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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s word on Bibleline, here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll-free at 1-800-576-3771. Online donations may be made by clicking on the donations link on the BibleLineMinistries.org homepage. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Take your Bible and turn it to the Book of Romans. To the Book of Romans. There’s just so much truth in the book of Romans. Just love teaching in the book of Romans. But after a while, it’s hard to teach you all something you haven’t already heard. You all know everything. You haven’t got the Bible committed to memory. You don’t even have to look into the Bible anymore. Anyway Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. I just want to explain a few couple things to you and then I want to cover in chapter six.

But in Romans in chapter five where it says in verse 15, but not as the offense, so also is the free gift. Now it seems like a little redundant to say free gift. You mean if it’s gift, it’s supposed to be free. If it’s free, it should be a gift, it’s free. But sometimes you have to explain what should mean by that. And I guess the Holy Spirit knew that people would try to change things. And so he made a definite statement on something that I want to show you.

As you notice there, he makes a statement also, for if through the offense of one, many be dead, much more the grace of God and the gift by grace. So the gift came to us by grace. So that defines how we got the gift. It means it was unmerited. didn’t earn it, you didn’t work for it, you didn’t buy it. And then he says there in verse 16, and not as it was by one that sin, so is the gift, talks about the gift again.

And then the last part says, but the free gift is of many offenses on the justification. In other words, regardless of how many sins you’ve committed, you can still be justified and receive this free gift. So God has a gift, a free gift. Then He makes His statement down there in verse 21 that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now remember this, when you say the word gift or you say by grace.

There’s always somebody who wants to frontload it or backload it. Frontload means you do this and we’ll give you this free gift. So then the gift is actually a debt because you have to do something to get it. And God said, no, it’s a free gift. It’s the gift by grace. But then you have others that want to add something to the end of it and then do it so they say, well, you know, a gift all to be free.

But let’s say for example, Betty Dowdy’s driving the car down the road. Cop pulls her over and he gets out and says, Master, your license, please. So she shows the license. And while she has her wallet out, Oh by the way, I have ten dollars I want to donate to the policeman’s fun. It’s just a gift. Nah. How do you think the policeman is going to take that as a bribe? See, now a gift becomes a bribe. Well, she didn’t mean to bribe.

She just given us a gift. How many of y’all know where to get out of here? No, no. I’m just joking. She’s not in here. She… Oh, no. She’s gonna come out of the nursery, dragging four kids with her. But see some people they front load it and others they backload it so some pit make it a wage No, what’d you get it if you deserve it if you’ve earned it and you work for it? I’m gonna give you this wonderful gift or you put it on the back end and you Have to do something in order to keep it Then it becomes a bribe you bid bribed in other words if I have to serve the Lord and promise to serve the Lord to get this free gift, then it becomes a bribe.

I didn’t get it for free. I’ve got to do something for it. So no, God said, I’m going to give it to you as a free gift freely by His grace. As He says in the book of Romans in chapter 3 and verse 28 and also 24. But it’s so important to understand that. Now look there in that last verse of chapter 5. He says, that as sin hath reigned unto death. Now it means that your all sinful nature can reign in your mortal body until it dies.

Until you die. Because he’s talking in here about the physical death, death hath reigned all the way from Adam. So because we have a sinful nature, we all sin. So sin reigns in our mortal body until we die. But once you’re dead, the sinful nature has no more dominion over the flesh. You go to the grave, go to the cemetery, dig up any body you want to. Don’t do it. I’m not talking about that. It’s just, yeah. But you dig up a body and look at it and I bet they’re not gonna be singing, they’re not gonna be playing cards.

The guy’s not gonna be letting us smoke him. He’s not gonna be drinking a coars. Why? He’s dead. The sinful nature can’t move, can’t work, can’t have any activity whatsoever has absolutely no power over a dead bodies. So you and I are supposed to live our lives as though the body is dead, as though the body was crucified. Boy, that’s easy preaching and hard living. And some people never really get it, but I’m going to do my dead level best if I can tonight.

But look at the last part of Verse 21. And he says, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life. Now when you were a lost man, so look up here now. I am me. I have a body with a sinful nature. Got it with my first birth. There it is. And it rained in my mortal body. because I am subject to it, it causes me to do things I don’t want to do. And so therefore all the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life is all wrapped up and it’s in my members, it’s in my body.

So I have to be born again. So when I trust Christ as my Savior, God gives me a new birth. Now I’m still me. I have an old nature, old sinful nature with an old body. I’ve got my new birth, Holy Spirit indwelling me, but I didn’t get my new body yet. So God wants me to use that old body where that old sinful nature is, and I got a shared with my new one. Well, the old one doesn’t want the new one there because it’s done had control for all these years.

So for the sake of illustration, let’s just keep this one over here for right now. Because as you read the sixth chapter, it should talk a lot about death, death, death, death, death, death, death. And this is a lot of things about life, life, life, life, life. And then it says a lot of things about fruit, fruit, fruit, fruit, fruit. So what are the results of the death? And the body, and what is the result of the fruit that comes from the life in Christ?

