Introduction:
- Grace Abounds.
- Grace abounds in Early Death.
- Grace abounds in Eternal Life.
- Grace abounds in Everyday Righteousness.
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
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Rich Sprunk:
00:18-00:25
Good morning. It is a joy and a privilege to be up here and to speak with you this morning.
Rich Sprunk:
00:26-00:41
I want to offer a disclaimer first. This was a tough message for me to prepare, and I want to say it. My aim is right at the core of our being, to cut us to the quick.
Rich Sprunk:
00:42-01:01
The other thing I want to say is by way of disclaimer, in a couple of places I'll be using myself as an illustration, but I don't want anyone to leave here thinking that this isn't in any way about me. It is all about the grace of our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Rich Sprunk:
01:01-01:08
Before I begin, I want to invite Jillian to come up. She's going to read the passage for us this morning.
Jillian:
01:08-01:23
Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Jillian:
01:24-01:25
What shall we say then?
Jillian:
01:26-01:28
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
Jillian:
01:29-01:30
By no means!
Jillian:
01:30-01:34
How could who died to sin still live in it?
Jillian:
01:34-01:39
Do you know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into His death?
Jillian:
01:39-01:43
We were buried, therefore, with Him by baptism into death.
Jillian:
01:43-01:50
In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Jillian:
01:51-01:58
For if we have been united with Him in a death like this, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like this.
Jillian:
01:58-02:07
We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Jillian:
02:08-02:10
For one who has died has been set free from sin.
Jillian:
02:11-02:16
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we also live with Him.
Jillian:
02:16-02:20
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.
Jillian:
02:21-02:23
Death no longer has dominion over Him.
Jillian:
02:23-02:27
For the death He died, He died to sin, once for all.
Jillian:
02:27-02:29
But the life He lives, He lives to God.
Jillian:
02:29-02:34
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Jesus Christ.
Jillian:
02:34-02:39
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions.
Jillian:
02:39-02:51
Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Jillian:
02:51-02:56
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace.
Rich Sprunk:
02:57-02:58
Thank you, Jillian.
Rich Sprunk:
02:58-02:58
Let's pray.
Rich Sprunk:
02:59-03:01
Gracious Father, O feed us this morning.
Rich Sprunk:
03:02-03:05
May we hear from you, not me.
Rich Sprunk:
03:06-03:18
I pray, Father, give us ears to hear, eyes to see the glories in your truth, and the grace and the great love with which you have loved us, in our Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
Rich Sprunk:
03:19-03:28
My phone, I really like my phone because when I'm lost, when I need to know where I am, I can go to Waze, I can go to Google Maps, and it'll tell me where I am.
Rich Sprunk:
03:28-03:32
My phone will even tell me where it is if I've lost my phone.
Rich Sprunk:
03:33-03:54
And another thing I like about it is if I go to the store with my wife, Bethany, go to Walmart, it's raining, and I'll drop her off at the front door so she doesn't have to walk through the parking lot in the rain, and I'll go park, and when I get in the store, I can text her and find out where she's at.
Rich Sprunk:
03:55-03:55
There we go.
Rich Sprunk:
03:56-04:08
So I'll text her, I'll say, "Dude, where are you?" And she'll say, "Oh, I'm in Sporting Goods, bro, "and I'm getting some camo and ammo." Now, if you know my wife, Bethany, you know she's not going to be in sporting goods.
Rich Sprunk:
04:09-04:13
Now, more likely she's going to be in automotive or hardware looking for some power tool.
Rich Sprunk:
04:14-04:20
But the question of where are you is, it's not always about one's physical location.
Rich Sprunk:
04:21-04:23
It can refer to a person's circumstances.
Rich Sprunk:
04:24-04:58
So, if we know someone who's going through difficulties, they've lost a job, they're struggling with their health, they're going through a breakup in a relationship, we might say, "Well, you're in a bad place." Conversely, if I got a new job, I'm moving across country, I'm in a new relationship, we say, "Well, you're in a good place." So as it refers to relationships, we sometimes see people who, as they progress in the relationship, they might start asking themselves, "Well, where are we right now?
Rich Sprunk:
04:58-04:59
"What's going on with us?
Rich Sprunk:
04:59-05:00
Where are we?
Rich Sprunk:
05:01-05:02
We see this in the Scripture.
Rich Sprunk:
05:02-05:10
In Genesis chapter 3, when God asked Adam, "Where are you?" It wasn't because God didn't know where Adam was physically.
Rich Sprunk:
05:10-05:12
He knew exactly where Adam was.
Rich Sprunk:
05:13-05:17
But he wanted Adam to understand where he was relationally.
Rich Sprunk:
05:17-05:22
He was looking for confession and repentance in asking that question of Adam.
Rich Sprunk:
05:23-05:27
It was, "Adam, do you know where you stand with me now that you've sinned?
