Radical Break with the Dominion of Sin

Introduction: The Call to Basics and the Doctrine of Conversion

0:05 The following message was delivered on Sunday morning, July 26, 1992, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Recognizing afresh that it is only the author of the scriptures who can illuminate our minds and enable us not only rightly to understand them, but to respond to them in all the ways of faith and obedience, of penitence and adoration, let us again seek the aid of God and the Holy Spirit's ministry as we turn to the scriptures. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for the high and holy privilege that has been ours in these past moments to join in corporate worship of your name. We thank you that long before this world was spoken into being, you beheld a people. Upon whom you set your love. And we thank you that in eternity you saw us as your people. And you rejoiced that the fruit of the redemptive work of your own Son would find a people on this piece of your own earth.

1:29 Gathered, we come this morning as those who at least in some little measure have come to the knowledge that without you we can do nothing. We therefore plead that the Spirit would be given, and unto us this is the spirit of wisdom for revelation, spirit of understanding and of my conviction.

1:58 O Lord, you know every heart of every man, woman, boy or girl bowed in your name. We would be bold to precisely who and what we are. Speak a word that would be as pointed and personal as though there were no other person.

2:27 And give us grace to respond in faith and in obedience through Jesus Christ, lest we should be

3:10 We thank you, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you, we thank you, and with all of the apparent professional competitiveness, of duly qualified and certified teachers, our educational mills are grinding out semi-literates by the millions. We have high school graduates who can neither read nor write, many of them above the second or third grade level. I have letters on my desk continually from college graduates, some of them with advanced degrees, who cannot construct sentences, who know little or little of English grammar, who are ignorant of the ABCs of American and world history, who simply do not deserve the term educated. In light of these facts, the cry is going out both from the religious and secular world. Back!

4:28 Back to basics. Back to the building blocks of reading, phonics, what an A is, and a B is, and a C is, and the various ways those verbal symbols ought to be pronounced. Back to the building blocks of composition, the horrible, beastly thing called English grammar, in which there are subjects and predicates, in which there are finite and there are...

5:02 There are transitive and intransitive verbs, in which there are adjectives, etc., etc. I would say. Well, back to basics is indeed the cry going forth from the educational world, and as in the educational world there is the cry of back to basics, so in the life of our own congregation at this particular time, we will not be out of that. We will not be A cry has been going forth over the past year, back to basics. God in His providence has brought us through our first 25 years of life and ministry together as Trinity Baptist Church. And during the past year, I have been seeking to call your attention back to the basics under the general heading of a manifesto of Trinity Baptist Church. And in this manifesto, I have been seeking to highlight from the Scriptures those central principles of biblical life and faith,

6:19 which have been the very heart and soul of Trinity Baptist Church. The very spirit of our existence together. And we have been doing this to the end that we might look at them afresh, commit ourselves to them with renewed spiritual commitment, hopefully for some of you who have come on board and reaped the benefits of them, but have never had them clearly articulated, that you might come to a more intelligent grasp upon them, and by the grace of God carry on the legacy, of these biblical principles to another generation should the Lord tarry and spare us. And we are presently parked on the ninth affirmation in this manifesto, this cry of back to basics, which I have expressed as follows. We are determined to maintain a balanced New Testament perspective in our teaching and expectations regarding conversion, the Christian life, and the mission of the church. And for a number of Lord's Day mornings, our field of concern has been limited to the issue of the New Testament doctrine of conversion. We have seen its absolute necessity.

7:46 We have noted the obvious diversity of the ways of God in the impartation of converting grace. And we are now examining what we are calling the essential elements of converting grace. Though God is obviously free and works with great diversity in the impartation of converting grace, there are nonetheless certain common denominators always present when God, in the language of Acts 26, opens the eyes. The eyes of a sinner turns him from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, imparting to that sinner forgiveness of sins and a lot among those who are sanctified by faith that is in Christ Jesus. The first of those common denominators is this. He brings us to an acute sense of spiritual need which we become convinced can overcome, only be met in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, he brings us to a lifelong disposition of repentance and faith with the necessary fruits of that disposition.

