity.

It was just a normal Friday afternoon or so we thought. The dogs started to bark and when we looked out into the backyard there was “Ricky the Raccoon.” At first I thought no big deal he is just passing through and then he started to climb the back steps. And here is the rest of the story.

Join us for the trilogy of Ricky the Raccoon.
Part 1 - Ricky gets on the porch
Part 2 - Ricky gets away from the house
Part 3 - Ricky gets caught by animal control

Coming to a theatre near you...
THE ENTRY


THE ESCAPE


THE END OF THE LINE

This is an excellent article to help those in our class understand the importance and distinction between doctrine and application. We have become a culture that focuses on the results. Therefore when you get into the American church things can be driven by application instead of doctrine. And as my old boss used to say that means you are simply working on the wrong end of the problem. The following article is written by Michael C. Patton who has a blog called Parchment and Pen. I hope you will take time to read and process in light of our class that is both about learning and living the God-centered life. Our curriculum is first and foremost about learning sound Biblical doctrine and this article explains why that is a good thing.

Belief is no good without practice is a stupid statement. Yes, I have read James (once or twice).

My argument has been pretty simple so far. God is glorified when he is known truly. God is glorified by our trust in what he says. It is God’s great pleasure to reveal himself to his children. God is glorified when he is known and understood. God desires orthodoxy and right belief.

But some of my comments have made some people very uncomfortable, especially this one (emphasized in italics):

I was in a small group venting about my expository preaching class ten years ago. I said, “They are trying to get me to pull out direct immediate application—something for the people to do—out of every sermon.” I complained about this. My group of young seminarians were divided. I told them that not only were some passages of Scripture not able to produce direct immediate application without sinful manipulation, but sometimes, I told them, “God simply wants us to believe what he said. This is application enough!”

In our Evangelical/emerging climate, we have those who seem to have come to some sort of personal epiphany about the problem with the church. “Doctrine divides and causes problems.” Fair enough. “Christians have the tendency to have an arrogant attitude about doctrine, systematically condemning those who don’t agree with them on everything and, in doing so, fail to express love. They elevate correct doctrine above love.” Agreed. “Therefore, we should quit talking about doctrine and just love each other.” Time out! Love without truth is not Christian.

“But what does being doctrinally correct actually do? How can it help the world today? How does it alleviate oppression? How does it feed the hungry? How does it promote equality? And what about the environment?”

You see? There you go again. You think that this life is about you. You think it is about man. You think that if it does not effect the world within the next hour or day or week, according to your standards, it is a bad stewardship of your time.

“Belief is no good without practice.” Translation in our generation: “Since right belief (doctrine, systematic theology, understanding, etc) does not evidence itself in practical matters immediately and causes people to be arrogant, we should not even worry about belief at all and just get out there and “do” what we know is right. Orthodoxy is bad. Orthopraxy is good.”

This fails to understand that right belief itself is the application—the ultimate application. How so? Because belief will always produce of itself. This belief will sometimes evidence itself in ways that are immediate and sometimes in ways that become an integral part of a persons life and personality. (Hang with me).

Let me give some examples of beliefs that are easy to apply immediately:

We should do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

We should forgive one another.

We should carry each others burdens.

We should seek justice for the weak.

But what about the beliefs that don’t seem to be tagged with this type of immediate application? What about God’s sovereignty? God’s nature? Human sinfulness? The second coming? What about the genealogies of the Bible? What about the doctrine of creation ex-nihilo? What about the canon of Scripture, the definition of predestination, the flight to Egypt (all of them), the historicity of the Bible, the arguments for God’s existence, the doctrine of sola Scriptura, sola fide, the Reformation, or hell and the wrath of God?

“Sorry Michael. Our generation, though a series of epiphanies, has made those teachings and beliefs off-limits because of their counter-productive tendency to divide. Plus, they don’t have any direct application to our lives. If someone is to have an opinion about them, lets just keep it at that—an opinion.”

The problem with this line of thinking is that it puts God in the practical application box of our own design. We get out easy by calling foul with regard to doctrine. But, in the end, we end up with a load of rubbish that exiles God to the unknowable. The acceptable “application” of our generation could be applied to any religion. There is nothing distinctly Christian about them. When we do this, we tell God that since his revelation only has limited application we are going to wear selective earplugs while listening.

I believe that all good is defined by the degree which we listen to, understand, and believe the whole council of God, both in his world and in his Word. I also believe that when we say that what you believe about doctrine does not matter as much as what you do, we have fundamentally misunderstood, misdefined, and mishandled what belief means. In doing so we are creating an artificial preservative that we are trying to dress up like the real thing, but whose substance has limited shelf-life.

When we listen to God, when we prioritize truth, doctrine, understanding, and belief, when the time is right, you will see that we have changed, not from the outside in, but from the inside out. We are what we believe, not what we do. This is Christianity 101. It is about belief first. Belief must have content.

For example, take the Theology Proper (the doctrine of God). God has revealed himself as one who is the creator of all things, who transcends all of creation, being holy, unchangeable, without any need whatsoever (aseity), who loves man but will not let the unrighteous go unpunished. It is only when we have intellectually wrestled with and reflected upon it that we can recognize his majesty. It is only when we recognize his majesty that we can recognize our sinfulness, hopelessness, and helplessness without him. It is only by doctrine—right doctrine—that we can come to a state of brokenness. It is only in this brokenness that we can worship him truly. This belief—when truly understood and believed—will produce a fragrance of a character which is in conformity to Christ. Call the fragrance “application” if you will, but it is only present because of an understanding and belief.

But what you must understand is that this brokenness is application. It is not the place holder for application that will come later.

It pleases God to be known as Trinity. Knowing God is application.

Worship is expressed as the deepest longings of our heart are fulfilled by coming to know our creator and all that he has revealed to us and we rejoice in this knowledge.

We need to recognize that giving people the truth is our first priority. The fragrance produced by this truth will be inevitable. It is the nature of belief to find expression. I can’t always tell you exactly what this expression will look like and in what manner it is identified. But the belief is the foundation. The belief brings great glory to God. Belief is always enough. So long as it is true belief, the fragrance will permeate from us. If it does not, then the belief is not there. This is what James meant: “Belief is not true belief when it does not have a fragrance.” But he was not try to elevate the action above its source.