Rich Sprunk:
05:28-05:30
Do you know where we are in our relationship?
Rich Sprunk:
05:31-05:50
And we are going to see that God did not destroy Adam and Eve in His wrath, as He said, "You eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall die." But He didn't destroy them in His wrath, instead He graciously moved them to a place where grace abounded and fellowship could be restored.
Rich Sprunk:
05:51-06:11
In Romans 5.20-6.2, Paul tells us, "Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." What shall we say then?
Rich Sprunk:
06:11-06:13
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
Rich Sprunk:
06:14-06:15
By no means.
Rich Sprunk:
06:16-06:19
How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Rich Sprunk:
06:20-06:22
Our first point here is that grace abounds.
Rich Sprunk:
06:23-06:24
The case abounds.
Rich Sprunk:
06:25-06:31
Paul is, of course, referring to the Ten Commandments when he talks about the law coming in.
Rich Sprunk:
06:32-06:35
But God gave Adam laws to follow too.
Rich Sprunk:
06:35-06:37
He gave him several positive to-do commands.
Rich Sprunk:
06:37-06:38
Be fruitful and multiply.
Rich Sprunk:
06:39-06:40
Exercise dominion over the earth.
Rich Sprunk:
06:41-06:42
Take care of the garden. Tend it.
Rich Sprunk:
06:43-06:45
And he gave him the one shall not command.
Rich Sprunk:
06:46-06:49
But by eating the forbidden fruit, Adam and Eve sinned.
Rich Sprunk:
06:50-06:51
They increased the trespass.
Rich Sprunk:
06:52-06:56
The good news is where the sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
Rich Sprunk:
06:57-06:59
In response, we see that God cursed the serpent.
Rich Sprunk:
07:00-07:04
He cursed the creation, but he didn't curse Adam and Eve.
Rich Sprunk:
07:04-07:15
They were going to experience consequences, but he didn't curse them directly, and they did not die physically immediately, though they did perish spiritually, inwardly.
Rich Sprunk:
07:16-07:23
Instead, to restore fellowship with his people, God clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins from a sacrifice.
Rich Sprunk:
07:24-07:27
We see that where Adam and Eve sinned, God's grace abounded.
Rich Sprunk:
07:28-07:32
His grace exceeded the extent and consequences of their sin.
Rich Sprunk:
07:33-07:39
The whole of Scripture is a historical account of God's grace exceeding human sin.
Rich Sprunk:
07:39-07:42
Wherever sin increased, grace exceeded it.
Rich Sprunk:
07:42-07:48
This is most evident in Christ's substitutionary, sacrificial once for all death on the cross.
Rich Sprunk:
07:48-07:55
God's grace continues to abound as sinners in the perfect and permanent once for all sacrifice of Christ.
Rich Sprunk:
07:56-07:59
We cannot sin beyond what God will graciously forgive.
Rich Sprunk:
08:00-08:02
His grace exceeds our sin.
Rich Sprunk:
08:03-08:10
We see in Romans 5.21 that grace reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rich Sprunk:
08:10-08:15
So there's some natural and logical questions that arise about the truth, that grace abound.
Rich Sprunk:
08:16-08:17
The first is, well, what is grace?
Rich Sprunk:
08:18-08:22
Very simply, grace is getting what we don't deserve.
Rich Sprunk:
08:22-08:25
Adam and Eve deserve death when they sin.
Rich Sprunk:
08:26-08:29
God instead showed them grace by substituting another life for theirs.
Rich Sprunk:
08:30-08:35
By grace, he kept them alive and promised a redeemer from the seat of the woman.
Rich Sprunk:
08:35-08:39
The second question is, well, if grace abounds, why not keep sinning?
Rich Sprunk:
08:40-08:46
This was the question posed by Paul's critics, the Jews who believed in righteousness and salvation by works.
Rich Sprunk:
08:47-08:54
They asserted sarcastically that if grace exceeds sinful actions, we should just keep sinning, so there'll be even more grace.
Rich Sprunk:
08:55-08:59
This is a wicked notion, and Paul responds by no means.
Rich Sprunk:
09:00-09:02
How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Rich Sprunk:
09:03-09:07
Well, the next question is, well, if grace abounds, does it really matter if I continue to sin?
Rich Sprunk:
09:09-09:10
God's going to forgive me, right?
Rich Sprunk:
09:10-09:12
He knows I'm not perfect.
Rich Sprunk:
09:13-09:18
So do I really have to try to live up to such an impossible standard?
Rich Sprunk:
09:18-09:22
Or put it another way, if Jesus died for my sin, shouldn't I be getting my money's worth?
Rich Sprunk:
09:23-09:26
This too is a wicked, presumptuous thought.
Rich Sprunk:
09:26-09:35
It's the kind of Christianity and thinking that accommodates the world and opens the sluice gates to let in the cultural swamp around us.