Proposition: A Radical Break with Sin's Dominion is Indispensable to True Conversion

9:13 And it is in that area that we have, for the past couple of Lord's Days, been examining the scriptures, seeking to ascertain the relationship between saving faith and a life of obedience. And now this morning, we take up the matter of saving faith in Christ and its relationship to a lifestyle of holiness or moral conformity to Christ. In the adult Sunday school hour, I sought to lay out this field of concern in a more didactic, classroom manner. But now, this morning, I will attempt, by the opening up of a number of portions of the Word of God, to set before you this very simple truth that saving faith in Christ will always produce a lifestyle of moral conformity to Christ. And the proposition that I want to lay out and then open up in your hearing, both this morning and this evening, is this. According to the scriptures, a radical break with the dominion of sin followed by a continuous and real warfare

10:39 with the remains of sin are the invincible accompaniments and fruits to what's on this issue. According to the scriptures, a radical break with the dominion of sin is a great minion. A continual warfare with the remains of sin are the indispensable, not but the impenitence and or more simply, in the language of a recently produced paperback by the banner of truth, O holiness,

11:58 we saw in the previous hour in the economy of grace, provision of his own righteousness, which forms the base of our acceptance in the court of heaven, but God is committed so to renovate us by the dynamics of his grace that we are not only given a legal title to heaven, but we are made morally fit for heaven as well. In opening up the scriptures which undergird this proposition and which demand the conclusion that I've set before you, we'll look this morning only at the first part

13:17 and then, God willing, tonight at the second. The biblical proof that a radical break with the dominion of sin is an indispensable accompaniment of true conversion. And in setting forth that proof, I want you to consider with me, first of all, the obvious assumption that undergirds the statement, secondly, the abundant evidence which demands this statement, and thirdly, the serious implications growing out of this statement. So we have an obvious assumption, abundant evidence, and serious implications.

The Obvious Assumption: All Men are Under the Dominion of Sin Prior to Conversion

14:00 With the dominion of sin is an indispensable accompaniment of true conversion, there is an obvious assumption in that statement. And the assumption is this, that until true conversion, all men are indeed under the dominion of sin. That's the assumption I'm making, and that assumption is based upon the clear teaching of the Word of God. Consider with me five texts which can be understood in no other way unless God speaks in His Word to confuse us than that every one of us by nature is truly the bomb-slave of sin. First of all, then, in John's Gospel, chapter 8, the obvious assumption undergirding our attempt to prove this radical break with sin as of the very essence of conversion, the assumption is we are by nature the slaves of sin. Where does the Bible teach that? First of all, John, chapter 8, verse 31,

15:25 therefore said to those Jews that had believed him, ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples, and ye shall know the truth. The truth shall make you free. Jews, who as the Lord Jesus taught, professed some kind of faith in His message. Context goes on to show it was something far short of saving faith.

15:59 So simply when you read in the Bible somebody believed, don't automatically assume that that means they believed with the faith of God's elect, for the Scripture says that demons also believe and they tremble. And here were Jews who came to some kind of an expression of faith, and Jesus said to them in response to that expression, however they manifested it, if you abide, remain, continue in my word, then are you truly my disciples, and the result will be this, you shall come to an experimental knowledge of the truth, and that truth will liberate you. You are now in bondage. Continue in my word, you shall be free men. And they fully understood the implication of His words. How do we know that? Verse 33.

16:53 They answered unto Him, wait a minute, what are you telling us? If this, then that, and the that is we'll be free, you're promising something we don't need. We are Abraham's seed, and we've never been in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, you shall be made free?

17:14 We talk about forgetting history. We're in such bondage that the Scripture says their groan, their cries came into the ear of God in heaven. They conveniently forgot. They were conveniently forgetting that right now on any given day, walking down a street in Jerusalem, a Roman soldier could tap him on the shoulder and say, hey, bucko, take my knapsack.

17:44 Yes, sir. Him that would compel you to go one mile, go two. But in their willful blindness of their own history in the past, of the facts of their own sociological situation and geopolitical situation in the present, they boast and say, we're the Abraham's seed. We're never in bondage to anyone.

18:07 What are you promising is something we don't need? You say, if this, then this, and the this is freedom, what's the big deal? You don't promise freedom to a man who's already free. Answered them, and here's one of his magisterial sayings.

18:31 Incarnate truth is taking his own words and underlining them in red, and he says, verily, verily, truly, truly, I say unto you, everyone that commits sin is the slave. Which cannot be more clear nor simple on this point, that with all of their religious privilege, with all of their religious background, with all of their religious activity, Jesus says to these people, as those who commit sin, what you do in the commission of specific sins shows that you are in a relationship of servitude to sin itself. You are, by and large, you are by nature the slaves of sin. You, with all mankind, even though you have great religious privilege and knowledge and a tremendous heritage, it makes no difference until there is a personal, internal, liberating work in conjunction with the truth. You're the slaves of sin.

