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Hillview Bible Chapel is a vibrant Bible-based church centered on the Lord Jesus Christ, in the heart of Silicon Valley. Join us each week as we learn from God's Word together. To learn more about Hillview Bible Chapel, please visit https://hillviewbiblechapel.org
Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter six. Today, we'll be in this chapter for the most part of the message today. Romans chapter six.
David Johns:I would like to start with the dumb question of the day because I want to give you the joy and satisfaction of saying that was dumb. Can a believer sin?
David Johns:So if you're saying duh, you know me and some others are saying I know you. If I were to ask for a show of hands with this question, don't raise your hands, how many of you sinned at least once last week? I'll be very surprised if I don't see hands of every single one here in this room. Or you might point to someone else. A man prayed like this, Lord, so far today I've been right.
David Johns:I've been... I I I haven't complained. I haven't lost my temper. I haven't lusted. I haven't been greedy, grumpy, nasty or selfish.
David Johns:I'm thankful for that. Now I pray that you'll help me as I get out of bed.
David Johns:We all sin. We all sin
David Johns:every day. Thank God for the cross. Thank God for one John one nine that we can go to the presence of God because there is forgiveness in him. Can a believer sin? Should a believer sin?
David Johns:This is where you shake your head like this. No, you should not sin. Don't go like this, go like this. Yeah. Should a believer sin?
David Johns:No, actually we must sin less and less as we grow in the Lord. But the most important question today is why do believers sin? Well, if it is true that we've been washed by the blood of Jesus as we've been singing about as if we've been redeemed, we've been bought by the precious blood of the Lord, why should believers sin? If you have this question in your mind, welcome to the family bible hour 10/11/2026. At a minimum I'll leave you confused today.
David Johns:Now we've been dealing with this topic of the position in Christ. And one of the most important topics in the Bible, one
David Johns:of the most important topics that a believer should be very familiar with or spend time because a position in the life of a believer is a critical thing to realize and understand. You know, I didn't quite realize the importance of this topic of the position of a believer until late in life. You know, I grew up with heavy emphasis on the teachings that focused on performance. You got to do this, You don't have to do this. You got to wear this.
David Johns:You don't have to wear this or you shouldn't wear this. If you wear this, you are sinning. But who you are in Christ is way more important and actually our practice and what we do and what we don't do should come from the assurance of our position in Christ. If it doesn't come from the assurance of our position in Christ, then it becomes legalistic. I'll tell you why it's important to understand your position in Christ.
David Johns:First of all, your position is your source. Your position is your source. Look at this picture here. This is an illustration as you can see in this picture, the branch in green is connected to the vine And really there's no branch without the vine. The branch is positioned in such a way it gets its source, it gets the things that it needs to grow from the branch.
David Johns:So if the branch is disconnected, I'm sorry, from the vine. If the branch is disconnected from the vine, it cannot produce the fruit it is supposed to produce. So your position is your source. And secondly, your position defines you. You are defined by your position.
David Johns:Imagine a boy in an orphanage, there's no family, nobody to call his own, and a family goes in, steps in, a loving couple adopts him, and the moment of the adoption and it's legally completed, so the boy becomes the family, becomes part of the family that adopted him. The position has changed, he's not no more defined by the position of being an orphan, now he's a child of his parents that adopted him. Your position defines you.
David Johns:And then thirdly, the understanding of your position shapes your growth.
David Johns:The understanding of your position dictates your growth. This is where we come to Romans chapter six because Paul is trying to emphasize starting in chapter six in the book of Romans that believers cannot sin or should not be sinning because they've been placed into a certain position.
David Johns:So let's go ahead and read the
David Johns:first 11 verses of Romans chapter six. If you're not there, please turn to Romans chapter six. Starting in verse one, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase may never be. How shall we who die to sin still live in it?
David Johns:Or do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? 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. 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. 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. For he who has died is freed from sin.
David Johns:For if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again, death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. So Paul is trying to answer this question, are believers to continue in sin so that they can get more grace or see more grace? To the book of Romans is a grand treatise on the gospel.
David Johns:You know Paul starts the book of Romans with these wonderful words in in in verse 16 of chapter one, for I'm not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. It is the power of God. I'm not ashamed of this gospel because in the gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith just as as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. So the subsequent chapters till chapter five, Paul deals with this topic of justification by faith. A man is justified by faith.