Will there be people who believe—truly believe—but don’t have this fragrance? No. Never.

What is our mission? To do our part to make God known. Truth, orthodoxy, belief, and understanding are foundational to Christianity as the substance is foundational to the aroma produced.

Pastor Ray Ortlund writes from his blog site Christ is Deeper Still
There are two ways to read the Bible.

We can read it as law or as promise.

If we read the Bible as law, we will find on every page what God is telling us we should do. Even the promises will be conditioned by demand. But if we read the Bible as promise, we will find on every page what God is telling us he will do. Even the commands are conditioned by provision.

In Galatians 3 Paul explains which hermeneutic is the correct one. "This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise" (Galatians 3:17-18).

So, if we want to know whether we should read the Bible through the lens of law or promise, demand or provision, burden or gift, command or grace, we can just start reading on page one and see which comes first. And in fact, promise comes first, in God's word to Abram in Genesis 12. Then the law is added later, in Exodus 20. The category "promise" establishes the larger, wraparound framework for everything else added in along the way.

The deepest message of the Bible is the promises of God through grace. The Bible presents itself to us this way. The laws and commands and examples and warnings are all there. We must revere them. But they do not provide the hermeneutic with which we make sense of the whole. We can and should understand them as qualified by God's gracious promise in Christ. Should you want to read the entire article click on this LINK.

This is from the Theology Today blog site:

Here are 10 simple rules in order to help with proper Bible Interpretation:

1. Pray! Pray! Pray! The Holy Spirit knows better then you do!
2. Always know what the verse actually says, not what you think you remember it saying
3. Take the verse in literary context, don’t just read what you want to read to prove your point and don’t forget the Bible is a mosaic of different kinds of literature meant to be read different ways.
4. Take the verse in cultural context, just like you saying “it’s raining cats and dogs” is not what you literally meant
5. Remember the Bible is a whole 66 books! Interpret all verses in relation the other 1000’s of verses
6. Check the other translations, The variations are complimentary and show the whole picture
7. The Bible was not originally written in English, go back to the sources
8. Theological presuppositions are bad, scripture determines doctrine, not the other way around
9. Check the Theologians’ opinions, (check out the ESV Study Bible) The Ph.D, professor of heart surgery of Harvard is better then your uncle Ted’s heart removal service. Professional opinions matter! (but don’t assume they’re always right)
10. Assume nothing, be ready to learn, don’t give up. Remember, only God knows everything.

The evangelical church today must recommit herself to strong Bible based foundations in the lives of those that attend in order that the results will be God honoring application for life. These foundations include but are not limited to the Bible itself, God, man, Christ, the Spirit, and salvation. Can you imagine building a home in which the foundation was suspect? You go into the kitchen one morning and feel the house start to shift and then back to the bedroom and it shifts again. Wouldn’t this impact your attitude and confidence of living in this home? Of course these kinds of examples we know and understand completely in everyday life, but for some reason we seem less inclined to know and understand them when it comes to our spiritual life.

The Lord Jesus says in John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Have we thought much about these kind of statements that Jesus made while He lived on planet earth? Just for a moment let’s look at the opposite of that statement. If a person doesn’t know the truth then the lack of truth will be the very thing that keeps them from getting free or keeps them enslaved. I maintain that the truth here is the truth of His word. And it will be the knowing of His word that frees you from the world, flesh and the devil and frees you to live in and for Christ. This is a very basic example but should teach us that the foundation of truth must be in place before there is an application of that same truth. As a side note just go back one verse and read carefully what Jesus says to those around Him “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine.” The Greek word for continue is “meno” and it means to abide in, to stay in or to remain in. This is the same word as “abide” that we read in
John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
The foundation is abiding in Christ through His word and the application is the bearing of fruit that results from a word transformed life!

There are many, many examples in Scripture of foundation that leads to application but let’s look at one more in John 17:17. The context here is Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to His crucifixion. Christ prays to His Father “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” The word sanctify essentially means to be set apart for holy use. Isn’t that the application piece of our Christian life, that each day we become more like the Lord Jesus? Well, how is that going to happen according to the prayer of Christ? This is going to happen as we get into the word of truth and the word of truth gets into us!

Do you remember at the first of 2009 when we studied Matthew 7:24-27? Jesus tells the story of two men who each build a house. There is one key difference in the story, one house is built on a rock and the other house is built on the sand. This is the foundation piece of the story. Then we see that a strong wind, rains and a flood hit both homes. The house built on the rock stands whereas the house built on sand totally collapses. This is the application piece of the story. When you go back and look at both these men you find that one man heard the word and acted on what he heard and the other man simply heard the word but it resulted in no action.

The application for the Christian life comes from or you could say naturally flows from the foundation of a person who has been born again, experiences the new birth or has been regenerated. Therefore It is not reading the Bible that saves someone but when someone gets saved they want to read the Bible. I have noticed many times in the church there seems to be a huge focus on the application piece of the Christian life and very little emphasis on the foundation piece of the Christian life. But as I read Romans which is the greatest epistle we have on the doctrine of our salvation, the apostle Paul first lays a strong foundation before he ever comes to any application. The foundation is the gospel for as the apostle Paul puts it in Romans 1:16 it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. When a person comes into the foundation of being a new creature in Christ, the application will be a continual growing toward Christ-likeness. How can someone profess to be new creature in Christ and yet have no real desire, passion or delight for the things of Christ? Aren’t things like Bible reading, prayer, and our participation in a community of believers the application piece which flows from the foundational piece of saving faith?

So it seems that our study of and attention to the correct foundations of the Christian life will lead us to correct applications of the Christian life. We must be careful never to ignore the importance of application but we also must be as careful not to make it the means of our salvation. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone which indicates something that is received and not something that can be done. Therefore the man who acts on the word of God is the man who has been genuinely saved by grace through faith in God. And the man who only hears the word but does not act on the word is the man who is disobedient and is on the broad road that leads to destruction.