Rich Sprunk:
09:35-09:41
German theologian and opposer of the Nazis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, called this cheap grace.
Rich Sprunk:
09:41-09:45
He said, "Cheap grace is the grace "we bestow upon ourselves.
Rich Sprunk:
09:45-09:49
"Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness "without requiring repentance.
Rich Sprunk:
09:50-09:51
"Baptism without church discipline.
Rich Sprunk:
09:52-09:53
"Communion without confession.
Rich Sprunk:
09:54-09:57
"Cheap grace is grace without discipleship.
Rich Sprunk:
09:57-09:58
"Grace without the cross.
Rich Sprunk:
09:59-10:06
"Grace without Jesus Christ living and incarnate." According to Bonhoeffer, Grace is to hear the gospel preached thus.
Rich Sprunk:
10:07-10:09
Of course you have sinned, but now everything is forgiven.
Rich Sprunk:
10:10-10:14
So you can stay just as you are and enjoy the consolations of forgiveness.
Rich Sprunk:
10:14-10:19
You know, I've tried this myself and probably in ways still do.
Rich Sprunk:
10:20-10:21
See, when I was first saved, life was great.
Rich Sprunk:
10:22-10:24
My life was improved.
Rich Sprunk:
10:25-10:31
My faith in Christ was a means of self-fulfillment, self-actualization, a pathway to success.
Rich Sprunk:
10:31-10:37
God was going to bless me because now I was a shiny and new improved version of myself.
Rich Sprunk:
10:37-10:55
I thought I could hold on to what I deemed to be good, values of my old life that were good, and by putting on a Christian veneer, putting a Christian veneer over them, I was bound to have success in my relationships and in school, in my career.
Rich Sprunk:
10:55-10:59
I was gonna have financial well-being and material blessings that were given.
Rich Sprunk:
10:59-11:02
The biblical term for this is idolatry.
Rich Sprunk:
11:02-11:04
God also calls it whoredom.
Rich Sprunk:
11:04-11:11
In short, I continued whoring after all my idols along with a half-hearted worship of God.
Rich Sprunk:
11:11-11:16
And I thought, well, this is okay because my sin increases, grace abounds all the more.
Rich Sprunk:
11:16-11:18
God would forgive me.
Rich Sprunk:
11:19-11:23
Pastor and author Douglas Wilson says, our dilemma is that we want to be saved.
Rich Sprunk:
11:23-11:28
We want to be saved without admitting the full reality of what we're being saved from.
Rich Sprunk:
11:29-11:32
You see, what I was trying to do simply does not work.
Rich Sprunk:
11:32-11:39
It's impossible to keep the first commandment and still love and worship myself.
Rich Sprunk:
11:40-11:45
It's impossible to love myself and at the same time love the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.
Rich Sprunk:
11:46-11:55
I tried mightily, but inevitably my love of self and friendship with the world kept me mired in ungodly living.
Rich Sprunk:
11:56-12:01
Now, I didn't start out most days thinking about ways to deliberately sin.
Rich Sprunk:
12:02-12:10
I would instead incrementally fall into it, admiss or ignore the warning signs that accompany the little temptations and compromises.
Rich Sprunk:
12:11-12:14
And you know, the next thing you know, I'm yelling irrationally at my kids.
Rich Sprunk:
12:14-12:17
I'm being unkind to my wife and giving her the cold shoulder.
Rich Sprunk:
12:18-12:20
I'm cursing at the driver who wouldn't let me merge.
Rich Sprunk:
12:21-12:35
I'm looking at worthless things and magazines and online, and I'm indulging in petty jealousy, gossiping, envying, hating others, feeling sorry for myself, wallowing in self-pity.
Rich Sprunk:
12:35-12:51
My efforts to love my wife, I'm sorry, my efforts to love my neighbor, and that includes my wife and children, as myself were mired in futility because my covetous heart was lavishing the love due to God alone on other gods, including myself.
Rich Sprunk:
12:52-13:15
My life was a continual car wreck I loved my life more than the one who loved me and gave me life. I was living a life of cheap grace. So I'd make excuses. It's not my fault. Satan's attacking me. Even though James 1 verses 13 and 15 tells me otherwise, I berated myself. How did I end up here again?
Rich Sprunk:
13:16-13:26
Expressed contrition. Oh, the guilt, the shame. I'll do better. And then in short order, I I would find myself doing the very same things I vowed I would not do.
Rich Sprunk:
13:26-13:28
This brought me to a very dark place.
Rich Sprunk:
13:28-13:29
I began to question my salvation.
Rich Sprunk:
13:30-13:34
How can I really be saved if I keep doing what I know I should not?
Rich Sprunk:
13:35-13:39
Why was I not changing in permanent and fundamental ways?
Rich Sprunk:
13:40-13:42
Is it even possible to change?
Rich Sprunk:
13:43-13:51
After many years of flailing in my walk with Christ, I found, or more precisely, I was taught the things we're gonna talk about this morning.