19:46 And so when I assume in my statement and say that I want to prove that a radical break with the dominion of sin is an indispensable accompaniment of true conversion, and I'm obviously assuming that prior to true conversion, every one of us is the slave of sin, I am standing on the ground marked out by the Son of God. For He said verily, verily, everyone, young, old, privileged or unprivileged, in terms of religious knowledge and background, everyone who commits sin is the bond-slave of sin. Second passage, Romans chapter 6. Paul is writing to a church in a cosmopolitan area with people of various ethnic and clearly of various religious backgrounds. One of the great problems, unlike the modern church growth movement people, who would say, have the homogeneous church, have your first Jewish church of Rome and your first Gentile church of Rome and everything else, the genius of the gospel is that it takes those of diverse backgrounds, makes them one new man in Christ,

21:14 causes them to live and worship and love together in such a way that the dynamics of the gospel are manifested with power, and this was true at Rome, and with people of all of these diverse backgrounds, some who had sunk into the depths of Roman debauchery and idolatry, others who had the restraining influence of Jewish religious influences. He addresses the various categories in the opening chapters, yet, yet, he comes to generalizations in such chapters as chapter 6, and notice what he says of all of them. Regardless of the diversity of their backgrounds, regardless of the different levels to which they had been abandoned to profligacy and to immorality, or restrained from the same, he puts them all in one category when he describes their condition prior to conversion. Romans 6 and verse 16, Know ye not that to whom ye present yourselves as servants unto obedience, his servants ye are whom ye obey? Whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness, but thanks be to God that whereas the people of sin

22:40 were of the church at Rome, from the Jew to the Greek, from the one who had sunk into the most sordid depths of Roman debauchery, to the one who had been what we might call an Old Testament believer who just merged into the faith of the gospel when he first heard it, he says of every one of them, ye were slaves of sin. Became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching where unto you were delivered, and being made free from sin, ye became the slaves of righteousness. Ye were slaves of sin. Verse 20, For when you were slaves of sin, you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard of righteousness. That is, righteousness as a master was one whose authority you did not recognize, whose claims you did not honor, whose demands you did not respect. You acted like free men in the presence of a master who had no claims over you.

24:01 So God and righteousness are personified as masters in whom they recognized no authority. The only one whose authority they recognized was sin, personified into this master called unrighteousness. And when he barked his orders, they responded, and their response was not notional. For he says earlier in the chapter that as you presented your members instruments of unrighteousness, unto sin, in other words, verse 19, they presented their eyes, their hands, their ears, their affections, their feet, their tongues, their mouths. Their servitude was not theoretical. It was not positional. It was real.

24:53 It was actual. It was concrete. It was specific. They were the slaves.

24:58 That is his description of all of them exception. Chapter 2, and I'm deliberately taking time deliberately taking passages from different segments of the New Testament so that you will see that this is not something tucked away in a corner, but it is the overarching universal witness here in Ephesians chapter 2, describing the application of redemption to these Ephesians who also, though for the most part, came out of a pagan background. We know from the account of Acts that there were some Jews among them. Verse 11 of this chapter, Paul indicates that the church was comprised primarily of converted Gentiles. What was their state? Verse 1 of chapter 2, You did he make alive when you were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein ye once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh

26:26 and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. And here is a miserable bondage behind which is the very course of this present age, and the course of this age which sets the trap upon which the train of human life runs. Behind it, the chief engineer, the chief designer, is the devil himself, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works. And that same Greek verb, work, is the one that is found in Ephesians 2.

27:07 It is God who energetically works in you to will and to work for His good pleasure. Same verb. He is actually at work shaping, molding, stirring up, impelling, directing His slaves to do His will. Those things upon which He works are what?

27:27 The lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, enslaved to a mind that is full of spiritual darkness, that sees no beauty in Christ, that sees nothing lovely in the life of holiness, nothing desirable in communion with God. Lusts that are the perverted appetites originally given by which we would enjoy God and His gifts to His glory as those appetites were expressed within the boundaries of His revealed will. But now they've become cut loose from God's glory and God's standards and they've become base and perverse and become the very tools with which we lash out at God and defy His law and utterly deface His image. That's spiritual bondage. That is spiritual slavery. Doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind and behind all of it there is that evil spirit actively at work in the sons of disobedience.