David Johns:He's declared righteous. He's acquitted. Sin cannot have any hold on him because the judge himself has said he is clear. A believer is justified. And so in chapters one through five it is the justification by faith and chapter six through eight Paul talks about sanctification.
David Johns:He was transitioning as he was transitioning. Paul was on a roll in chapter five. He's explaining some of the key things and he was contrasting transgression that came from one man's disobedience versus the free gift that came from the obedience of one man, which is our Lord Jesus Christ. He says this in Romans five and verse 20, he says, the law came in so that transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Where sin increased, think about this.
David Johns:Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. And you might say, that doesn't make any sense.
David Johns:The world is full of sin
David Johns:and and and the sin seems to be
David Johns:increasing ever since sin came into the world.
David Johns:How can God increase or grow his his grace? How can grace abound when sin abounds? Shouldn't God be judging sin in his anger, in his justice? Well, I would say it makes all the more sense. Sin increases.
David Johns:But you see God is a God of grace and mercy, isn't it? He's compassionate slow to anger. He's righteous. He's merciful. So if God has to deal with sin and the increasing nature of sin, grace has to be over and above sin if God has to deal with sin.
David Johns:And that's why Paul says, it is not only that sin increase, actually the word that he uses is the word that is called Pileo Naso. Pileo Naso. Sin increases. When sin increases, Paul doesn't say that grace increases as well proportionately. It's not Pileo Naso, he says, hyperparousia.
David Johns:He says, grace increase abundantly. It increases all the more and that's how God can deal with man's problem of sin. That's how he can show grace to the entire world. Praise the Lord, his mercy is more stronger than darkness new every mourn, our sins they are many, his mercy is more. And if you don't have a relationship with the God of heaven and earth, if you don't have a relationship with the Lord Jesus today and I wanna let you know there is no sin in your life that God cannot forgive.
David Johns:His mercy, his grace, his forgiveness is much more than the combined sin, amount of sin in this world. Paul said that he was the chiefest of all the sinners and some of us here wouldn't mind arm wrestling with Paul and say, I am the chiefest of all the sinners. But still the grace of God is more. And then when we come to chapter six and verse one, Paul pops his question, he says, are we to continue in sin? What shall we say then?
David Johns:Are we to continue in sin? That makes sense. If sin increases and when sin increases grace increases much more. Then we can sin so that we will see more of God's grace, isn't it? Paul says in verse two.
David Johns:No.
David Johns:May never be. May never be. I mean we don't use term you know terms like that or phrase like this anymore, right? May never be. At least I don't.
David Johns:Well if
David Johns:you're reading NIV it would say absolutely not that I do use. That's exactly what Paul is saying here. Absolutely not. In fact it's more like why should it's more like, are you out of your mind even thinking about asking a question like that that I want to have more grace so let me sin more. So in chapter six, Paul is addressing the question, why should a believer not sin by explaining the position that a believer has been brought into.
David Johns:And that's why this topic is very critical, that's why
David Johns:it's very important. If you want
David Johns:to talk about freedom or victory over sin, the first thing that we come to is Romans chapter six because it is the position that a believer has been brought into, that's got to be the first step in understanding and one of the words we're looking at today is the word reckon or consider, which is very critical in that path. So Paul is introducing this phrase which is called died to sin. Died to sin for the first time. You see that in verse two, you see that in verse 10 where it says, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all but the life that he lives, he lives to God. And then in verse 11 as well, even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God.
David Johns:In fact, the word death or dead occurs over 14 times just in chapter six and the words alive or raised or lives occurs about nine times. Two key truths to understand the importance of not sinning, death and life. A believer, Paul says in verse two, a believer has died to sin. Now Paul seems to be stressing this really. He's bringing an emphasis to this phrase.
David Johns:He's saying, how shall we who died to sin? A believer has died to sin. In fact, the Greek word that or the structure that is used here is aorist indicative which means that it is a reality. It is a sure statement. This happened in the past at a moment in time.
David Johns:When you believe in
David Johns:the Lord Jesus Christ, you died to sin. That's your position. This is true. This is a fact.