BE WHO YOU ARE IN CHRIST! In the last month we have been looking this as the theme of Romans 6:1-14. This is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible and it is rich with doctrine and application. Today I gave a 5 question test to check out the understanding of Romans 6:1-14. A good friend and dear brother in the Lord approached me after class and said that this was like trying to take a sip from a fire hose.
So if that was the case for you today may I encourage you to take some time in order to review the study notes. These notes are given to prompt you to further study, prayer and meditation in regard to what we are learning as to Romans 6.

This concludes PHASE #1 of the “Learning and Living the God-centered life” community. We have spent that last 8 months looking at the doctrine of the Bible. And it has been exciting to observe people getting into a consistent reading, studying and devotion time with the word of God. In next week’s class we will begin our study into the DOCTRINE OF GOD.

This will conclude our overview in Romans 6:1-14 that I have titled “Be Who You Are In Christ.” In this last article I want us to look at these 4 imperatives in Romans 6:11-13, and then take a brief look at the summary verse that closes the first half of Romans 6 which is verse 14.

Have you noticed in our thumbnail sketch of Romans 1-6 how the apostle Paul has just given us one truth after the other? He starts out with the truth of the gospel, the truth of righteousness, the truth of God's wrath, the truth of man's sin, the truth of being justified by faith, and in Chapter 6 the truth of grace and regneration. Then in Romans 6:11-13 the apostle Paul actually gives us for the first time a list of 4 imperatives that he exhorts us to do!
1. consider yourselves to be dead to sin
2. do not let sin reign in your mortal body
3. do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin
4. but present yourselves to God

Observe carefully the pattern and structure of the inspired word of God written through the apostle Paul. As you look take note of the way Paul writes in Romans. It should become obvious to you that God first gives the foundation of doctrine before He gives us the application for living!

Also notice that we are not to just be passive in the process of our spiritual growth in Christ. This is not a religion of “let go and let God.” And yet you will notice that Romans 6:10 is something that we must first believe before we take the actions Paul exhorts us to in Romans 6:11-13. This means that our behaviors are preceded by our faith and that without faith the actions that we take will not be glorifying nor pleasing to God. Faith is the seeing, realizing, depending, relying and counting on the facts which are already true. Isn’t it amazing that we can read in Genesis 1 that God speaks the universe into existence with a single word and yet we have trouble believing that He can take care of a particular problem in our lives. It is also good to remember that as Christians this is not a fight of faith in which we are trying to secure a victory. Christ has already been victorious and won the battle and we now are seated with Him in the heavenly realms. Therefore we fight from a position of victory and not for a position of victory.

Here is an overview of Romans 6:11-14
Romans 6:11-13 (exhortation)
Paul’s exhortation that in light of these facts realize what is true of you and act accordingly.

Romans 6:14 (assurance)
True of all Christians having passed from the old realm into the new realm.

So let’s breakdown these verses in order to understand the practical application for our Christian lives.
In Romans 6:11 check out the first imperative which is the word consider:
Consider - reckon, conclude or count upon the fact that you are dead to sin and live unto God. This is absolutely true whether you feel it or not. Grace is now reigning and sin no longer fits into your life because you are a new person.

Eventually righteousness is going to win out so why not enjoy the process right now!
Illustration:
You are taking a biology class and the professor comes in the first day and makes the following announcement, “everyone in this class has been given an “A” so now all you need to do is enjoy the course. That is exactly what God says to us at the point of our justification. You have an “A” there is nothing you can do to earn, deserve or merit it, so now learn the process of enjoying the Christian life that you have been given.

Turn in your Bibles and read Colossians 3:1-10
Since you have “put off the old” and “put on the new” then act accordingly. In other words we as believers in Christ need to realize who we are and then be who we are.

Now go to Ephesians 4:22-24
Paul says to summarize these verses “Put off the deeds of the old life and put on the deeds of the new life.”
Isn’t that what Paul is saying in Romans 6:11, when he says count on the fact that you are dead to sin?
Finally read Romans 12:2 - And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.

Now go back to Romans 6:11 and again look carefully at this first command when Paul exhorts as a command the word CONSIDER. Realize or Recognize what is true about you as a new creature in Christ.
Don’t think of yourself in the same way but be transformed in this new way of thinking. And now act consistent with your new thinking.

Go to Romans 6:12
Notice that Paul first gives a command that is in the negative or something that we are not supposed to do. He says that we are not to let sin REIGN in our mortal bodies.

There are two points we need to observe in Romans 6:12
Point #1 - Sin is still trying to reign which means as a Christian we face all kinds of battle, obstacles and temptations that are thrown to us by sin. Again being dead to sin doesn’t mean that we don’t battle sin, it simply means that we are no longer enslaved to sin ruling in our life.

Point #2 - Notice that as sin does try to reign it tries to reign in those places of our mortal body that are not yet redeemed which we call the flesh. The flesh is not who you really are and yes the flesh is as corrupt as it ever was. But you the real you is the person you will be in a million years. The mortal body is going to pass away in a short time. Notice Paul doesn’t say “don’t let sin reign in you, but rather he says don’t let sin reign in your mortal body.”

Now let’s look at Romans 6:13
Whereas in verse 12 Paul gives a command of what not to do, in verse 13 there is a command of what not to do but also a command of what we are to do.
First Paul exhorts us NOT to present the members of our body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness

Then Paul exhorts in a positive way by telling us instead to present ourselves to God and also our members as instruments of righteousness.

Imagine going into a worship service on Sunday with a heart fully prepared and committed to present yourself to God as fully as you know how to do it. And in addition to that you present each individual member of your body to Him as a form of worship.

For example:
Lord this morning I want to present my ears to you in order that I can accurately discern the word with you have for me today.

Lord this morning I want to present my eyes to you so that as I read your word I might be able to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord this morning I want to present my heart to you so that I will be prepared to have the seed of your word intersect my life in such a way that it will grow 30, 60 and 100 fold to the glory of the kingdom.

Just think about this kind of presenting of your members to God in a way that brings glory to His name and demonstrates Him as great!

Finally look at Romans 6:14 which is the verse that brings the first half of Romans 6 to a close and we could say acts as a summary verse.
Actually we could go back to verse 1 and ask why should we not continue in sin and the answer is found in Romans 6:14, because sin is no longer master over you but instead you are now under grace.
This verse is Paul’s assurance that sin will no longer control or enslave a believer in Christ.
Paul IS NOT saying that sin ought not to have dominion over you but rather sin WILL NOT have dominion over you.