28:43 The passage to this is 2 Timothy chapter 2. Remember we're simply trying to discover the obvious assumption undergirding this statement and that assumption is that by nature we are in bondage to the dominion of sin. 2 Timothy chapter 2 Paul is exhorting his spiritual son regarding practical matters of the work of the ministry and he exhorts him in verse 24 of chapter 2 2 Timothy chapter 2 The Lord's servant must not strive that is he must not be argumentative combative he must not think that this is a matter of a war of wits. Timothy don't think of the ministry as marshalling your arguments and then overpowering someone else's mind and you've won the day. Don't be argumentative don't be combative but be gentle to all apt to teach forbearing in meekness correcting them that oppose themselves you know instruct them bring the word of God to bear upon them cross their natural desires and their wills don't just leave them be and pray for them deal with them but don't think it's a matter of your head butting their head there are powers at work Timothy that are beyond the things that meet the naked eye and it's in that realm

30:11 where the victories won or lost so Timothy you carry on your task with a Christ like spirit with the truth of God in forbearance correcting them that oppose themselves if peradventure God may give them repentance unto the knowledge of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil and this is one of the most pathetic statements in all of scripture having been taken captive by him unto his will Timothy you are dealing with people who are the ensnared snake and . . . where he tugs the rope . . .

31:28 where you go and you say God perceive and they will be recovered from the snare of the devil . . . they are taken captive by him unto his will you see that's the thing with some of you who sit here this morning so proud that you have not succumbed I will not give up my independence.

32:01 Let those preachers preach. Let them pray. Let them plead. Let them argue.

32:06 Let them warn. Let them cry. Let them entreat. I will not give up my freedom.

32:13 My friend, you have no freedom.

32:18 And every time you set yourself to maintain your so-called freedom, all you're doing is responding to the devil's jerk at the noose around your neck. That's what this text says. That's reality. That's where you're at, friend.

32:46 That you defy God, defy His gospel, be indifferent to His Son, and go down to hell with Him or enjoin Him and His angels. 2.19, another witness. But what do these tell us?

33:17 These texts tell us that the obvious assumption is indeed a valid biblical assumption. That when I assert that a radical break with the dominion of sin is an indispensable accompaniment of true conversion, the assumption is until true conversion, we are all the slaves of the social, economic, cultural backgrounds and diversity. We have this in common. We are the slaves.

Abundant Evidence: The Son Makes Us Truly Free from Sin's Dominion (John 8)

33:54 But now secondly, let's look at the abundant evidence which demands our statement. The abundant evidence which demands the statement that a radical break with the dominion, the dominion of sin, is an indispensable accompaniment of true conversion. Go back with me to John chapter 8 for our first biblical witness. John chapter 8.

34:22 In the same passage where our Lord assumes that all men are by nature in a state of spiritual bondage, He then goes on to say in this wonderful text, verse 36, If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free. If therefore the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

34:52 Who can make us free men, who can break the dominion of sin, for whoso commits sin is the bond slave of sin, and no amount is to no one changes reality. It didn't change the reality for them, and it doesn't change it for you or for me. But if the Son Himself, if Jesus Christ by the putting forth of His gracious omnipotence, by the putting forth, by the putting forth of regal, liberating grace in the language of Psalm 110, when He puts forth His scepter in the day of His power and makes His people willing, we shall indeed be free. Free men, free women, into a life of a rightful Savior who bought us with His own precious blood. And you see, our Lord does not set this forth as some experience, that is, as an advanced graduate school experience for an elite few. He sets before us the antithesis between all men, either being those who commit sin and are the slaves of sin,

Abundant Evidence: Death to Sin and Slavery to Righteousness (Romans 6)

36:18 or those who have been liberated from the dominion and slavery to sin, and are Christ's free men, and there is no third category. No third! In which we saw the unequal, the equivocal assertions of our native spiritual bondage and slavery, this chapter gives us marvelous statements. The dominion of sin always accompanies conversion. The chapter begins with the question, having magnified, as we saw in the adult class, that salvation is all of God and all of grace, and the ground of the sinner's acceptance lies totally out of himself. Paul takes the language of, of the devil's logic. What shall we say then?

37:29 Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. We who died to sin, shall we any longer live therein? Now notice, he doesn't say, we who ought to, we who ideally should die, we who may eventually die, he says no.

37:55 We, who are true Christians, we who have come to the faith of Jesus Christ as the only ground of our acceptance before God, we who have come to embrace the Lord Jesus as our righteousness, we, to sin, how shall I live in the realm of walking from lawyer and up the stairs? All of the, my former existence, death cuts me off from it. He says, if you have died to sin,

38:58 how shall you live in that realm to which, and then he goes on to state in categories, categorical language, verse 14, sin shall not, doesn't say sin ought not, sin may eventually not have, sin shall not literally exercise Lordship over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. If you have come within the orbit of the dynamics of grace, the grace that has given you a perfect righteousness in Christ, the grace that has united, you to the Lord Jesus, the grace that has delivered you from the condemning, calling power of the law, does not exercise the Lordship over you. Sin's dominion has been broken. This is indicative. That's why we need to know a little grander if we're going to appreciate our Bibles.