David Johns:In Gen Z term, no cap. This is true. That's your position. You can't
David Johns:do anything about it. You can't change it. You just have to believe it. That's your position.
David Johns:So how does this work? What happens to a person when he becomes a believer? This is what happens. So here is an unbeliever before he came to know the Lord obviously. So what where he is in, he is is that he is in Adam.
David Johns:His position is in Adam. So it's safe to say that any human being born into the world is in Adam, he is the federal head. So but since Adam or progenitor fell, each of us born into the world is doomed into, is born into the doom of humanity. So the position of an unbeliever is in Adam. David said in sin did my mother conceive me.
David Johns:In Adam, we are declared dead Ephesians two and verse one, we were dead in our sins and trespasses and then we possess the old nature, the sinful nature. Every unbeliever possesses the nature to sin, the abilities to sin, the propensity, the natural inclination to rebel against God. So that's part of the old nature and because of the nature that is within us, you will see the sinful habits that come out of an unbeliever. So you're not only a sinner because you are born of Adam because you are in Adam positionally, you're also a sinner because you commit sin. You choose to do sin.
David Johns:So you can say that you are dead in sin. So in Adam, a man is dead in sin. So when you become a believer, when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ when you meet Christ at the cross what happens is that you are your position is condemned. The old position in Adam is condemned is taken care of by the Lord on the cross. And then your sins are forgiven.
David Johns:Your past sins.
David Johns:No. Present sins. Yes and no. It because it's past present and future is what I'm trying to say.
David Johns:It's not like your pastors are not forgiven your past present and future sins have all been taken care of by the Lord on the cross. And that's why this is such a beautiful truth that we need to understand and bring to our minds over and over and over again. Your old man is condemned. Your position is condemned. Your sins have all been forgiven and your old self is crucified.
David Johns:Look at verse six, knowing that your old self was crucified with him on on the cross. Galatians two twenty, for I've been crucified with Christ and it's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me. Meaning like it is dead and gone. Your old self is dead and gone. Don't try to resuscitate it.
David Johns:Now as a believer, you're you're not
David Johns:in Adam anymore. Your position has been shifted from being in Adam. It's completely changed. Now you are in Christ Jesus. It's not a it's not a combination of Adam and Christ anymore.
David Johns:You are once you were not in Christ, but now you are in Christ and you've been given given a new nature. Well, this does not mean a believer lacks the propensity to sin because we are still in the fleshly body. A day is gonna come when we will be in the presence of God, when our salvation would be complete, when we'll be saved from the presence of sin, there won't be any more sin, any sin no more, and we'll be saved perfectly and we'll be in the presence of God, but until then there's gonna be a war from within. A new nature is also manifested by the fruit of the spirit. Because you have the new nature, a believer is supposed to exhibit the fruit of the spirit and not have a life that practices sin as we were or we used to be.
David Johns:And because of this new position in Christ, you will say that we are dead to sin. Once we were dead in sin, now because of what Christ did to us, because of the crucifixion of the Lord, because of the old self that's been crucified, because of the old self that's been rendered inoperative, annulled, you can now say that you're dead to sin and alive in Christ or alive to God. And you will see in chapter six that Paul brings a little more clarity to the truth by highlighting a few things that I want to go over in the rest of our time we have. One is, you will see in chapter six, the truth of a believer's union with Christ. Well, I know Dan covered some of it last week.
David Johns:So I trust in your amnesia this past week. So, but repetition is good as well, right? So we learn by repetition and these truths are so important. I wouldn't even mind going over this every three years or four years because these truths are so critical as I've been saying. Look at verse five, 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.
David Johns:So when a person becomes a believer, he or she is united with Christ.
David Johns:That talks about the relationship. Now you have the body of Christ. When you put your trust in
David Johns:the Lord Jesus, you're brought into the body of Christ. You're united with him. And because of this concept and Paul uses the analogy of baptism or the word baptism and the word baptism is a transliteration of the word baptizer which means immerse. So when you become a believer, you are immersed into the body of Christ where Christ is the head. And we talked about this this morning from Ephesians two, there's one man now in Christ, Jews and Gentiles have been brought together into this one man whose head is the Lord Jesus Christ.
David Johns:So you've been united and because of the union with Christ, you have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And you have the triune God living within you. Isn't that cool? Isn't it awesome? You have the triune God living within you.