So you have these two competing entities against this one little body that I’ve got for the control of it. So he says, the new one, as he says here, might reign through righteousness unto eternal life. Now this one will reign forever because it’s righteous. There’s no end to this one because it lasts forever. This one over here only can reign until death. So this is short term. This is long term. I have two births. This one is short term.

So far this one has lasted about 71 and a half years. this one is going to last for how long? Forever. So I’ve got to put up with this one, but God says not to let it dominate my life that it has control over me. Now look at the last verse of chapter 6, and you’ll see pretty much the same thing, the same words. Just worried a little bit different, but it says has the same principle to it. But there in verse 23, for the wages of sin is death.

That’s the same up there where it says that as sin hath rained unto death, why do you die because you sinned? You earned the right to die. Isn’t that wonderful? We’ve all earned the right to die. This is what we get as a result of this old sinful nature. We’ve all sinned, we’re all condemned, we’re all going to die. So this old body of ours has a sinful nature. And now I’m asked by God to do the impossible. He wants me to live a miracle life.

And as it says in chapter 7, it says in verse 18, that is, in the flesh, dwelle of no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform, I find not. How do I perform this miracle? How do I, as a child of God, live in newness of life when I got the oldness of life still with me? I have this new desire, but I’ve also got this old desire. I want to do this, but I wind up letting the old sinful nature do this.

And so it’s a battle that we go through in our Christian life and everybody has to go through it. But he says there, for the wages of sin is death. That’s this over here. But the gift of God over here is eternal life. See the new birth lives forever. But as you read the Scriptures here you’ll find that it talks about bringing forth the fruit. The fruit of this old man is going to be destroyed, it’s going to die, and it’s not worth anything.

It’s sinful, it’s wicked. But whenever I was a lost man I could not bring forth the works of God. I was not a servant of righteousness but a servant of unrighteousness. Now that I know Christ is my Savior, God wants me to bring forth the fruits of righteousness, serving Him because now I can. When I was lost, I couldn’t. Now that I’m saved, I can. This is why we made the point and gave out some notes the other day about our standing.

You see, when I was a lost man, my standing was under the law. That was my position in this world. I was a lost man. I was not a child of God. But when I trusted Christ as my Savior, I was under the standing of grace. And that’s why in Romans in chapter 5, look at it real quick and look there in verse 2 where it says, by whom also we have excess by faith into this grace, wherein we stand.

So once you trust Christ as your Savior, Christ died to pay for our sins that we owed over here in debt, gave to us as a free gift everlasting life and death separates us from the old man and gave us a new man. And now because this is our new standing in the Lord. I am under grace. This is how God sees me. You see, when a man is under the law and his standing, this is a lost man without God, man could not change it.

He could not alter it us became a curse for us because he took our sins upon himself and delivered us from the curse of the law and delivered us from the power of the old sinful nature and also from the grave. So you see we were trapped by the law sin and death and And He set us free. Now in Christ, because Christ died, buried, came back from the dead, what He did was put to my account as though I did it.

So now I’m in Christ. In Christ you’re in grace. And this new position cannot be changed. It cannot be altered. So in Christ I receive certain things that can never be taken away. God gives to me this gift of everlasting life, but He can only give everlasting life and His righteousness as a gift to a person that has been justified. So that means that you first of all you have to believe on Jesus Christ and what He did for you and God to declare you justified because the payment has been put to your account.

You are now free from the law and now the law cannot touch you because you are looked upon by the law as a dead man. Christ died for you in your place. So then the law can’t touch you so it can never condemn you. You are now his child and this can never be altered, can’t be changed. You’re now a child of God for all eternity. So that’s what he’s talking about here. And then he says there in verse 23 of Romans chapter 6, he says, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

See, this last verse in the last verse of chapter 5 is saying the same thing, but they’re both talking to the believer. I’m talking to the lost man, but the principle is still the truth. Now when you look at chapter 6, I just want you to notice all the time that talks about death, death, death. You see there in verse 2, because that question was asked, how shall we then live? Shall we continue in sin? Verse 2, God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer they’re in.

Our look appear. There’s your old man, he died. Christ died, paid for the sins. So I’ve been set free. Now that I’m a child of God, how shall we that are alive unto God, why would we place ourselves back unto the law? Why would we put ourselves back under a curse? Why would we want this so sinful nature and these desires because they can never satisfy, they can never have fruit that will last for all eternity. But if I look at it and understand it, the desires that God gives to me are holy, they’re godly, and the fruits of righteousness is so much better, so much more enjoyable.

It pleases God and it pleases me, and the fruit will last forever. And whatever I do for the Lord, God is going to reward me when I get to heaven and I will have a much blessed life while I’m here. So he says in verse for. Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death. That like His Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

I’ll not look up here. Here I am. Because what Christ did was put to my account. This is though I was here. And the only way you can get the second birth is if you have to have the first one die. You can’t get the second one until this one dies. Well I don’t want to die, but his death is put to my count and so I accept his death as my death and the day that I do that and believe that his death was mine, he did it for me.

