Newness of Life – Part 1

Romans 6:1-7, preached Sunday, May 31, 2009, Grace Family Church of Americus

Here is an excerpt:

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What did the death of Christ accomplish? It crushed the head of Satan. The death of the Son of God thwarted Satan's rule over God's people. It is exactly contextually complete with what has been said already. In Adam, we died. Satan wielded the power that God gave him, and used it to inflict a mortal wound. But God made a promise, directly concerning this…that the seed of the woman would come. Perfect, sinless Man; infinite, holy God in human flesh would live and die and be raised again conquering death. That the death of Christ, being just a bruise on His heel, would crush the head of Satan. Satan, who tempted and drew mankind into sin, who rules and reigns as the god of this world, has been dealt a fatal blow to the head, in that he cannot rule and reign over those who are in Christ. His throne has been debunked.

Now again, I do not wish to make this statement sound incredulous, or otherwise hard to believe, but I do want it to be said in the sense and in the power of argument in which the Apostle makes it. In the same way that the free gift of grace sounds too good to be true to the unbeliever, so as much that it sounds scandalous, we find here the same sort of scandalous teaching of Paul….in that sin can no longer rule over believers! Now let me say this about this statement, which has been said of the statement in verse 1…. "....If your preaching of salvation has not been misunderstood in this way, then you had better examine your sermons again, and you had better make sure that you are really preaching the salvation that is offered in the New Testament"

Folks, it is wrong to use the pulpit as a place of condolence to shallowness. No, it is a place to say the incredible things that the Bible says, and to let them rest on your minds and hearts as incredible. I won't say what is too often said, "…Well, we are all sinners, so we can't help what we do." God forbid! We who are in Christ are not sinners, in the sense that sin is the controlling influence on us! I shall by no means shallow-up these deep waters so to make you think you can wade in them. Because if you come in expecting to wade, you will drown. Brothers and sisters, I shall not do any such thing, but I desire to show you how deep the water is, and then teach you how to swim in it, adoring its depth!

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