David Johns:The Holy Spirit fills your heart and you are indwelt by the holy spirit of God, you're guided and led by the spirit of God. It is all because of this truth of your union with Christ. And that's why we take the water baptism so seriously because it is a picture of the actual baptism that happened when you became a believer. So you died with him, you're buried with him, you rose again with him. And because of that, you're united with him in the likeness of his death and in the likeness of his resurrection.
David Johns:And because of that you are one with Christ. And the second word is identification. So not only are you united with him, but you also identify with him. Now union and identification are closely related, it's like siblings. But I really want you to enjoy the nuance here.
David Johns:United means that you are one with him. Identification is participation in what Jesus did on the cross. And when you put your trust in the Lord Jesus, he was crucified 2,000 ago but when you believe in him, the bible says you identify with him in his death and you identify with him in his burial, you identify with him in his resurrection and that's what you would see in verses three,
David Johns:four and five. Therefore we've been buried with him
David Johns: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 the newness of life. I hope you understand union is relationship. Identification is participating in what Christ has done. Since Christ died to sin, since Christ died, you also died. Since Christ was buried, you were also buried.
David Johns:Since Christ rose from the dead, you also rose from the dead. And here is the thing, look at verse 10. It says, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. The death that that he died, he died to sin once for all. That that's where identification comes now because Christ died to sin once for all, You also have died to sin once for all.
David Johns:So that's why in the definition of debt to sin, these two are very critical to understand. I'm united with him and I'm also I also identify with him. And so since Christ died to sin, I also died to sin positionally. You've been brought to that position. The third third thing is the word dominion.
David Johns:Look at verse six. Knowing this that our old self was crucified with him in the likeness of his death. Certainly we should also be in the likeness of his resurrection knowing this that our old self was crucified. Sorry. In order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.
David Johns:So dead to sin means that you are no longer a slave to sin. The Bible says, we were once slaves to sin. Hebrews two fourteen, therefore since the children share in the flesh and blood, he himself likewise also partook of the same that through death he might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil. Verse 15, and might free those who through the fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
David Johns:That's a pretty sad state, isn't it? You and I were slaves.
David Johns:Sin was our boss. Old nature was our boss. Whatever the boss said, you got to obey. And Galatians four three says, so also we while we were children were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. And Ephesians two talks about once we were dead in sins and trespasses 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's now working in the sons of disobedience, among them we too all formerly lived in the lust of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh, of the mind and whereby nature children of wrath even as the rest.
David Johns:But the bondage of sin is something that Jesus also talked about. Remember when the Lord Jesus said in John eight and verse 32, you will know the truth and the truth will make you free or set you free. The Pharisees, the Lord was talking to the Pharisees and the Pharisees were like, what are you talking about? We were not enslaved to anybody. So here is a
David Johns:tip. If you want to challenge Jesus, know your facts right.
David Johns:The truth is that Israel had been bondaged to Egypt and Assyria and to Babylon and Persia and Greece and now at that point in time to Rome as well. And even worse, they were slaves to sin and the Lord Jesus said, truly truly I say to you everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin. And Jesus went on to say that if the son makes you free, you will be free indeed. So because of the crucifixion, verse six says, the body of sin might be done away with. The body of sin, the old nature, the old self, the self might be done away with.
David Johns:The word used is the word katargeo which means to render inoperative. To be annulled. It's been put at a place where it cannot function anymore. Don't try to resuscitate it. And that's the that's the understanding.
David Johns:Look at verse seven, he says, For he who has died is freed from sin. For he who has died is freed from sin. So this is what is called an argument from a general principle. So general principle is that you die, then you are free from sin. So you see those barbed wires?
David Johns:You see that tower with search lights? Why is that? Because there are people living inside. If you let them out, they're gonna sin. They're gonna do things that you're not supposed to do.
David Johns:But have you ever wondered why there's no barbed wire or walls or anything in the cemetery? Why is that? Because there's the... Because the possibility of illegal activity by the residents of the underground indwelling is is zero. You don't have to worry about it.
David Johns:It's not going to happen. Freedom has been granted to a dead man. Why? Because he's dead. He's gone.