Also it is important for us to realize that Romans 6:14 is not a conditional verse based on Romans 6:12-13. This verse is a statement of assurance which means we simply need to believe it. The truth of this summary statement should be an encouragement for all of those in Christ to behave consistent with Romans 6:12-13.

I hope you will use this 5 part series to spring board you into a further study of these great truths in Romans 6. This is one of my favorite chapters in all of Scripture and it is certainly one of the most encouraging as to application for the Christian life.

Blessings

We are a community that is committed to “learning and living” the God centered-life. Therefore from time to time I will post current articles regarding various subjects as to the Christian life. Obviously the church is very important to all of us who are in Christ. The following is article written on a lecture by D.A. Carson as it relates to the church in America. Dr. Carson is a research professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is the author of more than 35 books.

D A Carson, September 26, 2008

1. It is important to observe contradictory trends.

Interestingly, Dr. Carson encouraged us to recognize the good things in our current culture. He said we have a lot more good commentaries available to us than we did fifty years ago. Yet, mainline churches have fewer conversions than ever before. This is a contradictory trend, according to Carson.

I understand this to mean that we know more and have access to more information, but it is not resulting in more conversions. We apparently know more about God, but less about His mission to seek and to save those who are lost. Our mainline churches are focusing on the minutia difference between supralapsarianism and infralapsarianism, for example, but are ignoring the call to both know God and to follow his sending us to our neighbor's house. There should be a constant tension between group Bible studies and sharing of one's faith. Otherwise we end up in a holy huddle somewhere arguing about non-essentials.

2. Current evangelical fragments are moving into a new phase -- into polarized "clumps."

Don said evangelicals are identifying themselves in clump-like expressions of evangelicalism (Health/Wealth clump, Openness clump, Arminian clump, etc.). Carson said the National Pastor's Conference (NPC) is as inclusive as possible -- some speakers are stellar while others are simply heretical -- but they include as many unique tribal representatives as possible. "Even Reformed circles are clumping," said Carson, "and the center is emptying out in favor of vague, dilute evangelicalism."

Carson astutely said that old-time gospel would be around until Jesus comes while he believes (as Don humorously put it, "not as a prophet or the son of a prophet, but one who works for a non-profit") that in 25 years nobody will be calling themselves "emergent" but many will still be centralized in the gospel.

I wonder what will replace the center as the varied subcultures of evangelicalism move to the fringes. For orthodox confessionalists, the center is the perfect place for the gospel. We need pastors who call their people "back" to the inner city of the gospel without relenting to the flight to the suburbs of dilute evangelicalism, as Carson put it.

3. The most dangerous trends in any age are the trends that most people do not see.

Orthodoxy is always focused on the past but the new expressions of evangelicalism are the most dangerous. Carson recalled the once Christian colleges like Princeton and Yale that were led by pastor/theologians but became so big that they hired administrators who were not as discerning of current trends; only of past. A formally orthodox leader will head into trouble if he is not astute toward current trends in evangelicalism.

Carson made the case that 1920's liberalism is no longer the issue-even though some churches are still fighting that shadow. Today's issues like justification, inerrancy, primacy of family, gender roles, sexuality, pornography, modesty, race relations (very few race-integrated churches), tolerance, consumerism and human flourishing are the current issues at hand.

I think most church planters are men who grew tired of fighting for bygone issues in their churches while people are losing the wars against the current issues of today. In my opinion, mainline churches will continue to lose their best men who want to be warriors in a real war, not in the reenactments of the religious wars of the last forty years. As long as we continue to address these modernist battles, Satan and his demonic force will rule the ground in our churches with diversion tactics that consume our energy.

4. There is a trend in our churches to be consumed by social concern.

In the most intriguing point of his talk, Don said that the Gospel plus caring for the poor was an inseparable couplet. He cautioned that if the gospel was merely assumed (and not clearly articulated), our passion for social justice would overshadow the gospel. While we are not intentionally exalting social concern over the gospel, people learn what we are excited about (gospel over caring for the poor). Carson warned, "Our passion must first be the gospel and not assume it to be understood." He continued, "We must be careful to keep the gospel central and not turn our responses to the gospel as the main target."

Furthermore, Carson exhorted these Christian leaders to spend our time on prayer and the ministry of the Word and allow our people to begin and maintain efforts in social concern. He said we must distinguish between what the church as church must do and what the community of believers in the church must do (I did not personally see the difference but it seemed to suggest that the pastor was exempt from exemplifying an outpouring of the gospel into the community through social efforts).

Our calling, Carson said is to do good in the city (Jer. 29), because the person has an eternal destiny and we care for them. We are all poor beggars telling other poor beggars where they can find bread. Don concluded this section by warning us not to make the issues of gospel and social concern antithetical.

5. There is a trend in our churches to emphasize discipleship over the gospel.

Carson emphasized teaching the whole council of God centering on Christ crucified as the power of the gospel and salvation. If we see the gospel as what "saves" us and if we see discipleship as the actual place where real transformation takes place, it is not a biblical approach. Carson said this trend has a tendency to lead us to see discipleship as legalism; as what pleases God.

It is disturbing to me that some churches see discipleship as a formulaic course of study instead of a lifelong journey as a sinner saved by grace. Following Jesus is not accomplished by completing 8 classes in the basement of a church. It is a complete abandonment of our self in favor of the person, work and mission of Jesus.

We need to be aware of the current trends in the church today and pastor our church with an emphasis on the gospel. Anything less leads to narcissistic religion and away from Jesus.

In our part 3 review we discussed the importance of the word picture that Paul gives regarding baptism in order that we see how this relates to our union in Christ. It not only shows our death with Christ but also the fact that we are now alive with Him.

Romans 6:6 starts with the words “knowing this” and maybe we should ask the question what is it that we need to know? I think the knowing this is referring to the 4 steps that Paul lays out in Romans 6:6
Step #1 that our old self was crucified with Him,
Step #2 that our body of sin might be done away with,
Step #3 that we should no longer be slaves to sin; And finally the goal
Step #4 for he who has died is freed from sin.