Rich Sprunk:
13:52-13:55
The answers to my questions are in our passage in Romans.
Rich Sprunk:
13:55-14:00
I found in these verses the assurance of my salvation.
Rich Sprunk:
14:00-14:09
And I understood at last that because I was in Christ, where grace abounds, I could fully walk in the righteousness that was mined by grace.
Rich Sprunk:
14:10-14:14
So the answer, is it possible to change, is a resounding yes.
Rich Sprunk:
14:15-14:18
It's because where sin increased, grace abounded even more.
Rich Sprunk:
14:18-15:22
going to look at how grace abounds to set us free from the power of sin and how grace enables us to walk in ways that conform us to Christ and please our Heavenly Father. Does that mean we will never ever sin again? No, but Paul deals with that in Romans chapter 7 and that's a sermon for another day. Today we will see first that grace abounds in early death, grace abounds in eternal life, and abounds in early death. Unbelievers fear death. It's a great unknown. Even some believers fear death. My father as he was approaching death was, "I hope Jesus forgives me. I really hope he forgives me." And I was like, "Dad, you are in Christ. You don't need to be afraid." I think it's probably fair to say that most of us avoid thinking about death, and yet the subject of death permeates scripture. It's everywhere, everywhere, right from the beginning to the very end.
Rich Sprunk:
15:22-16:14
In this passage this morning alone, it's mentioned 16 times. We see that our for Savior Jesus, His death on the cross was the focus and purpose of His earthly life. And His death for us was motivated by love and obedience to the Father. And their life will lose it and anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life and in Luke 9 23 and 24 Jesus says whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me for whoever wants to save their life will lose it but whoever loses their life for me will save it therefore if you want to experience abounding grace in a a righteous life, you must die to this world.
Rich Sprunk:
16:15-16:19
That is, we must die to all the things that bring death, right now.
Rich Sprunk:
16:21-16:29
Right now, and later today, and tomorrow, and the day after that, and you must remain dead for the rest of your earthly life.
Rich Sprunk:
16:30-16:33
Because Paul says, how can we who died to sin still live in it?
Rich Sprunk:
16:34-16:41
In Romans 6, three through seven, Paul connects the necessity of death with baptism.
Rich Sprunk:
16:42-16:45
Baptism illustrates our death to this life.
Rich Sprunk:
16:46-16:53
He says, "Do you not know that all of us "who have been baptized into Christ Jesus "were baptized into his death?
Rich Sprunk:
16:54-16:59
"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death.
Rich Sprunk:
17:00-17:07
"In order that just as Christ was raised from the dead "by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Rich Sprunk:
17:08-17:11
For we have been united with Him in a death like His.
Rich Sprunk:
17:11-17:16
We shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.
Rich Sprunk:
17:17-17:26
We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Rich Sprunk:
17:28-17:35
The one who has died has been set free from sin." So we see in this passage that we should already be dead.
Rich Sprunk:
17:36-17:39
We should have died to this world even before we were baptized.
Rich Sprunk:
17:41-17:50
And your baptism vividly illustrates for you and everyone who was there, that it was a funeral and a burial.
Rich Sprunk:
17:51-17:51
Why did we die?
Rich Sprunk:
17:51-17:53
Well, we were crucified with him.
Rich Sprunk:
17:53-17:54
That's an astounding thought, isn't it?
Rich Sprunk:
17:55-18:02
We were crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we'd no longer be enslaved to sin.
Rich Sprunk:
18:03-18:07
This is the key to abounding grace in early death.
Rich Sprunk:
18:08-18:21
Note where death places you into Christ Jesus, united with him in a death like his and buried with him by baptism into his death.
Rich Sprunk:
18:22-18:25
Again, this is an astounding fact.
Rich Sprunk:
18:25-18:29
When Jesus died at Calvary, we were baptized into his death.
Rich Sprunk:
18:30-18:34
Elsewhere in the gospels, Jesus himself refers to his approaching death as a baptism.
Rich Sprunk:
18:35-19:04
In Mark 10.38, Jesus asked James and John, "Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?" And in Luke 12.50, he said, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished." Again, Paul says, "The one who has died has been set free from sin." "Have we reckoned ourselves, therefore, "as dead to this world and everything in it?" What are the dead able to do?
Rich Sprunk:
19:05-19:07
They no longer have any interaction with this world.
Rich Sprunk:
19:08-19:14
The sights and the smells, the tastes, the feelings of this world have no appeal and no hold over them.
Rich Sprunk:
19:15-19:16
They are dead to it all.
Rich Sprunk:
19:16-19:18
Do we desire the world's acclaim?
Rich Sprunk:
19:18-19:23
Do we idolize wealth, success, power, out of worldly pride and selfish ambition?
Rich Sprunk:
19:24-19:25
Or are we dead to such things?