39:57 It is not a future, an exhortation. It is not hortatory. It is a statement of fact. Sin, shall not exercise Lordship over you.

40:16 Sin to the dynamics of grace. You're a convert. Sin's dominion has been broken. Verses 17 and 18.

40:28 But thanks be to God that whereas ye were the slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching where unto you were delivered. And that is the proper rendering. It's a beautiful picture of what happens under the gospel. The Holy Spirit cast the elect, gospel hearer into the very mold of the gospel.

40:51 The gospel which promises liberation from the power and dominion of sin as well as forgiveness from the guilt of sin. And he says, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching where unto you were delivered and having been made became the bond slaves of righteousness. He doesn't say, now that you've accepted the gospel, you ought to begin to be concerned about getting free from sin. And you ought to begin to consider becoming the servants of righteousness.

41:32 This is not exhortation. It is spiritual history. For as of those who had sunk into the depths of Romans 1, you were made. You became righteousness. They set a lower standard till you catch up with your moral consciousness. What about those who had no models? What about those who had no models of a stable home?

42:29 What about those who had no background in the knowledge of the word of God? He makes no exceptions and it's time we stopped it in this place. No exceptions! The Holy Ghost isn't limited.

42:53 Your domestic dysfunctional background.

43:00 The Holy Ghost. Your wacky hormones and your PMS. And by your burgeoning change of life disruptions. Our Heavenly Father knows our frame.

43:17 He remembers. We are dust. He says, my grace is sufficient. Strength is made perfect in your weakness.

43:28 And the Holy Ghost does not say. You have leave to still have all the marks of being a slave to a sour, sullen, withdrawal-ish temperament because you've got PMS. Show me. I don't know how to love a wife.

44:09 My father was mean and ugly and I... Stop that nonsense.

44:12 You've lived around here and you've seen dozens of men who love their wives. The models are all over. The place. And you've got the Bible and the Holy Ghost and the example of Jesus Christ.

44:23 And you still go on being a hard-hearted, insensitive, unloving husband. And you excuse it. Stop what you are a slave. Much longer as elders can we have some of these dear wives coming and telling how hard husbands are doing in the name.

45:02 When you've been told better by ex-consulting and you're still the one you give lip service to. He know ye not that to whom you present your...

45:30 Your self-servants to obedience his servants you are whom you obey. Whether of obedience unto righteousness is the guide that gets your allegiance. So you feel ugly. So you ignore your wife.

45:54 He is your master. That's your real master. He's not your master. When Christ is your master, you prove it by saying, I feel ugly.

46:04 I feel like being withdrawn. I feel like being non-communicative. I feel like being like my father was. I have a new master.

46:13 And that master is Jesus Christ. And he is worthy of being obeyed. Lord Jesus, in spite of everything I feel like, in spite of everything I could be and everything I've been programmed to be, you're my master. Your spirit dwells within me.

46:30 Your cross is stamped over my affections. And I am going to be sensitive and loving and caring and understanding to my wife by your strength. So help me God. Now Christ is your master whom you obey.

46:48 That's so simple. Yeah, I know. That's so simple. You gave me first- prize on the church 뭐하료 요 소 vra gland.

46:59 Every woman. Dad when is this. That's it. That's that.

47:21 Money. I never gave you x an RMB twenty-two for knowing your man. How many times do you own my house. My house means nothing to you.

47:55 I never OF you. Or I don't deserve, like you are. Don't take anything for granted you just want to. Don't believe it.

48:01 It doesn't belong in you. It would likely never have. Well God actually gave. umbilical cords going back into your childhood then you may perhaps begin that and it's not in yours as they're described in romans what that when they became converted they were free from sin became servants to god and they were having fruit unto holiness and the exact sex week the

Abundant Evidence: Washed, Sanctified, Justified (1 Corinthians 6)

48:48 qualifying elements i'm fully evidence of is an indigestion and sets freely free freely free he is free indeed ye were of sin become the slaves of righteous romans 8 1 to 9 again time does not permit it but i want us to pass over to another very relevant passage first corinthians chapter 6 only trying to prove one thing dear people that this book makes abundantly clear you that a radical break with the dominion of sin is the indispensable accompaniment of true conversion here with these people at corinth you know the moral climate of the city the word that was coined

50:06 if you want to say something was really debauched you'd say it was corinthianized they had bad examples bad patterns and many of them had been sucked into the orbit of that lifestyle and paul writes in first corinthians six nine first corinthians six nine no he thought that the unrighteous show marketing here at the king of god he knows this year either for nicotine's that's the generic word for sexual impurity of all kinds people believe their sexual capacities playground run according to the rules but impulses it is for nicotine's nor idolaters nor adults nor go to have the not the slo-mo talk about it They have themselves as the great saviors of minorities.

