Sept. 23, 2024

The Christian’s Dead Body

The Christian’s Dead Body

Is the secret to the Christian life found in understanding that we have a dead body?

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Is the secret to the Christian life found in understanding that we have a dead body?

WEBVTT

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. This is Patrol one.

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Come in headquarters, Headquarters. This is Patrol one. Please come

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in Patrol one. This is headquarters. Go ahead. Yes, I'm

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at the First Baptist Church, and we have made a

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horrible discovery. We have found three hundred dead bodies. Do

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you copy headquarters. I'm at the First Baptist Church. We

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have made a horrible discovery. We have found three hundred

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dead bodies. Now is that a scene from some horror movie?

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Is that a scene from some disaster movie? Or is

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that scene the key secrets to understanding the Christian life?

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And is that a secret that gives you the clue

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and how to live out your Christian life? Is the

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secret to the Christian life? Understanding that whether it's the

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First Baptist Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Lutheran Church, it

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doesn't matter the name on the church. When you walk in,

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it doesn't matter you pick the Wednesday, you pick the Sunday.

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You walk in. If there's one hundred people there, there's

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one hundred dead bodies. If there are three hundred people there,

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there are three hundred dead bodies. If there are ten

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thousand people there, there are ten thousand dead bodies. And

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every church when you walk in, all everyone there, their

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bodies are dead. Is that the secret to the Christian life. Well,

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we're going to try to figure that out in just

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a few minutes, But first let me remind you that

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it is Monday, September the twenty third, twenty twenty four.

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It is currently two sixteen pm Central time, and I

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am coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio

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located right here in Abilene, Texas. And yes, I see

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dead bodies. I see dead bodies all around me. I

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see dead bodies every time I go to church. Am

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I seeing the right thing? Is that? The answer is

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the answer to the Christian life is like hey everyone, everyone,

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look around, look around, We're all all of our bodies

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are dead. That's the answer. Now. I know it sounds crazy,

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I know it sounds almost a little bit bizarre, but

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that is a very simplified, maybe oversimplified explanation to the

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Christian life. In my last live broadcast, I introduced you

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to a book entitled Six of the Christian Life by

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Zaye Hodges. Six Secrets of the Christian Life by Zain Hodges.

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I told everyone to get a copy. You can get

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it on kindle for three dollars. You can purchase it

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a nactual physical copy for like four dollars. I told

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everyone to get a copy. And the reason I told

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I told everyone to look at this book, and the

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reason I told you I was going to at least

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consider these supposed six secrets, is because of things going

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on in Christianity right now. Now. The things going on

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in Christianity right now are not unusual because they've been

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going on for two thousand years, and that is sin, sin, sin, sin, sin.

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But we had a public scandal, we had a very

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well known pastor removed from the pulpit because of sin,

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and everyone's talking about it, speculating about it, condemning, judging,

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giving all of their thoughts and opinions. But I have decided,

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let's take this situation and look at ourselves, look at well,

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just look at Christianity at large. Does Christianity really have

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an answer for the reality of sin in your life

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and my life and your church is life, and your

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pastor's life and my church's life and my life itself.

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Does Christianity really have an answer? Because Christianity inevitably tries

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to sell us this idea that when we become a Christian,

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practically speaking, we become a new creature. The old is gone,

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everything is new. We have a new heart. We basically

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can say no to sin, yes to God. We can

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be perfect. Well, I mean, we can't actually be perfect,

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but we can be pretty close to perfect. That's how

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Christianity sells itself. But the reality is is you sin

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all the time. You sin all the time. You're constantly

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in a state of sin. The Bible tells you to

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be holy as God is holy. You will never be that,

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meaning you're in a perpetual state of sin. You're in

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a perpetual state of disobedience to the command to be

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holy as God is holy. Jesus has be fect as

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your heavenly Father is perfect. You're in a perpetual state

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of disobedience to that because you'll never be perfect as

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God is perfect. You're told to love God with all

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your heart, mind, body, and soul. You will never do that,

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So you're in a perpetual state of disobedience to that

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very verse. You are in a continual state of disobedience

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to these verses, to these commands, But somehow Christianity's like, well, no, okay,

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well that doesn't really matter as long as I don't

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commit that sin, whatever that sin is, because if I

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commit that sin, then that's the end. So we have

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to do a lot of pretending. We have to live

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in this never ending basically contradiction, and some Christians are

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able to navigate it. They just convince themselves that they're

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I guess I don't know they're there. They've reached some

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level of self righteousness that they feel good about themselves

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while they condemn other people. I think other people live

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lives of, you know, of quiet desperation and despair. I

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think they just live defeated and not understanding, questioning their salvation,

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not understand what's going on. And so we've talked about

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how does Christianity respond to it? And on Sunday yesterday

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at Victory Baptist Church, I talked about how lordship Salvation

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would try to respond to this reality right, and I

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feel that that leaves us not in a good place.