Then as far as the law is concerned, I fulfilled my debt. I paid my debt in full. We’re seeing that wrong. Christ paid my pardon. This I surely know. Took my place at Calvary. Now I don’t have to go. All my life I give him. He gave his for me. Now we are his children and we’re going to heaven when we die and it’s given to us eternal life. So he says, now we should, should live in newness of life.

But I have this problem with this whole sinful nature. He keeps resurrecting himself somehow. And we kind of keep him alive. See, he didn’t really die. He wasn’t really crucified. I’m supposed to reckon it true. You see up there in verse 11 where he says, likewise, Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed, under sin, but alive unto God. You and I are supposed to live the way God sees it. God sees that the old man was crucified, and now you are alive in Christ, therefore walk in newness of life.

Walk like you have new life. I believe that it’s the greatest key to enjoying life. Because you don’t have to fulfill all those old sinful desires that you have and you still have them. They didn’t go away. God just gave you some new ones and you can make better choices now. Now I can serve the Lord for before I couldn’t serve the Lord. So he makes this statement here. In verse five, for if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, We shall also be in the lightness of his resurrection.

Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed. That henceforth from now on, we should not serve sin. So you see, even though God saved you by grace, gave you the free gift of eternal life. Now he’s not front-loading it, and he’s not back-loading it. He’s just saying this is the truth, And this new standing position in Christ, in grace, can’t be changed or altered. So there was nothing that you had to do or perform to get this gift.

And there’s nothing that you have to do to maintain, to keep this gift. It’s a free gift that means no strings attached. It means it’s not given as bribing you that now I’ve got to do this or something else. No. He says, it’s a gift. It’s a free gift. A gift by grace. No strains attached. You don’t have to earn it or deserve it. But He’s letting you know where you stand in Christ. And now because of who you are and what you are in Him, He even says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your bodies as a living sacri- your bodies.

your body as a living sacrifice is still alive, but it’s a living sacrifice. Holy acceptable unto God which is your reasonable service and be not conformed to this world but be transformed. You see your life was not transformed when you got saved. Your life becomes transformed when you no longer are conformed to the world. So you transform your life by the renewing of your mind so that’s a growth process. So now as we study the word of God, we begin to grow in the Lord and a sign of you growing and maturing in the Lord is that you yield more and more of your life to the Lord.

You see, when you start growing, you don’t know how to yield every area of your life. So to tell somebody you must make Christ that he has to be Lord of all or not Lord at all, then where’s growth? You see, you only can yield in areas little by little, you only grow little by little. You don’t do it all at one time. It’s a process. I know what he says. In verse 6, knowing this that our old man is crucified with him that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

For he that is dead is freed from sin. See, that’s your position in Christ. This new birth over here is free from the sinful nature. It’s free from death. It’s free from the law. The new birth is not under the law. Your new birth was born of God. It is a perfect birth. You are a child of God. It can never be condemned. It can never be changed altered, annulled. It can nothing can change that. So as God sees you, he’s now looking at you through Christ.

Christ died. You were with him. Christ was buried. You were with him. Christ came back from the dead. You were with him. Christ ascended into the heavens. You are with him. Seated on the right hand of the Father, you’re in the heavenly seated in Christ. You’re in him. That’s your position and it can never be changed ever again. So he says here in verse 8, Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.

Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieeth no more. Death hath no more dominion over him. So how many times did Christ have to come into the world one time? How many times did He have to die for the sins of the world? One time. So He only had to be buried and come back from the grave one time. And you are in Him. And He ever liveth. And you’re in Him. for how long? For river. That is your new position in Christ that cannot be changed.

Now God wants us to live as the way it’s all true. To believe it and recognize it. Live like a child of the King, instead of a kapauper. Believing the word of God is true, the promises of God is true, and we should live like we really believe this. And therefore we should not in this life believe that our old sinful nature has to always get the best of us. Now you’re going to have your old sinful nature. He lures and he sometimes overwhelms you.

But isn’t it nice to know that the Bible says, because I’ll never cast you out, I’ll never lose you. He has us in his hands and nobody can never take you out of his hand. But here we’re talking about the position you have in Christ and how it’s supposed to affect our way of life. You see, our justification, we were justified in the court of law. A death payment put to our account, we have been set free and God can’t even condemn us anymore.

There’s no condemnation to those who are in Christ. So that is our new position we have been made pure and holy, sanctified, set apart. We belong to the Lord. That’s our position, but now in this life, yes, God wants us to have a sanctified life. It’s called its sanctification. One day when we get to heaven, yes, we’ll have total glorification, glorified, totally perfect, but that day’s not here yet. But until then, we’re supposed to live with our confidence in the Lord.

I’m a child of God. This is who I am in Christ. And this is why I do what I do.” You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tappa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Watch Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll-free, 1-800-576-3771.

That’s 1-800-576-3771. To listen to today’s message again or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you are in the area, we welcome you to visit us. The address for Calvary Community Church is 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 10-30 and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcast of our services may be seen by clicking on the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org.

Thanks for joining us on Bibleline and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. friend one day it will happen the trumpet will sound and we will be changed caught up to meet the lord in the air so live today and every day believe in that the lord is coming soon and just keep looking up