I took time in our part 2 review to cover in depth, what I think Paul means when he says we have died to sin which is Step #4. Since that has already been discussed I will simply refer you to those notes and should you want to study this again just click on this LINK.

In this blog I would like to discuss more fully the first 3 points that are listed above in reference to Romans 6:6 so let’s take them one at a time.

Step #1- our old self was crucified with Him
This is your old man (who you were in Adam) that was crucified and this is the tie in that Paul wants us to get when he talks about baptism as a picture in the death and burial of the old man. According to Paul, if you are a Christian then your old man has been crucified, dead and buried. The old man is not still wiggling on the cross and he is not still hiding inside of you. And you are not fighting against the old man because he really is dead.

This may invoke a question from the reader such as the why did God put to death my old man? And from Romans 6:6 we could determine the following:
Reason #1 - so the flesh would no longer rule over me
Reason #2 - so that I am no longer a slave to sin

It is also important to remember that as we read and study Romans 6 we are actually learning what God does when a person is “born again” or they experience the “new birth” or we could say what happens when they are “regenerated.” If you remember in a previous review Romans 6:1 and Romans 6:15 answer questions about grace whereas Romans 6:2-10 and Romans 6:16-23 answer questions regarding regeneration.

In continuing with Step #1 it may be helpful to see how the Bible describes you and me prior to our union with Christ or said another way the people that we were in Adam. The examples that follow accurately describe our “old man”:
Titus 3:3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.

Eph. 2:1 ¶ And you were dead in your trespasses and sins,
Eph. 2:2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
Eph. 2:3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

Col. 3:5 ¶ Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.
Col. 3:6 For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience,
Col. 3:7 and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.

This old man does not need training or self esteem improvement according to the word of God this “old man” needs to be killed. And when a person is “born again” the old man that a person was in Adam is now gone forever and a new person or new creation has come into being in Christ.

We also need to know what we ARE NOT now that we have been regenerated:
You aren’t a mixture or a hybrid of the old man and the new man. Because now if you sin, it really grieves you, because you love righteousness. And you do not have a white dog and a black dog inside of you so that the one you feed the most is the one that wins. We must come to realize that the old man that was well and alive is now in fact DEAD AND BURIED!

Step #2 that our body of sin might be done away with: (the following section on Romans 6:6 comes from a previous Bible study that I co-taught with James Wright in 2003)

Paul is saying in Rom 6:6 that the man (woman) we were before we were in Christ (our former self or former man) has been crucified with him - that man is GONE FOREVER and has completely lost his identity to the new man who is in Christ. In order that our body of sin - our flesh might be rendered powerless.

In studying and understanding Rom 6:6 we must come to understand Paul’s phrase ‘done away with’. The NIV and NASV both translate the Greek- katargeo as might be done away with (aorist passive subjunctive). In many English translations it takes 5 words to translate this one Greek word katargeo. The KJV has “might be destroyed” These connotations are to be compared with other translations such as The Amplified which has “our body (which is the instrument) of sin, might be made ineffective and inactive for evil.” There is a vast difference to me between something being abolished or destroyed or done away with and that thing being rendered ineffective or powerless. The Greek word katargeo - can mean either but in this context the latter is probably better. The context of this passage demands our understanding katargeo to mean ‘render powerless’ as the NASV has in the margin. The NIV translation – ‘be done away with’ must be understood in the sense of rendering the body of sin (flesh) powerless rather than doing away with it in the believer’s experience. (probably so translated because it is aorist – ie a one time for all experience) The truth of the matter is that the body of sin, the flesh remains in the New Creation and is not destroyed KJV or done away with NIV. The fact that the flesh, the sin remains sounds offensive and discouraging – and certainly it is. How we wish the flesh or sinful nature was gone from us who are in Christ. How we wish this was an ‘ed’ of our salvation but it is not. The flesh, the sinful nature will forever ‘war’ or ‘lust’ against the Spirit (Gal 5) while we are in this body. The Amplified helps us understand this whereas the KJV and NIV is rather inaccurate in the context of the passage. It is noteworthy that the word katargeo is also used of Satan in Heb 2:14 and he (Satan) has certainly not been destroyed or even done away with (yet) though he has been rendered powerless in regard to God’s people. Note the following 10 different translations of tHis Word katargeo. Five implying that the body of sin is removed from the saint. Five suggesting that the body of sin is rendered powerless in the saint.
Romans 6:6
1. NASV Our body of sin might be done away with,
2. NIV, NKJV Our body of sin might be done away with,
3. KJV The body of sin might be destroyed,
4. NRSV The body of sin might be destroyed,
5. Darby The body of sin might be annulled,

6. NASV margin Our body of sin might be rendered powerless
7. New Century Our sinful self would have no power over us,
8. Young’s The body of sin may be made useless,
9. New Living Sin might lose its power in our lives.
10. Amplified [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin
might be made ineffective and inactive for evil,

So if the sinful nature is rendered powerless why then does it seem to have so much power? Why do we desire to do the wrong things? Why do I still have a problem with sin? Because part of me hasn’t been redeemed as of yet. And that is my physical body which hasn’t been redeemed, I am waiting for the redemption of my body. (Rom. 8:23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.) And sin is still trying to reign in my mortal body. Once my mortal body is redeemed then I won’t have to battle this problem anymore because I will be perfected and in the image of Christ. We must realize it is us who have become new creations in Christ but not the flesh. Jesus said the flesh is flesh and the spirit is spirit. The flesh will always and only be the flesh while we are on earth. What it was before we were in Christ, it is now that we are in Christ. The flesh has not changed. But we have changed and our relation to the flesh has changed. The flesh lusts in us as it always and ever has. Probably it’s lusts even seem more real and powerful because now we have something to compare them to – now our flesh and our sin is sinful to us.

Step #3 that we should no longer be slaves to sin;
At one point prior to our new birth we were slaves to sin to the point that we could do nothing but sin due to the realm of sin or the dominion of sin that we were under.
Illustration from Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

After the civil war all the slaves became free and the question came to them based on the facts are you really free? Yes they were officially free as declared by the laws of the nation but when one of the former slave owners started to shout orders then it would bring a person back under those old feelings and sometimes actions when slavery did exist.