Rich Sprunk:
19:26-19:28
Now you may say, "What is all this stuff about death?
Rich Sprunk:
19:29-19:31
"Why, how did this sermon get so morbid?
Rich Sprunk:
19:32-19:37
"God, I thought God knew the plans he had for me "and my best life right now is gonna be great.
Rich Sprunk:
19:38-19:39
"Why is this so morbid?
Rich Sprunk:
19:40-19:44
"And you know, I don't think about my baptism that way, "that it's a death.
Rich Sprunk:
19:45-19:47
"I thought it was just some kind of a picture.
Rich Sprunk:
19:48-19:49
"It was a step of obedience.
Rich Sprunk:
19:49-19:55
"It's a way to get closer to God." Well, you know, when I got baptized, I didn't have a full understanding either.
Rich Sprunk:
19:56-20:02
But as we read God's word, as we pray and worship and meditate on his word, our understanding grows.
Rich Sprunk:
20:03-20:12
And we should look back on our baptism and see it as a very public pronouncement of when we pass from death to life.
Rich Sprunk:
20:13-20:26
For instance, if you ever watched a movie that you maybe saw as a kid, and as a kid you probably thought you understood it and it was a great movie, and you go back and you watch it as an adult, And you go, "Wow, I never realized that.
Rich Sprunk:
20:26-20:27
"I never saw that before.
Rich Sprunk:
20:28-20:29
"Now I understand.
Rich Sprunk:
20:30-20:32
"Now I understand the character's motives.
Rich Sprunk:
20:32-20:39
"Now I understand the whole point of the movie." We can do this because we have experience, we have knowledge, we have the context.
Rich Sprunk:
20:39-20:45
We can see clearly now with a lifetime of experience what we only dimly perceived as a child.
Rich Sprunk:
20:46-20:56
And so as we grow up in our walk with Christ, We can look back at our baptism and see it as a passage from death to life.
Rich Sprunk:
20:56-21:00
We did not have to understand the whole of life in Christ in order to be baptized.
Rich Sprunk:
21:01-21:11
It was a one-time event showing our death to this life, but it should remain for us a daily touchstone, a continual reminder when we are tempted to sin that we cannot.
Rich Sprunk:
21:12-21:13
We cannot sin anymore.
Rich Sprunk:
21:14-21:17
We should not sin anymore because we died.
Rich Sprunk:
21:17-21:19
How permanent is such a death?
Rich Sprunk:
21:20-21:25
Well let me give you an illustration of how we should view the death, of our death, to our old life.
Rich Sprunk:
21:25-21:33
On September 6, 2009, this truck was traveling southbound on Nicholson Road.
Rich Sprunk:
21:33-21:40
The driver at 1201 that morning, he just had his license reinstated from a previous DUI.
Rich Sprunk:
21:40-22:03
But at 6.20 in the morning on September 6th, he had a blood alcohol level of 2.8 and he was hurtling southbound at over 60 miles an hour, fell asleep, and crossed over into the oncoming lane where he crashed into this car head on.
Rich Sprunk:
22:03-22:15
The impact of that collision was so great it drove this little car backwards 56 feet He flipped the truck completely around so that it was facing the opposite direction.
Rich Sprunk:
22:16-22:22
The driver of the truck, probably because he was drunk, experienced a scratch on his face.
Rich Sprunk:
22:23-22:28
The driver of this car was taken away in an ambulance to Allegheny General Hospital.
Rich Sprunk:
22:30-22:40
And the EMT, as he was calling in, calling to the hospital to tell them what kind of patient they were bringing, were bringing in a victim of a murder crash.
Rich Sprunk:
22:40-22:49
The police officer who did the accident investigation was absolutely convinced that the driver of this car was dead.
Rich Sprunk:
22:50-22:52
But I'll tell you what, I didn't die.
Rich Sprunk:
22:53-22:55
I walked away from that car.
Rich Sprunk:
22:56-23:05
And as I stared back kind of dumbly at my car after this happened, the only thing I could think is, I can't drive my car anymore.
Rich Sprunk:
23:06-23:08
Some people have told me I was lucky.
Rich Sprunk:
23:08-23:12
Lucky, by the grace of God, I walked away from death.
Rich Sprunk:
23:12-23:14
There is no such thing as luck.
Rich Sprunk:
23:15-23:20
And this is how we should view our lives, our old lives before knowing Christ.
Rich Sprunk:
23:21-23:28
Your old life is a murder crash and you've walked away from it and you can't drive that old life anymore.
Rich Sprunk:
23:29-23:31
How can I continue in sin?
Rich Sprunk:
23:32-23:34
I was baptized into his death.
Rich Sprunk:
23:34-23:41
I was buried therefore with him by baptism into death, and I have been united with him in a death like his.
Rich Sprunk:
23:42-23:49
Beloved, grace abounds in being united with Jesus in his death, because through death he defeated sin.
