ROM-81-150222 - length: 58:31 - taught on Feb, 22 2015
Class Outline:
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…a worldwide Christian Church based in Mesa, AZ…my name is Pastor Rory Clark.
The God we worship, the Lord Jesus Christ, is described in various ways… He is “surpassingly great” … He is the Creator of all things…He is the heir of all things…He is the Supreme Being of the Universe…He makes sure everything in the universe works as it should…Hebrews, Chapter 1, Verse 3 says…
And the Lord Jesus Christ is the radiance of God the Father’s glory and He is the exact representation of God the Father’s nature, and the Lord Jesus Christ upholds all things by the word of His power.
You are breathing today courtesy of the Lord Jesus Christ, and whether or not He is your God, He loves you unconditionally and He created you. We are privileged to be here today as His creation, some of us as His believers, and to hear His wisdom preached to us…for there is no one like Him… Second Peter, Chapter 3, Verses 7 to 11 say…
…by the Lord Jesus Christ’s word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept both for the day of judgment and for the destruction of ungodly men (a reference to unbelievers…who will be thrown into the Lake of Fire by their own choosing).
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved (divinely loved ones), that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years is like one day.
God does not count time as men count time…the Lord is not bound by time…
The Lord is not slow about His promise (of salvation), as some count slowness (as some accuse Him of), but the Lord is patient toward you (especially toward unbelievers), not wishing for any to perish (in the Lake of Fire) but for all to come to repentance (a change of mind about a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ).
The Lord wants as many people to be saved as possible.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.
The earth and the universe as we know it will be destroyed at a future time…a time determined billions of years ago by the Lord…
Since all these things (the heavens and the earth and the elements) are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you believers in Christ to be in holy conduct and godliness…
The apostle Peter is asking us the question, “What is the Christian walk?” Said in modern language, what are the Lord’s lifestyle demands for believers in Christ? Second Corinthians, Chapter 5, Verse 17 says…
2CO5:17
…if anyone is in (union with) Christ (and all believers in Christ are), he is a new creature; the old man things passed away; behold, new man things have come.
Therefore what is the Christian Way of Life, and what is the Christian Way of Living for the new man? Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verse 1…
Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you believers in Christ to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called…
We are to construct a lifestyle that is a reflection of our Lord’s generous grace toward us. We are to walk as if we have the peace of God. We are to walk as if we are in union with Christ and as if we share everything associated with Him. We are to walk as Paul describes it in the first two verses of Romans 6…we are to walk as “ones such as these” … we are to walk as children of a King walk…we are to walk as worthy ones, with our heads held high...we are to walk with a peace that surpasses comprehension, whether in the midst of tribulation or in the midst of joy. God considers us worthy.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
Worthy
Let’s hear about our worth in the opening song…WORTHY.
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We’re grateful to you, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
In every day…in every way…help us, as believers in Christ, to know…to reckon…and to yield…help us to know Your Word…help us to believe Your Word…and help us to put Your Word to use in our lives…so that we reflect Your glory…
We ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit...in Christ’s name...
Amen.
TODAY’S STUDY
Are Christians Slaves to Sin?
Turn in your bibles to John, Chapter 8, Verse 31…I just want you to know that I appreciate the compliments you have been sending my way about the power of the lessons starting off this year…our God the Holy Spirit has been building our knowledge of God and His Word to a beautiful, freeing crescendo, and we are breaking through in how we carry ourselves mentally as Christians. John, Chapter 8, beginning at Verse 31…who is the Lord talking to in this passage? Knowing who is being talked to in a passage is a critical part of understanding a passage…
So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If (3) you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine…”
This is a third class condition “if” in Greek…a conditional “if” … maybe you will and maybe you won’t continue in my Word and be disciples of mine…you have a choice…an indication that the Lord Jesus Christ is talking to unbelievers…
…and (if you do continue in my Word) you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.
They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, ‘You will become free?’”
They were misinformed…the Jews who were Abraham’s descendants spent 400 years in captivity in Egypt…Genesis, Chapter 15, Verse 13…
God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your descendants (the Jews) will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed (mistreated) four hundred years.
…surely these learned Jews knew of Egypt. But Jesus was talking about another type of slavery that all unbelievers are a part of…that we as believers in Christ were a part of when we were “in Adam” … John, Chapter 8, Verse 34…
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.”
It would be easy for you, as a believer in Christ, to get logical at this point and to follow this erroneous logic train…
ERRONEOUS LOGIC TRAIN
Everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin
Believers commit sin
Believers are the slave of sin
In fact, that logic is what has believers in Christ all over the world enslaved to sin when they are dead to sin. In this passage, the Lord is is talking to unbelievers. How do we know? Let’s pick it up at John, Chapter 8, Verse 37…
“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants; yet you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you (because you are unbelievers).”
“I (the Lord Jesus Christ) speak the things which I have seen with My Father; therefore you also do the things which you heard from your father.”
You might be wondering…who is their father?
They answered and said to Jesus, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If (for the sake of argument) you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham.”
What deeds of Abraham? Here’s a good one…Genesis, Chapter 15, Verse 6…
Then Abram believed in the Lord; and the Lord reckoned it (this faith) to him (credited it to his account) as righteousness.
Continuing at John, Chapter 8, Verse 40…
“But as it is, you are seeking to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God the Father; this Abraham did not do (he did not seek to kill me).”
“You are doing the deeds of your father.” They said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God.”
These Jews are claiming that they are not illegitimate children…that they are not of the line of Ishmael, son of Hagar, the slave girl.