Paul says wait a minute, you are now free and sin no longer rules. Someone may say well I don’t feel free, but really that doesn’t have anything to do with the objective fact that you are free.

Romans 6 has to do with two major themes

THEME #1 - WHO AM I REALLY? (IDENTITY IN CHRIST)
Am I a new man
Am I an old man
Am I a composite of the two

In reality I am a new person in Christ.
Question - well why do I still have a problem with sin?
Answer - because the mortal body has not yet been redeemed, and therefore sin still tries to reign.

THEME #2 - EVEN THOUGH I CONTEND WITH THE FLESH I NO LONGER HAVE TO BE DEFEATED BY THE FLESH

Realize who you are in Christ
Act in accordance with who you are or behave in a manner that is consistent with your new life in Christ.
And this means that you are no longer defeated or ruled by sin or your flesh.

Galatians 5:16 ¶ But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Romans 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

MAKE WAR ON SIN - Dr. John Piper

We left off in yesterday’s review discussing what it means to be dead to sin. And we can see that in Romans 6:3-5 the apostle Paul gives us a word picture of what this is like in the ordinance of Baptism.

So when did this happen in which I was crucified with Christ?
It happened when He was crucified.
Well it was purchased for us 2000 years ago when Christ took us with Him to the cross and rose again on our behalf.

Well then when do I actually enter into to this life and experience it?
And that is the day when you are justified by faith through grace in Christ

This is when your old man was crucified and you were risen to walk in newness of life. And that is why Paul refers to baptism in this next verses.
Therefore baptism is the initiation of the Christian life and the testimony to the reality of what has happened in regeneration. It is a picture of the death and burial of the old man and the resurrection of our new man in Christ.
We don’t get the full import of this picture because most people can’t hold their breath that long. But if they could go down in the water for 10 minutes and we could see this represents their death and then when they come up they are rising as a new person into a new life.

Colossians 2:11-12
Col. 2:11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ;
Col. 2:12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.

What did circumcision symbolize? It is just like that of baptism.
It never saved or regenerated anyone to get circumcised just like it never saves or regenerates anyone to get baptized.

Baptism Itself will not make you a new creature, it will make you a wet creature.
Baptism is a pictorial testimony to the reality of what happens when we are regenerated, when our old man dies forever and we are raised up to walk in newness of life. It is at that time our old man dies forever and our new man is raised up to life in Christ.

Now back to the flow of Romans 6:3-5
Rom. 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Rom. 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Rom. 6:5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,

God not only puts to death the old man in us but raises up the new man that comes alive.
Ephesians 2:4-5
Eph. 2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
Eph. 2:5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
Eph. 2:6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Why does Paul continue to emphasize with Him?
Because the resurrection life that we have is Christ’s life. Therefore if you don’t have His life then you don’t have anything. And the only reason that we are new creatures is because He is living in us. So He says that I am the vine and you are the branches which means we have His life flowing in us.

As a Christian it becomes inadequate just to say that you are a new creation, but rather you are a new creation in Christ Jesus. I am getting my life from Him and apart from Him I am nothing. God does not give us this life independent of Christ where we can go out and produce good fruit.

In tomorrow’s review we will discuss Romans 6:6.

In our Part 1 review of Romans 6:1-14 we left off with the phrase in Romans 6:2 “died to sin.” And at the conclusion of yesterday’s notes my point was the importance of this phrase in understanding what this means as it relates to our regeneration. Well, maybe the best way to understand this is to first of all try to explain what it DOES NOT mean. I find this to be a very helpful way to study Scripture. Sometimes if you look at the opposite of what is not said or what isn’t said it can help one to understand the truth that is being stated.

First let’s look at what “died to sin” DOES NOT mean
#1 Paul doesn’t say that we are dying to sin, so he is not talking about a process here

#2 Paul doesn’t say we have finally died to sin, which would indicate that we have been dying and now are dead to sin

#3 Paul doesn’t say how shall we who “ought” to die to sin, still live in it

#4 We who determined to die to sin, Because we died based on what happened to us

#5 That the Christian no longer is having a problem with or isn’t affected by sin any longer

WHAT DOES IT MEAN to be dead to sin?
Well we can best understand what Paul means by keeping this in context with what he has been saying. And for that we need to go back to Chapter 5:12-21.

Realm #1 - where there is sin, condemnation and death, and it was in that realm that sin reigns and death reigns

Realm #2 - there is righteousness, life, and justification and where grace reigns and we reign in life because we are in Christ

We have been moved out of the realm in which sin reigns and now have moved into the realm where grace reigns.

And again this comes from Chapter 5:12-21 where Paul gives to us the parallel between Adam and Christ:
What is true for Adam then is true for all of us, because we have this oneness in Adam.
Everyone who has been in Adam gets to experience everything that Adam experienced. Each person has oneness in Adam but it leads to divisiveness and killing one another. So we have everything in Adam that relates to sin, death and judgment. And this is because we all have Adam as our father.

However we are not in Adam but we are in Christ which means that there is real life, joy, peace and unity. Everything that was true about Christ is now true about you in Christ. How righteous was Christ, well now how righteous are you?
In Adam we died but in Christ we have life.

We have died to sin means that we are no longer in that realm where we used to be.
It doesn’t mean that you are not affected by sin because the members of the mortal body have not yet been redeemed. Inside we are new creations but we still have to contend with the flesh.

We no longer live in the realm of sin where death reigns but we live in the realm of Christ where grace reigns.

Also it may help to look through the New Testament epistles and how the writers were constantly discussing these two realms.



So what does it mean that I died to sin
Well what it means is that a genuine Christian has died to the reign and realm of sin in their lives. Sin no longer has dominion over them to the point that they are enslaved to it or powerless to do anything about it.

Christians are no longer in the realm where sin reigns but are now in the realm where grace reigns.
Let’s look more closely at Romans 6:8-10.
Notice the contrast in each of these verses between death and life.

Because of our union with Christ that makes our death parallel with His death and our life parallel with His life.
Romans 6:8 “with Him” in both death and life

A key verse in this chapter:
Romans 6:10 - For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.