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And so I have documented, going all the way back

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to the early Church, throughout church history, all the different

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theilological approaches and answers to how why do Christians continue

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to sin and how do we understand it? How do

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we deal with it? And I wanted to turn on

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the microphone and document that, but then I stumbled across again.

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There was a comments section under an article about this

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famous pastor who fell into sin, and of course everyone

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had their opinions, their judgments, their speculations, their questions, their

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demands that they get more information and or calling into question.

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This just a lot of wild speculation and condemnation. But

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someone said, is the book everyone needs? Is six Secret

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to the Christian Life? So I'm like, okay, does this

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book have the answer? So I purchased a copy. And

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the main reason I hate these books about oh I've

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got the secret, Oh here's the secret. But the reason

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I was intrigued by this book is it's written by

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Zaye Hodges, meaning it's not coming at this subject from

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a lordship position, which we talked about yesterday. It's coming

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at it from a free grace perspective or what many

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would refer to in a negative way, easy believism. And

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I'm like, okay, I want to understand this. So in

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the last episode I gave you, we read a little

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bit of the introduction or the forward and the prologue.

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We did a little bit of that information. We started

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chapter one and I was just going to kind of like, well,

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I gave everyone the book, they can go get it.

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But chapter one just kept I'm like I couldn't just

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let it go. I'm like, I've got to talk about

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it because chapter one puts forth the idea that the

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the secret to the Christian life is for you and

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I to understand dead bodies. Dead bodies. The key to

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understand your Christian life, according to this book, the secret

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to really understanding your Christian life so that you can

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move forward and we can deal with the reality of

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sin is that we have dead bodies, so we can.

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This is Patrol one. Come in headquarters, Headquarters. This is

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Patrol one. Please come in Patrol one. This is headquarters.

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Go ahead. Yes, I'm at the first Baptist Church. We

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have made a horrible discovery. We have found three hundred

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dead bodies. Now I started that way to hopefully try

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to grab your attention, but is that really the answer?

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Is the answer? Okay, when next time you go to church,

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just walk into church and look around and just say

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you can whisper to your kids, I see dead bodies.

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Just whisper to your kids, I see dead bodies, or

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whisper to your spouse, I see dead bodies. Or just

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go run up to your pastor and say pastor, pastor,

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and you're like, yeah, look, I see dead bodies. Now

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may he may tell you to go home and never

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come back, Okay, but I'm telling you. Do what I'm asking. Okay.

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It will make you very popular. Okay, it will make

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you the most popular. Just walk around people in the

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church and say, do you see the dead bodies? Just

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do it. Just walk around here, do you see the

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dead bodies? Walk into your Sunday school class and go

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do you see the dead bodies? All right, everyone will

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think you're crazy, but maybe then it will spark a

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very important philological lesson. Is the problem within Christianity is

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the thing is the way we understand that the Christian

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life is a life of sin. I know Christians don't

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try to deny that, but it's the reality Christianity is

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a life of sin. Is The issue is dead bodies.

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Now what do we mean by that? Well, we're gonna

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try to figure that out, and we're gonna do so

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by looking at chapter one of Six Secrets of the

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Christian life. Now I'm gonna walk through it, right, Bet,

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I'm gonna do a lot of interrupting, adding discussing, and

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we're just we're just gonna try to figure out their perspective.

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They base this entire secret that they think is the

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key to the Christian life based off Romans chapter eight.

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So we're going to look at this. There's a lot

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of things I wanted to do. I wanted to go, well,

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let's just look at Romans eight ten through eleven. Boom. Now,

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let's look at how this verse has been understood throughout

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the history of Christianity. Go through every interpretation, then circle

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back around to the book. But let's just start with

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the book and then maybe over the rest of this

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week we can expand this to do more work on

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Romans eight ten through eleven. Right, So, if you want

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a sermons two point oh sermon challenge for this week,

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it's Romans eight ten through eleven. You're gonna be looking

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up sermons, random sermons on Romans eight ten through eleven.

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But we're going to see how they handle it. All right.

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I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm not saying they're right.

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I do think It's an interesting perspective that the reason

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this would be their answer if I came to them, hey,

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why is the Christian life a life of sin? And

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their answer would be dead bodies? Is that the answer?