Rich Sprunk:
23:49-23:54
Sin was brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Rich Sprunk:
23:55-23:58
The one who has died has been set free from sin.
Rich Sprunk:
23:59-24:05
And if we have died with Christ, Then we see grace abounds in eternal life.
Rich Sprunk:
24:06-24:10
Paul says, "If we have died with Christ, "we believe we will also live with him.
Rich Sprunk:
24:11-24:14
"We know that Christ being raised from the dead "will never die again.
Rich Sprunk:
24:15-24:17
"Death no longer has dominion over him.
Rich Sprunk:
24:17-24:28
"For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, "but the life he lives, he lives to God." The first application of these verses is that we shall be united with him in a resurrection like his.
Rich Sprunk:
24:29-24:34
Eternal life in a glorified body is the ultimate hope of our salvation.
Rich Sprunk:
24:35-24:44
We don't know what that glorified body will look like, but it will be better than this husk, this tent, this old pot.
Rich Sprunk:
24:45-24:46
It will be so glorious.
Rich Sprunk:
24:47-24:52
And scripture gives us an illustration using ordinary seed.
Rich Sprunk:
24:52-25:02
In John 12, verses 24 and 25, Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, So unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone.
Rich Sprunk:
25:03-25:06
But if it dies, it bears much fruit.
Rich Sprunk:
25:06-25:12
Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
Rich Sprunk:
25:12-25:19
And in 1 Corinthians 15, 36-37, Paul wrote, "What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.
Rich Sprunk:
25:20-25:40
And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or some other grain. A seed is packed with amazing energy. It contains everything necessary within itself to become a fruitful plant, hundreds times larger and more beautiful than itself.
Rich Sprunk:
25:41-25:44
But it has to die. It has to be put into the earth.
Rich Sprunk:
25:45-25:59
Now Paul in 1 Corinthians 15, he's talking about our glorified life, the future. But you see the future is not our only hope Because Jesus is raised to the Father's glory, we walk in newness of life right now.
Rich Sprunk:
26:00-26:04
Jesus was raised to life by the power of God, and the life he lives, he lives to God.
Rich Sprunk:
26:04-26:07
You see, the imagery of baptism returns.
Rich Sprunk:
26:07-26:14
We are buried in the water because we were dead, but then we're raised up to eternal life with him.
Rich Sprunk:
26:14-26:17
We come out of the water to walk in newness of life.
Rich Sprunk:
26:18-26:22
By grace, we live and walk with our eyes fixed on Jesus.
Rich Sprunk:
26:23-26:28
So another very practical and present application is that we live forever, right now.
Rich Sprunk:
26:29-26:32
You should not think of eternal life as some far off thing.
Rich Sprunk:
26:32-26:33
You're eternal right now.
Rich Sprunk:
26:34-26:37
Death has no dominion over us.
Rich Sprunk:
26:37-26:38
Death has lost its sting.
Rich Sprunk:
26:39-26:45
I believe that's why in the New Testament that people who've died are said to have fallen asleep.
Rich Sprunk:
26:46-26:48
'Cause that's not just a pleasant euphemism for death.
Rich Sprunk:
26:48-26:49
Oh, they're asleep.
Rich Sprunk:
26:49-27:13
No, it's a factual way to describe believers who've crossed the threshold, where they now see God face to face, by grace their fellowship is perfectly restored, but the seed has been planted to one day be resurrected bodily, united with our souls, to live forever with God in a physical glorified new body.
Rich Sprunk:
27:13-27:15
But beloved, that starts now.
Rich Sprunk:
27:16-27:21
And Paul extends this thought, And what it means for us daily in the next passage.
Rich Sprunk:
27:22-27:24
Grace abounds in everyday righteousness.
Rich Sprunk:
27:25-27:31
Because we walk in newness of life, we are able to live righteously every day.
Rich Sprunk:
27:31-27:33
Jesus Christ has justified us.
Rich Sprunk:
27:34-27:36
By that I mean he has made us righteous positionally.
Rich Sprunk:
27:36-27:41
He has moved us to a place where we are righteous in God's eyes.
Rich Sprunk:
27:41-27:44
The Father looks at us and he sees his Son.
Rich Sprunk:
27:45-27:50
But we have an obligation to grow up into that righteousness and live it out every day.
Rich Sprunk:
27:51-27:52
That's called sanctification.
Rich Sprunk:
27:53-27:58
So Paul says, "You also must consider yourselves "dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Rich Sprunk:
27:59-28:03
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body "to make you obey its passions.
Rich Sprunk:
28:04-28:11
"Do not present your members to sin "as instruments for unrighteousness, "but present yourselves to God as those "who have been brought from death to life.
Rich Sprunk:
28:12-28:15
"And your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Rich Sprunk:
28:16-28:23
"For sin will have no dominion over you, "since you are not under law, but under grace." You are dead to sin, beloved.