Christ never was alive to sin in the sense that He committed sin. And Christ was never dead to God but yet it reads He is alive to God.
Paul is talking about the sphere or the realm in which Christ lived. For there was a time that Christ lived in this world that was filled with sin and death. And when Christ died He in essence passed out of this realm.
Because again when He was on planet earth He was surrounded by sin and death and for a little while He was mastered by death and He even died for a little while.

But when He died to sin, He in fact passed from this realm and now He lives to God meaning that He lives in the spiritual heavenly realm.
In the next verse Paul writes because of that preceding fact, now consider yourself to be dead to sin but alive to God.

So what does it mean for me to be “dead to sin?” It means that I passed out of that realm in which sin reigns and rules. But now we live in the realm of life with God where grace reigngs and you don’t fit back in the other realm at all. This means that we are no longer under sin but rather we are under grace. So as Christians sin is no longer reigning in our lives but rather grace reigns. To be dead to sin means that we as Christians passed out of that realm.

In tomorrow’s lesson we will look at the word picture that God gives regarding our union with Christ in verses 3-5 which is that of baptism.

1. Stay totally away from the local church and the fellowship of believers.

2. Get isolated from others except close family and do nothing but study, remember you are trying to obtain more information NOT transformation.

3. Always demand either orally or silently that you are right no matter what you say or do.

4. Learn to be critical of everyone else and their puny theological takes on the Scripture.

5. Tell others that church history for 2000 years is virtually unimportant and you have some new and very unique takes on God's word.

6. Talk about yourself at every opportunity, your favorite words are I, me and my.

7. Write letters to constantly correct leadership in the church in order to get those dummies back on track, remember you are right!

8. Never submit to anyone, especially pastors or elders even if it is Biblical.

9. Constantly talk about those around you in a way that is condescending and negative way.

10. Learn the best way to twist Scripture so that when you are confronted with sin you can justify it in your own mind.

11. Tell others to read the Bible and then hold them personally accountable for church attendance, small group, prayer, giving, tithing and service projects that come up during the calendar year.

12. Make fun of others that go to seminary, because of their lack of discipline to learn it all on their own.

13. If you find that much of your theology is bad, wrong and dangerous call every one else a heretic!

14. Intimidate all those in your family, business or sphere of influence with your Biblical knowledge in order to always be in control and feel OK.

15. Pretend to repent if others confront your sin but never allow them to hold you accountable. Because in your heart you know you are right.

16. Make a list of all the places you used to go to church and then rationalize how they were wrong.

17. If you can teach, tell people how much you have studied, give lots of research in order to impress, and tell them it is not easy to always be right.

18. Find one or two people that you can constantly put down in order to bring yourself up.

19. Never ask family members if they see your main problem as one of legalism, because they might get brave and tell you what they really think.

20. Be comforted with this constant and ongoing thought "I'm always right."

This kit on becoming a legalist normally sells for $24.95 but if you order today it is only $19.95 and comes with a free CD “Legalism for Dummies.”
Order now but understand that supplies are limited.

After the snow last night I went out this morning and took a short video of this winter blast. Our dogs love the snow and of course I feel it necessary to do a running commentary. Hope you enjoy the snow day!

This Sunday we continued on in our “application for the feet” by looking at Romans 6. Since I was gone last week this was a heavy review from our class together on February 15. Before launching into Romans 6 it is helpful to pick up the context that the apostle Paul sets up in Chapters 1-5.

Before I launch into Romans 6 I want us as a class to understand that Paul is exhorting Christians in this Chapter to “Be Who You Are in Christ!” Even though that may sound a bit strange to us, I have found over the years that far to few Christians have a solid Biblical understanding of who they are in Christ. If you ask the average Christian on the street the following question “are you dead to sin?” they will typically answer no. But Scripture is clear in Romans 6:2 that Christians have died to sin. Therefore in the very APPLICATION of our Christian lives we should know:
Point #1 - What it means to be dead to sin and alive to Christ?
Point #2 - How did it happen that we are now dead to sin?
Point #3 - How are we now to live on a daily basis in lieu of this fact?
Point #4 - What assurance do I have that I can do so?

My bottom line point for us as a “learning and living the God-centered life” community is that Romans 6 is such an important chapter in understanding “how to” live the Christian life.

Therefore this week my goal will be to do a 5 PART SERIES that will cover the basics of Romans 6:1-14. Please know that this is in no way an exhaustive study but I hope these notes will encourage you to dig in and grasp these nuggets and apply them to your life. I stand on the shoulders of many teachers, pastors and scholars who have gone before me in Romans 6.

In Romans 1:16 the apostle Paul starts to expound of the gospel. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” Even though Paul had been shamed for the gospel he was not ashamed of the gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation.

Well, how can the gospel be so powerful?
The way the gospel is so powerful is because it offers us righteousness from God.
Why do I need this righteousness?
Because all men are under the wrath of God.
Do you remember what we discussed is the most right thing that God can do?
The most right thing that God does is to uphold the glory of His name. And the reason that unbelieving men are under the wrath of God is that they have exchanged the glory of God for their own glory.

In Romans 1:19 through the end of the chapter Paul makes it clear why the pagan Gentile is under the wrath of God. And at this point the Jews are delighted to hear about the sin and condemnation of the Gentiles. But then in Chapter 2 Paul begins to address the Jews and that they are also sinners. And he is in need of a Savior just like the Gentiles. So in Romans 3:10 we see that there are none that are righteous no not one, there is none who seek God.