51:33 They're the dammers of the soul.

51:38 Northeast, the corporation boardrooms, stockholders.

51:48 It's a muggy in the street. God doesn't make any distinction.

51:55 Poor ones and rich ones.

52:07 But they've got to have it.

53:03 Standing in the spirit.

53:12 Sanctified.

53:15 It's sanctification. This is what we're talking about. From the service of your sexual nerve endings. From the service of your grimy money at any cost.

53:29 From defiling your mouth with your slander.

53:39 You were sanctified. You were set apart from that life of defilement unto God. That's what sanctified means here. The once for all definitive.

53:49 Setting apart from the dominion and service of sin. Unto the service of the living God. He said all of you were washed. Sanctified.

54:00 All of you justified.

54:03 Record in heaven was changed. And all this happened when you came within the orbit of two inseparable realities. Look at them. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

54:12 That is God's revelation of salvation in the person and work of Christ. That's the gospel. And in the spirit of our God. So whenever the objective work of Christ.

54:26 And the subjective work of the spirit terminate upon a sinner. He gets justice.

54:43 Doesn't say. How he can reject his past patterns. My friends. That's not in my Bible.

54:55 They had. Many of them had no by which personalities and their psyches and their whole inner life shaped and molded to live noble upright Christian lives. That's why this church had so many problems.

55:19 Accommodate to the problems.

55:23 He said you come on up to what you are in Christ. Don't you know. Don't you know. More than in any other epistle he says.

55:31 This is true. This is true. Be what you are.

55:36 Look what you have.

55:40 All I'm issuing this morning. Say with Gernal. Blood in thy veins. Unless thou can show thy pedigree.

55:55 By daring to be. I love that. Blood in thy veins. Unless thou can show thy pedigree.

56:09 By daring to be holy.

56:17 The bond slave of righteousness. The dominion of sin. Broken.

56:31 By.

Abundant Evidence: Crucifying the Flesh and Bearing the Spirit's Fruit (Galatians 5)

56:34 These two witness chapter five.

56:44 Setting forth the contrast between a life lived. Under the dynamics of the spirit. And the other under the dynamics. And influence.

56:52 Of the flesh. Says in the best of believers. There is an irreconcilable warfare. We come to that tonight.

56:59 God willing. But now verse nineteen. The works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these.

57:05 Many list them. Fornication. Uncleanness. Lasciviousness.

57:10 Idolatry. Sorcery. Envy. Strife.

57:12 Jealousy. Wrath. Factions. Divisions.

57:14 Partings. Parties. Envyings. Drunkenness.

57:18 Revelings. And he said this is not a complete list. And such like. He says you got the idea.

57:22 He gives enough to get your mind going. He said everything in that direction. He said that comes out of unblessed. Unsanctified.

57:29 Human. Nature. Fallen. United to Adam.

57:33 That's flesh. The works of the flesh are manifest. Which are these. Then he draws the contrast.

57:41 He says. I'm sorry. After he gives this. Which I forewarn you.

57:45 Even as I did forewarn you. That they who practice such things. Those in whom these things are a lifestyle. Shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

57:53 Why? Because they're under sin's dominion. Obviously. If these things are your lifestyle.

57:59 It's because you're under the dominion of them. You are under the dominion of sin. You'll not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the spirit.

58:06 Where the spirit has come. His fruit will be manifest. Love. Joy.

58:10 Peace. Long suffering. Kindness. Goodness.

58:13 Faithfulness. Meekness. Self-control. Against such there is no law.

58:16 Even God has no law condemning any one of those. You'll find no commandment in the Old or New Testament. Where God condemns any one of these. But now look at the next verse.

58:26 And they that are of Christ Jesus. Now notice. No qualifying statement. It doesn't say.

58:32 And they that are of Christ Jesus. And have been able to sort out all their past dysfunctions. They that are of Christ Jesus. And have been able to put together all of their previous pre-converted psychological hang-ups.

58:45 And they that are of Christ Jesus. And have been. Blah, blah, blah. No, no.

58:49 They that are of Christ Jesus. Without exception. Without exception. Without exception.

58:55 Crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. Period.