Jesus said to them, “If (for the sake of argument) God the Father were your Father, you would love Me, for I (the Lord Jesus Christ) proceeded forth and have come from God the Father, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but God the Father (the author of the divine plan for all mankind) sent Me.”
Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you (as an unbeliever) cannot hear (comprehend) My word.
First Corinthians, Chapter 2, Verse 14…
But a natural man (an unbeliever) does not accept the things of the (Holy) Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised (with a human spirit).
A person gets a human spirit and the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit at the moment of salvation. John, Chapter 8, Verse 44…
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me.
For unbelievers, taking the bible out of context is a prescription for an eternity in the Lake of Fire. For believers in Christ, taking the bible out of context is a prescription for confusion that yields a counterfeit spiritual life.
Can a believer in Christ be a slave to sin? Absolutely not! May it never be!
We died to sin
Take a five-minute break.
BREAK
Forgiveness
Welcome back…turn in your bibles to Romans, Chapter 6 where we continue our study of Paul’s letter to the Romans, a foundational biblical work that teaches us the Christian Way of Living. We’re studying the first passage in this chapter that extends from Verse 1 to Verse 11…
What shall we believers in Christ say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
May it never be! How shall we believers in Christ (such ones as we… royalty…the children of a King), who died to sin (as an established fact at the moment of our salvation), still live in sin (as if sin is still our master)?
Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into union with 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 God the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we believers in Christ have become united with Him in the likeness of
His death, and we have, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection…
…knowing this, that our old man 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 to sin is freed from sin.
Now if we believers in Christ have died with Christ, and we have, 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 Christ died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God the Father.
Even so, believers in Christ, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In Romans, Chapters 6 and 7, we take a bit of an introspective dive before we get to the amazing Romans, Chapter 8. You should always feel free to read ahead in Romans to see what is coming up. As we begin the study of Romans, Chapter 6, Verse 3, we are at the beginning of studying our identity as Christians.
We Died to Sin
Sin is no longer master over you! Death is no longer master over you! How do you like that identity?
As we learned two lessons ago, a Christian cannot “Live in Sin.” The established fact that we died to sin can be compared to an adventurer who likes hiking. When the adventurer knows that they are going to be in the woods, they put on a product called “Deep Woods Off,” an insect repellant. The repellant keeps mosquitos from biting. The mosquitos fly around the person, the mosquitos are a nuisance, but they don’t bite. So it is with the believer in Christ. At the moment of salvation, we are placed into union with Christ. We are no longer “in Adam” … we are “in Christ.” Being “in Christ” is a sin repellant. Sin flies all around us like a mosquito, but it doesn’t bite, because we died to sin. That does not mean that Christians don’t sin. Of course we do. It means that SIN is no longer our master. It means we have a different relationship with SIN than we did before we became a believer in Christ.
The bible uses the word SIN (singular) to describe an enemy agent that indwells all human beings. It is also called “the flesh.” SIN can be compared to a manufacturing plant. It produces products. The bible calls the products it produces PERSONAL SINS. For those of you who are fans of mobile phones, they are a manufactured product, made in a manufacturing plant. The manufacturing plant takes the many parts of a mobile phone, and assembles them into the phone…the product. From the manufacturing plant comes the product. So it is with SIN (the manufacturing plant), which takes the many forms of lust that we think of (the many parts), and assembles it into a product (like the phone)…PERSONAL SINS…that are the visible manifestation of SIN (“the flesh”).
This is really hard to teach…but it is really important for you to learn.
As a believer in Christ, you have indwelling SIN…and you commit PERSONAL SINS.
For the unbeliever, they have indwelling SIN…and they commit PERSONAL SINS as well.
For the believer in Christ, there is no slavery to SIN, no condemnation for SIN, no sting for SIN. Yet sin is something we do.
For the unbeliever, they ARE slaves to SIN, they are condemned to the Lake of Fire for SIN, and SIN is really WHO they are...SIN is their identity…SIN is their lifestyle. SIN is their only choice. They are governed by their manufacturing plant to produce only SIN, but never good.
Unbelievers are “in the flesh.” Believers in Christ are not. Romans. Chapter 8, Verse 9…
However, you believers in Christ are not “in the flesh” but you are “in the Spirit,” if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you (and it does). But if anyone does not have the (Holy) Spirit of Christ (and unbelievers don’t), this person does not belong to Christ.”
Are Christians slave to sin? NO.
We died to sin. Romans. Chapter 6, Verse 2…
May it never be! How shall we believers in Christ (such ones as we… royalty…the children of a King), who died to sin (as an established fact at the moment of our salvation), still live in sin (as if sin is still our master)?
We are freed from sin. Romans. Chapter 6, Verse 7…
…for he who has died to sin is freed from sin.
As we let this reality sink into our consciousness, we’re going to have to find something new to obsess over. Because an obsession with sin is not at all valuable for a Christian, and it is definitely not conduct becoming of the child of a King.
The Promises of the Lord Jesus Christ
are Guarantees!
But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own private interpretation,for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men carried along by God the Holy Spirit spoke directly from the exact thinking of THE God, the Lord Jesus Christ.
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.
Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.
CLOSING SONG
Alabaster Box
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
THANKS- INTERCESSION- PETITION
And we pray that You continue to shape the messages from this pulpit that are an accurate reflection of Your unconditional love, Your glorious Person, Your lucid thinking, Your impeccable work, and Your magnificent essence...we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit, in Christ’s name, Amen.
Thanks for coming!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for listening!
www.barahministries.com
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