Then in Romans 3:21 Paul starts to unfold Justification by faith all the way till the end of Chapter 4.
Then in Chapter 5:1-Chapter 8 - the certainty and fullness of salvation in Christ

Here is a quick overview to help us understand the context of Romans Chapter 6
Chapters 1-3 - All men are under sin
Chapter 3:19- end of Chapter 4 - justification by faith
Chapter 5:1- end of Chapter 8 - the certainty and the fullness of salvation in Christ Jesus.
If you are in Christ then your salvation is assured and full.
We have peace with God, He is no longer our enemy. And now we live in the realm of grace which means we can rejoice in the tough things. Because they increase our hope in God and they all work to the good.
May I encourage you to review the two verse that we read yesterday that cover the certainty of our salvation in Christ through the fullness of our being in Christ.
Rom. 5:1 ¶ Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Rom. 5:2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
The word stand is a verb in the Greek which is in the perfect tense. This means that something happened at a particular point and time and it has continuing results. Folks the great news is that those who have been justified by faith now stand in grace and that continues into eternity. There may be a time when you let go of God’s hand but you can be sure that once He has you He will never ever let go of your hand! Because you now stand in His grace.
Rom. 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
Rom. 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

As we head into Chapter 6 there is a problem because Paul has made some offensive statements in Romans 5:20-21. Paul said that the Law came in beside everything in order to increase sin. And to a Jew who held the law is such high esteem, Paul said that the Law comes not to save but to increase sin. He also says that as sin increased then grace abounded more and more. So as Paul writes Romans 6 and 7 he addresses the following problems:

Troubling Point #1
The law given to Moses was not to save anyone but instead has caused an increase in sin.
Now any Jew even a completed Jew would have a problem with this because the Jews were constantly faced with this issue, what about the law? So what we have here is Paul writing that the law was not given to save but in order that sin might increase and of course that is disturbing to the Jews. Therefore Paul is going to give a full chapter of treatment of this issue (the law) in Chapter 7. In Chapter 7 we learn:
Why the law increases sin?
Why the law can’t save anyone?
What happens to a person that is under the law?

Troubling Point #2
The second troubling statement was the fact that where sin increased grace abounded all the more. So once the law did its job of increasing sin then that enabled God to just provide more grace.

This leads us to the two types of people who respond INCORRECTLY to this truth as it relates to our justification by grace alone!

Legalists - they want to earn their salvation, and he hates to think that with all his good works he can in no way merit or earn the approval of God. The legalist is doing “flesh based” works that look good in order to get his “A”.
Think of the Pharisees and the elder brother in the story of the prodigal son. At the end of the story you see the heart of the elder brother who was a legalist. And that is why he got mad when the father gave unconditional love for his younger brother.
The legalist argues that if God approves of you up front then no one is going to read the Bible, go to church or do the works that they need to do. In the mind of a legalist the only reason you do the homework is in order to get the grade.The thought does not enter his head that someone might want to study because they really love the material.

Lawless (religious person) - he likes the idea of justification by faith because he already has a “A” and now I can throw my book in the trash and spit on the teacher and do my own thing. Yes, I am carnal but I will be in heaven. But if you talk to this man about obedience to the word of God you know how he will react? He will say that you are a legalist.
Jude talks about this in Jude 4 - they are in the church via unnoticed.
These are “professing” Christians who have supposedly been saved and yet still live the same life that they did prior to salvation. This group thinks, yes I may be carnal but I got saved and am going to heaven.
But when genuine grace arrives it always teaches us something.
Titus 2:11 ¶ For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
Titus 2:12 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,
What does grace teach? It teaches to deny worldly living and live righteous and holy lives.

So Paul is dealing with both the legalist and the lawlessness man.

Illustration:
And I need to be careful here when I exhort you to get back to your Bible reading, study and devotion time. Because if I am not careful I can put it in such a way that the law comes on top of you. Some people can approach their Bible reading in such a way that as they go through the Bible thinking they somehow are earning the approval of God.
Therefore may I say again that the heart needs to be prepared every day in order that the reading is done from delight and not a duty based mentality.

Be careful to notice the pattern that Paul sets up in both Chapters 6 and 7. He asks four primary questions:
Romans 6:1
Romans 6:15
Romans 7:7
Romans 7:13

The flow of argument proceeds as follows:
Question
Response
Reason
Explanation

Notice that in Romans 6:1 we have the QUESTION:
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase

Then we have the RESPONSE:
May it never be!

After that Paul’s short composite answer or REASON:
How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

Finally the apostle Paul gives an EXPLANATION in verses 2-10

Let’s look at Romans 6:1-2 and make some observations:
Rom. 6:1 ¶ What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
Rom. 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?

Notice first of all that the apostle Paul does not mention anything about justification by faith which is where he just concluded at the end of Chapter 4. He doesn’t say something like well I didn’t mean that justification by faith is that free and then tries to put them back under the law. Instead Paul says that we need to understand our union with Christ. He is moving from the doctrine of justification to the doctrine of regeneration. And who said doctrine is not important?

Here is a brief comparison that will help as we continue talking about justification and regeneration:

Justification takes place in the courtroom of God where He pronounces me right in the sight of His law or we could say declares me righteous.

Regeneration takes place down here on earth within the heart of a man.

Justification a declaration on the part of a righteous judge. When God says that your sins have been paid for they really have been paid for! The sins committed the most vile and wicked thoughts, words and acts that you have ever done are not floating in space that actually came down on and were absorbed by the Lord Jesus Christ and paid in full. Therefore when God looks in the book and sees paid in full that is actual and real.

Regeneration is not a declaration from a righteous judge but a supernatural creation done by the Creator on the heart of a man. It is solely from God as an act of creative power.

Justification takes care of my condemnation in the eyes of the law.

Regeneration takes care of my perversity and wretchedness in the inner core of my being.

Now back to Romans 6:1-2

Paul gives one answer to both groups as he says, “may it never be, for how shall we who died to sin still live in it.”
In light of who we are as Christians then it means we will not continue in sin.

What is it about Christians that would make it impossible for them to continue living in sin?
Because Christians are described as those who died to sin.

Some person goes to Paul and says well Paul since we are saved by grace then we can just keep sinning. And Paul says not so because we who are genuine Christians can’t continue in sin because we are the ones who died to sin.

In part 2 for tomorrow we are going to look more closely at what it DOES NOT mean and what it DOES mean to die to sin.
As a preview of tomorrow look at the verses that contain the words dead, died and death:
Rom. 6:2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Rom. 6:3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Rom. 6:4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Rom. 6:5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
Rom. 6:6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
Rom. 6:7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
Rom. 6:8 ¶ Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Rom. 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
Rom. 6:10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Rom. 6:11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Whatever died to sin means it must be very important and central to the message because Paul writes to us about this over and over in Romans 6.

Again we will attempt to tackle this question is tomorrows lesson. Until then “whatever you do whether you eat or drink, do it all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Blessings