59:00 Are you of Christ Jesus?

59:03 Then sin's dominion has been broken by death.

59:11 No exceptions. No qualifications. Parentheses.

59:18 And some of you better start getting out your eraser and rubbing out your footnotes. You read passages like this and you conveniently put in your own little footnotes. You put in your own little parentheses.

59:32 You're really going after this thing like you're on a mission. Yes, I'm on a mission. Because some of you. It's fish.

59:37 Or cut bait time. Either you begin to live out what you say you are. Or you better face the fact you aren't what you think you are.

59:50 You cannot go on year after year indwelt by the spirit of God and united to Christ. And an object of the intercessory work of Christ. And make no progress in the same areas year in and year out. It does not work that way.

60:09 You denigrate Christ. You denigrate Christ. You denigrate Christ. You denigrate the power of his salvation.

60:15 You make a mockery of his intercession. You make a mockery of the indwelling of the spirit. And it's time you feasted on what it is.

60:39 By varying degrees and with varying aspects. Fullness and richness in different areas. I'm fully aware of all of that diversity. But nonetheless, the spirit is never dormant in the life of one in whom he indwells.

60:55 And the fruit of the spirit will be manifest. And if it's not being. Manifest. You go on.

61:02 Even though the Bible says. Love your wife as Christ loved the church. You go on treating her like junk. And though the Bible says.

61:10 Be subject to your husband in everything. You go on like an unbroken filly with your neck thrown back. Winning every time your husband tries to give any direction. Under the same and depressing manifestations of self-centeredness.

61:38 And hypersensitivity. And criticism. Of people. And nipping.

61:43 And suspicion. And there's not an inkling of any progress. Month in. Month out.

61:49 Year in. Year out. Dear people. Something's big bad wrong.

Abundant Evidence: Putting Off the Old Man and Putting On the New (Colossians 3)

61:54 You've got to face whether or not sin's dominion's ever been wrong. The passage I bring before you is Colossians chapter 3. They're giving an exhortation based upon their glorious union with Christ. Seated with him.

62:22 The opening verses. Paul then gives the practical exhortation. Of what that position in Christ must produce in ongoing progressive sanctification. Here.

62:35 Sanctification. In the negative sense of mortification. Put to death therefore. Verse 5.

62:42 But now we come to verse 8. As he's concluding the exhortation to mortification. But now do he also put them all away. Anger.

62:52 Wrath.

62:54 Shameful speaking out of your mouth. I not one to another. Seeing you. You have old man with his doings.

63:10 That is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him. He says look. Do this.

63:20 Sanctification and thoroughness. Why? Because this alone is consistent with what you are. You have put off the old man.

63:29 That is. His dominion has been repudiated. It's another term for the dominion of sin. The old man is all that you were.

63:38 I'm devoid of grace. You have. But he's not a perfect new man. You've put on the new man who is being renewed.

63:58 And he says carry on the specifics of ongoing mortification. And ongoing conformation to Christ. Based upon the settled spiritual experience that you have put off. And you have put off.

64:14 Now he doesn't say. Some of you put off the old. Some of you. It is common experience of all of the true people of God.

Serious Implications: Overall Attitude to Sin and Holiness (2 Timothy 2)

64:26 And to this we could add the clear teaching of 1 John 3, 7 to 10, 5, 18 and 19. But as I close this morning I want to take just a moment to drive home one or two of the serious implications of this teaching. We've looked at the assumption that is behind the statement that when there is a genuine work of converting grace, sin's dominion is broken. And that assumption is that.

64:57 All men by nature are sin's slaves. We've looked at some of the abundant evidence that demands the conclusion that a radical break with the dominion of sin is an indispensable accompaniment of true conversion. And that leads to some serious implications. Let me just take two of them as I close.

65:17 If sin's dominion is broken. It will be manifested. Listen carefully now. In your overall attitude to sin.

65:27 And hope. And holiness in general. If sin's dominion has been broken. It will be manifested in your overall attitude to sin and holiness in general.

65:40 And the key text is 2 Timothy 2, 19. A text that has been a lifetime companion of one of your elders in this assembly. He shared this with me last week. The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal.

65:56 The Lord knows them that are his. And let everyone who names the name of Christ. All you need to do is take Christ's name on yourself. You don't need to claim to be spiritual.

66:06 You don't need to claim to be a super saint. You don't need to claim to be anyone but a Christian. And it says let everyone who names the name of Christ be continually departing from iniquity. To take Christ's name on yourself is to say sin and I are done.

66:30 It will be manifested due to sin and holiness in general. And that attitude. The air of divorce. Thrones and rings away.