Rich Sprunk:
28:24-28:26
The world of sin does not have dominion over you.
Rich Sprunk:
28:26-28:28
That's what Paul says about believers.
Rich Sprunk:
28:28-28:29
That's a fact.
Rich Sprunk:
28:30-28:54
"Therefore, each day we are free and empowered "to resist the devil and flee temptation "and walk in newness of life." Paul says we have to consider ourselves as dead to sin and the more glorious, awesome truth that we are alive in Christ Jesus to consider, is to contemplate, to ponder, to reckon, to believe.
Rich Sprunk:
28:55-29:03
So I exhort you, believe as a fact that when Jesus died and rose again, you were in him, you died and rose with him, and you are alive forevermore.
Rich Sprunk:
29:03-29:07
Here's a way of illustrating that kind of security.
Rich Sprunk:
29:08-29:10
This is a concrete anchor.
Rich Sprunk:
29:11-29:18
It's used to, for instance, mount a fence post in concrete.
Rich Sprunk:
29:18-29:19
You drive it down in there.
Rich Sprunk:
29:19-29:25
And the way you use this is you drill a hole in the concrete and you tap it down in there.
Rich Sprunk:
29:25-29:26
And it has some different parts.
Rich Sprunk:
29:27-29:31
So the first part, of course, is the bolt and it has this little bell shape on the end.
Rich Sprunk:
29:32-29:37
It has a nut and a washer to secure what you're trying to put in the ground.
Rich Sprunk:
29:37-29:41
And it has this little collar or anchor on the very end.
Rich Sprunk:
29:41-30:08
So, what happens is when you put this down in the hole in the concrete, and you tighten the nut, it draws the bolt upward and it pulls this little collar down over the bell shape at the end. So, what happens is that anchor is so tight in the concrete and so immovable, the only way you're going to get it out is to bust the concrete all up.
Rich Sprunk:
30:09-30:10
It's the only way this is coming out.
Rich Sprunk:
30:10-30:24
Now, no illustration is perfect, and we should not take the size of the various parts as having any importance or greater or lesser meaning, but here's the application.
Rich Sprunk:
30:25-30:27
God is your rock.
Rich Sprunk:
30:27-30:28
Christ is your anchor.
Rich Sprunk:
30:29-30:44
The Holy Spirit has placed you - bolt - into God the rock, and He is tightening you up so that you are so firmly in Christ, in God the Father through the work of the Holy Spirit, you cannot be moved.
Rich Sprunk:
30:45-30:50
You are anchored, you are established in the Lord God most high.
Rich Sprunk:
30:51-31:00
Because of that, because of where you are, you can wake up every morning and present yourself to God as those who have been brought from death to life.
Rich Sprunk:
31:02-31:04
And your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Rich Sprunk:
31:04-31:06
What does this look like?
Rich Sprunk:
31:06-31:09
First question, have you repented?
Rich Sprunk:
31:09-31:15
The times of ignorance God has overlooked, but now He commands all men everywhere to repent.
Rich Sprunk:
31:16-31:19
Repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
Rich Sprunk:
31:20-31:21
Have you been baptized?
Rich Sprunk:
31:21-31:25
Whether you've been a believer for a short time or a long time, have you been baptized?
Rich Sprunk:
31:26-31:28
If not, why not?
Rich Sprunk:
31:28-31:32
In the book of Acts, people professed faith in Christ and boom, they were getting baptized.
Rich Sprunk:
31:33-31:34
What are you waiting for?
Rich Sprunk:
31:34-31:36
How am I doing with the first commandment?
Rich Sprunk:
31:37-31:41
What other gods am I putting before the Lord God Almighty?
Rich Sprunk:
31:42-31:49
Am I still a practical idolater, pursuing my career, my passions, my pursuits as my first effort?
Rich Sprunk:
31:50-31:53
Or am I loving the Lord my God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength?
Rich Sprunk:
31:54-31:56
How am I doing at keeping the Sabbath?
Rich Sprunk:
31:57-32:06
Do I keep it as a gift of rest from my gracious Father, as a gift, as it is meant to be, or is it just another day?
Rich Sprunk:
32:07-32:09
to pursue my wants and my pleasures.
Rich Sprunk:
32:09-32:14
Our friends across the street that sell those chicken patties, they seem to know how to keep the Lord's day.
Rich Sprunk:
32:15-32:16
What about my entertainment choices?
Rich Sprunk:
32:18-32:20
I'm not gonna tell you what to watch and not to watch.
Rich Sprunk:
32:21-32:23
But your entertainment choices, do they honor God?
Rich Sprunk:
32:24-32:25
Do they glorify God?
Rich Sprunk:
32:25-32:30
Do they expound the values you claim to profess that are in the scriptures?
Rich Sprunk:
32:31-32:37
Or at the very least, do they not contradict and disparage what you profess to believe.