David Johns:The word freed is the word acquitted. The same word that is used for the word justified. A dead man is acquitted and justified. But the problem is here you are... This is talked about a physical death, right?
David Johns:But we are talking about people who are still living like us where we have this war between the flesh and blood. The fourth word that we wanna talk about is the word appropriation. Now debt to sin
David Johns:is a position. The position that you have been bought into.
David Johns:So it is important that you appropriate that position And Paul is sorry, Sam is going to talk about it next week in detail on the practicality of it. But to appropriate means to own it in a way that you put that into practice. I think this is very critical because the position that you
David Johns:have been bought into is not a physical position. Believers all of
David Johns:a sudden don't become more handsome or beautiful when they get saved.
David Johns:You don't have a halo above your head. Maybe you might become a
David Johns:little uglier after you become a believer and that can be true because a lot of believers are persecuted for the sake of Christ. For me I'll let nature take its course. So it's easy to say that when a person is physically dead, he's free from sin. But the problem as I said is you and I are living, So we are still in our bodies. So this is a position of faith.
David Johns:So position of faith has to be appropriated for that that to take effect. Our old self was crucified and rendered inoperative but our capacity to sin was not crucified. You get that? So the physical body that is corrupted is still alive. When the physical body is still alive and you have the new nature in it, what does that mean?
David Johns:It means that your memory is all still alive. The members of your body is still alive. So welcome to the war. Within, there is the appropriation that has to happen in order for this position to bring about the fruit. Two things Paul talks about in verse six is number one, knowing this.
David Johns:Knowing this, knowing knowing the accomplished fact that you have been bought or brought to a new place. Paul is talking about an accomplished fact. We're not talking about feelings here. No, Paul is not saying feeling this that our old self has been crucified. We're talking about things that has taken place and you have to take it by faith and appropriate that into your own life.
David Johns:You
David Johns:might say, Paul, I already know this. And Paul is like, yeah, I
David Johns:want you to know this more. I want you to know this daily. I want you to know this when you're tempted to sin. I want you to come to a place of recognizing this that you have been brought under a different headship, a different king, so you don't have to obey what you have, what you obeyed in the past. And secondly, Paul says in verse 11, even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God.
David Johns:Consider yourself, I think New King James or King James might say, reckon.
David Johns:And it is said in the imperative saying that, meaning that do it. Do it. Consider yourself. Now
David Johns:the word that Paul uses here is the word logizomai, which is an accounting term that means to calculate. Again, we are slowly getting into Sam's territory for next week. So I kind of step in with fear and trepidation. Sam, apologize if you will be covering it next week as well. Again, repetition is good.
David Johns:So when a believer faces temptation, reckoning or calculating is what Paul is talking about. So consider yourself dead to sin. It's consciously bringing the truth that Christ paid my price on the cross. I want to please him, I don't want to please my old self. It's as simple as that.
David Johns:When you're tempted to look at something that you shouldn't be looking at, remind yourself that you don't have to obey the lust. Let's let's talk about some of the practical calculations that you can make. When you look at something that you're not supposed to look at. The holy spirit is gonna prompt you and say don't do this. Christ paid for your sin.
David Johns:Then you do the calculation and say if Christ paid for my sin, I belong to Christ and I'm supposed to please him. I shouldn't be doing it. That's a calculation.
David Johns:And then you say, if I do this. What's what's going to be the consequence of me indulging in this? So that's counting the cost. That's calculation.
David Johns:Dave Johnson has mentioned it quite a few times from this pulpit here. When you're tempted to commit the sin, remind yourself not of the pleasure that comes from it but the consequences of it. That's calculation.
David Johns:When you read the scriptures, when
David Johns:the bible reminds you of the dealing of God as your father and you remind yourself of that truth, that's calculation. And maybe you can recalibrate yourself at the beginning of the day and say, Lord, I'm yours, you're mine. Help me to calculate when I face any temptation. And you hide the word of God into your heart that'll help you, that'll be your tool to calculate things. When you have lied about something and you're tempted to paint it white, it's called a white lie.
David Johns:Calculate.
David Johns:How does it please my God? Maybe
David Johns:the verse that says God is not mocked. What you sow, you're gonna reap is something that must come in that calculation process. Oh, he disrespected me, I have every right to to lash out.