67:02 And we ain't meeting at the bars.

67:05 We're done. Same singles bar and talk about good old days. We're through.

Serious Implications: Dealing with Peculiar Dominant Sins (Matthew 5, Luke 9)

67:16 But the second is this. And I think this is where some of you need to do some serious dealings with God this afternoon. Hear me carefully. Sin's dominion is broken.

67:26 It will be manifested in your relationship to your peculiar dominant sin. In particular, it is broken in general. It will be manifested in your relationship to your own peculiar dominance in the teaching of a passage like Matthew five, where Jesus said, You have heard that it was said, Thou shall not commit adultery, but I say unto you, whoso present tense is looking after a woman to lust committed adultery already in his heart. In other words, he's an adulterer in his heart.

68:08 That's why he's continually. Looking and looking with a view to lusting. And yet the man has the nerve to say, but I can't help it. Submit his word and says, Oh, you do.

68:21 Well, then go ahead and pluck your eyes out, because as long as the sin of adultery dominates in your heart, the dominion of sin has not been broken. You're on your way to hell and you'll be cast into hell. Far better. Take you at your word.

68:35 If you need to cut your hand off and throw it away, pluck your eye out, gouge it out, throw it away. Far better. He's saying your particular sin, your particular sin that indicates servience to the dominion of sin must be dealt with at any cost or you'll go to hell.

69:02 The teaching of our Lord's dealing with a rich young ruler and the whole chain of sin stands or falls on your covetous young man and your covetousness. Smash that idol and all will be well. He went away sorrowfully. Thirty four impossible.

69:31 Thirty four and following. Think not that I came to send peace. I came to send the sword. I'll send a man against the father, father against the mother, daughter-in-law against the mother-in-law, man's foes, they have his own household.

69:44 He that loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. If I'm prepared to take my child's side at the expense of God's law, I show that sin is still my master and not Christ. That's why Jesus said he who puts his hand to the plow in the Greek is very clear. There while still looking back.

70:06 In other words, he never really said there's forgiveness.

70:16 There's the world. Christ will fill it. But that friends here and I don't want to be too radical. He said such a person is not fit for the kingdom.

70:56 Sin's dominion is not broken. You're playing games.

71:03 You've never once planted both hands on the plow and said sink or swim, live or die. Chop me off until I got no feet. Cut me off to my knees. Cut me off to my knees and leave me nothing but Christ's glory, Christ's king.

71:26 That's all that will matter in the last day.

71:34 The flesh, the ship of this world, it's all done.

71:46 What's the issue with you, woman, young person? What's the issue? What is it? You see, sin's dominion often hinges on that special sin.

72:08 It shall come to part.

72:12 Some of you, it's your stinking pride. You're so proud. All under the guise of humility. You've learned how to throw your eyes down.

72:22 You're so proud.

72:26 Fifty times a day in your home with your wife and your kids and you don't humble yourself.

72:35 A man's pride is that dumb.

72:40 It is the symbol of the reign of sin in your life until that day gone topples.

Conclusion: A Call to Honesty and Christ for Freedom

72:50 You better ask God because a day is coming when he's going to do it. Move from the word of God this morning only one thing. Just one thing.

73:06 A radical break with the dominion of sin is an indispensable accompaniment to true conversion. And if we've convinced your judgment and you sit here this morning and say, Pastor Martin, if that's what it is to be a Christian, I don't have it. Do I do? Where is it?

73:23 A passage like Isaiah 61, And you look at him of whom it is said, The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, for he hath anointed me to preach liberty to the castles and to them that are bound. I often quote Pentecostalism. There's one I love that I picked up when I sojourned in Pentecostalism for a while. Brother, are you bound?

73:50 Christ can set you free.

74:05 Christ, with your chains, and then I shall,

74:40 if you don't know it, way too for too long,

75:30 have named, in the name of Christ, and are not departing from iniquity. Lord, help them to get honest today. And may they not in their honesty run into a hole of despair, but may they run to Christ. And may they find his promise to be true.

75:51 We pray, Father, that you would help those of us who by your grace have been made your free men and women. Oh, that we may more and more live in that freedom wherewith Christ has made us free, and not be tangled again in any yoke of bondage, Oh, God, that our lives may reflect that when you do impart converting grace, sin's dominion is broken, and we are made the joyful slaves of righteousness. Seal your word, we pray, and send us to our homes to reflect upon, to discuss, to mull over the things we have heard. And may this day be sanctified to our prophet and to the praise of our Savior. We ask in his worthy name, Amen.