Rich Sprunk:
32:38-32:41
If they contradict and disparage what you profess to believe, why are you watching it?
Rich Sprunk:
32:42-32:45
You're not an adulterer, but why are you watching people commit adultery?
Rich Sprunk:
32:46-32:50
You're not a murderer, why are you entertained by murder?
Rich Sprunk:
32:51-32:52
Am I keeping the commands to love?
Rich Sprunk:
32:53-32:57
To love God, to love my spouse, to love my neighbor, to love my enemy.
Rich Sprunk:
32:58-33:01
Now, you might object, you know, this, Sprounk, this is legalism.
Rich Sprunk:
33:01-33:03
We're not saved by works.
Rich Sprunk:
33:04-33:05
I'm not talking about works, beloved.
Rich Sprunk:
33:06-33:10
Jesus kept the law perfectly for us to give us righteousness.
Rich Sprunk:
33:11-33:16
But because we are justified and he has given us his righteousness, doesn't give us license to do whatever we want to do.
Rich Sprunk:
33:17-33:20
Jesus said, "If you love me, you will keep my commands.
Rich Sprunk:
33:20-33:42
"And it's by grace you've been saved through faith, "not works, it's not your own doing, "it's the gift of God, so that no one may boast." And Paul goes on to say, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus "for good works, which God prepared beforehand "that we should walk in them." As I said before, we are righteous in our Father's eyes.
Rich Sprunk:
33:42-33:44
We must grow up into that righteousness.
Rich Sprunk:
33:45-33:47
Am I bearing another's burden?
Rich Sprunk:
33:47-33:52
Am I loving my brothers and sisters in Christ deeply from the heart?
Rich Sprunk:
33:52-33:54
Mike, am I taming my tongue?
Rich Sprunk:
33:54-33:56
Ryan, am I preaching the word?
Rich Sprunk:
33:56-33:58
Am I showing hospitality?
Rich Sprunk:
33:58-34:05
Am I spending time with my God every day, reading and meditating on his word and talking with him in prayer.
Rich Sprunk:
34:06-34:17
You see, beloved, because we are in a place where grace abounds in everyday righteousness, we can do all these things and more to imitate our Savior.
Rich Sprunk:
34:18-34:22
Because we are in him, we are united in him in both death and life.
Rich Sprunk:
34:23-34:26
Again, I ask, how can I continue in sin?
Rich Sprunk:
34:26-34:29
I am in Christ, I am united with him.
Rich Sprunk:
34:30-34:35
And even now I am at the right hand of the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Rich Sprunk:
34:36-34:38
So back to our title, our first question.
Rich Sprunk:
34:38-34:39
Where are you?
Rich Sprunk:
34:40-34:44
Beloved, you're in Christ where grace abounds and you're in him forevermore.
Rich Sprunk:
34:44-34:53
You are in a place where you are able by the power of God to live righteous, holy, and blameless life for the glory of God.
Rich Sprunk:
34:54-34:55
Amen, let's pray.
Rich Sprunk:
34:56-35:09
Gracious Father, oh, this is a challenging word from you, but it is also a hopeful word because we live in Christ and we can walk in newness of life.
Rich Sprunk:
35:10-35:14
For that great truth, we thank you and praise you in Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Romans 5:20-6:14
What is “cheap grace?”
Why is it so difficult to die an early death, i.e., to die to self? How often do you “consider [yourself] dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus?” Romans 6:11; and see John 12:25, Luke 9:23-24.
a. How do the illustrations of a seed “dying” help us to understand the benefits of dying to self now? See John 12:24-25, 1 Corinthians 15:36-37
b. How does Galatians 5:22-24 relate to these verses?
Baptism is a picture of death and resurrection, but Paul indicates in Romans 6:3-6 that if our baptism is “into Christ Jesus,” it is evidence that we were in Christ at the time of His death and resurrection. Does this fact cause you to see deeper meaning or purpose in your baptism?
How soon after you professed faith in Jesus were your baptized? If you delayed, why did you do so? If you haven’t yet been baptized, why not?
Paul emphasizes we were “united with Christ” in His death and resurrection. How should union with Christ transform how we live – for example, Who, what, and how we worship, how we love God, neighbor, and enemy, how we forgive others, etc.? How does Galatians 2:20 add to our understanding of the transformation wrought in us by union with Christ?
A concrete anchor was used to illustrate the security we enjoy as a result of being united with Christ. How should the knowledge of the strength of that union transform our thinking about God’s love for us, about anxiety/worry, about the permanence of our salvation, and about our ability to live righteously? See Psalm 18:1-3, 31-32 and Psalm 62:1-8.
Because we are secure “in Christ” we are able to walk “in newness of life.” What does that look like on a daily basis?
BREAKOUT
Does the knowledge that you are united with Christ change your perspective on temptation and sin? In what ways? See Romans 6:2-3, 7, 12-14.
For further study, read Colossians 3:1-17