David Johns:Calculation. How does it go? Well, I'm dead to sin. I'm alive to God. Anger doesn't have to rule me.
David Johns:I'm no longer obligated to obey this this impulse. I don't have to take revenge. Vengeance belongs to God. I'm gonna keep my cool and the Lord is gonna take care of it.
David Johns:That's how you do it.
David Johns:That's how verse 11 becomes so practical. That's how debt to sin works in a believer's life. Count what God declares about you is true. Tell it to Satan. Get behind me Satan.
David Johns:I've been bought with a price. I'm here to glorify God in my life. Imagine a man who's been released from slavery but his former master calls him and orders him to return to work. The man hears the command, feels the pressure, may even feel the old impulse to go back and serve the master, but he remembers that he's been legally freed and that he doesn't have to obey the master. That's what reckoning is.
David Johns:Reckoning is recognizing that the former master's authority has been broken and refusing to live as though he still owns you. Sin does not own you. Devil does not own you. Christ owns you. I read this somewhere, the believer does not fight to earn freedom, he fights from the freedom Christ has already secured.
David Johns:Is that wonderful? You don't fight to earn freedom. You've already been given freedom. You've already been freed from the most powerful grip, which is the grip of sin. He would taken out and given given the liberty and the freedom to live the life that you are supposed to live.
David Johns:I mean, that's that's wonderful.
David Johns:That's wonderful. We are the workmanship of Christ. You know, God created you for a purpose. God created me for a purpose, and that purpose can only be lived when you're in Christ. When you're
David Johns:not in Christ, sin has dominion over you and sin is gonna take you in that path which was not destined for you, which was not laid out for you. And in Christ, you can do what God has called you to do what you're supposed to do. In 1944, Onoda was sent to Lubang Island in The Philippines as a Japanese intelligence officer. Before leaving,
David Johns:he received orders to continue the guerrilla fight and never to surrender. So even if the war lasted for years,
David Johns:he was to remain at his post until ordered otherwise. So in August 1945, Japan surrendered and World War II came to an end, but Onoda refused to believe it. Leaflets announcing Japan's surrender was dropped into the jungle, search parties tried to persuade him to come out, even messages and photographs from the family failed to convince him. He believed that these were enemies' tricks intended to make him abandon his mission. Years passed, one by one his fellow soldiers died or left.
David Johns:Onoda continued living in the jungle, convinced that his war was still going on. Then in February 1974, close to thirty years later, a young Japanese adventurer by named Norio Suzuki found him. Suzuki told him that the war was over, but Onoda still refused to surrender. He insisted that he was waiting for orders from his superior officer. The Japanese government eventually located its former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who had become a bookseller after the war.
David Johns:So in March 1974, Taniguchi traveled to Lubong Island and personally relieved Onoda of all his military duties. So only then, thirty years after the war had ended,
David Johns:did Onoda finally lay down his arms, he returned to Japan at the age of 52. The war had ended, but he continued living as though it had not. The lives of too many believers are lived in defeat.
David Johns:No evidence of abundant life, living on the fringes of sin and sinful patterns. Why? They don't believe this truth. They don't believe this truth on a daily basis. They don't believe this truth when they face temptation.
David Johns:And Satan, is a liar, wants you not to believe this truth when you face temptation. And the truth is this, that you have been freed.
David Johns:Christ died for you. Sin no longer is your master.
David Johns:Stop living as though it is. Let's pray. Our father, we are so grateful to you for the work that the Lord Jesus did on the cross. We thank you that our old self is crucified. We've been given a new nature even though it is in a seed form and one day we're gonna have this new nature with the new glorified body, we'll be away from the presence of sin, we'll be like the Lord Jesus and we'll worship him forever and forever.
David Johns:But until then, for reasons that are known to you and you only, you have left us here with this old bodies and the war between flesh and the spirit, maybe to understand the sanctification process well. Maybe to understand the effect of the work of Christ in our lives, the work of the Holy Spirit in
David Johns:our lives. Maybe to understand that
David Johns:we are here to be an example to people in the world as to who a Christian should be. And so Lord, we pray that you will help us as we have touched on this important subject of being dead to sin in our position and next week as we're talking about the practicalities of it more, Lord, we ask that you would bless our time as we go through this series. Go before us this day, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.