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Do they have the answer? Or is it only going

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to leave us profoundly confused? Okay? Is it going to

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leave us altely? I don't know. I don't know. But

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are you ready? Here's how the chapter begins. How does

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a Christian live the Christian life? Now? That's a profound question, right,

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how do you live the Christian life? Now? I will argue,

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how do you live as a Christian knowing that your

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Christian life is a life of sin? I am going

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I am going to continually dogmatically assert that the Christian

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life is a life of sin? And I don't care

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if every Christian on the planet disagrees with me. Again,

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I can just I can give you the test. Be

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holy as God is holy. Unless you convince yourself that

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you're as holy as God, you are in complete disobedience

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of that verse, perpetually, be perfect as you're heavily you know,

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love God with all your heart, mind, body, And so

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I can just go through scripture after scripture you would

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have to acknowledge I'm in sin. So then how do

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you live the Christian life? Do you live the Christian

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life by working hard? Is that the key? Work hard,

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work harder, try harder, do more, by making up your

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mind to just do it? Is it about just making

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a commitment. I'm gonna make a commitment that I'm going

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to do it well. You can make all the commitments,

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you can work as hard as you want. Here's what

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I know. No matter no matter how many commitments you make,

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no matter how many vowels you make, no matter how

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many church covenants you sign, no matter how many promises

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you make, no matter how committed you are, no matter

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how many times you write in a notebook all the

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things you're going to do, no matter how disciplined you are,

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no matter why, Here's what I can absolute guarantee you.

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You will never be sinless. You will never get to perfection,

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meaning you're still in sin, and for some reason there's

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something holding you back from getting to perfection. At best,

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now I'm going back to the book. Such answers as

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the ones I've given. At best, such answers as these

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do not tell us much. At worst, they misrepresent the

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Christian life by giving us an unbalanced view of it.

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They suggest that the kind of life that pleases God

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is primarily a matter of effort and striving. Hey, if

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you want to please God, do this, do this, do this,

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do this, do this, do this, and how do you

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do this? You've got to be disciplined. You got to

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put forth the work. You got to put forth the effort.

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Now again, some Christians will like, no, no, no, no, no,

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no no no no no no, God will do it. Well,

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if God will do it, then the obvious question would be, well,

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then we should all be perfect, right if God is

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the one doing it in me and through me. If

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God is the one, then why wouldn't God just get

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me to perfection? All right? No matter which way you

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go with this, you're going to end up well where

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we always end up just confused, and it's all complicated

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and contradictory and discombobulated and what all the other words

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we can come up with, a right, many Bible believing Christians,

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many many Bible believing people would would want to add

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something like, well, but you got to get help from God.

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You got you need help from God. See, if you'll

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get help from God, then that's what you need. The

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way to live the Christian life is you rely on God,

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you rely on his spirit. He will empower you, he

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will strengthen you, and he will do it for you. Okay,

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well again, if God is the one empowering, strengthening and

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doing it for me, anything not happening would be God's

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fault just by logical inference, right, if God's the one

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doing it, If I'm not doing it's God's fault. That's

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why you have That's why many theologies come along say well,

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then that means you're not saved. That means you're not saved,

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and then they end up throwing out basically everyone out

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of the Kingdom of God other than themselves. So that's problematic.

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The other issue is if God is doing it, then

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why can't I get to perfection? Because if God is

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doing it, he's omni omnipotent. He tells me to be holy.

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If God wants me to be holy, calls me to

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be holy, and he's the one doing it, well then

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I should be holy. I mean, those are reasonable rational questions,

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all right, But then if we were to ask, well,

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wait a minute, you say God is the one who's

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supposed to be helping me, Well, how does he help?

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The answers may turn out to be very general, basically vague,

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and something like well, he gives us strength, And then

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you would be like, well, what does that mean? What

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is the nature of that strength? Is it spiritual? What

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do we mean by spiritual? In other words, the issue is,

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even when you try to ask people how to live

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out the Christian life, it's confounding, it's confusing, it's discombobulated,

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it's contradictory, and it's maddening if you care at all

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to really think it through. Now, according to the book,

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the answer to how to live the Christian life, the

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answer to all of our problems is found in two

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verses Romans eight ten through eleven. And if Christ be

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in you, and if Christ be in you, the body

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is dead. There's the dead bodies. The body is dead

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because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness.

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But if the spirit of Him that raised up Jesus

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from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up

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Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies

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by the spirit that dwelleth in you. Now what they're

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going to put forth there, the way they're going to

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handle Romans eight ten through eleven. And now they're going

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to handle this in a very dogmatic way, and they're

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not even going to assert or acknowledge all the different

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interpretations there are to Romans eight ten through eleven. There's

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a long list of interpretations throughout church history and Romans

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eight ten through eleven, a long list. So as you're

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listening to sermons this week on Romans eight ten through eleven,

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try to document how many different interpretations one finds. All right,

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but in church history, let me tell you they are legion. Okay,

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there's a lot. So here is how they describe it.

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Here's what they believe. The problem is, all right, in

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a nutshell. This this is from the book Six Secrets

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of the Christian Life. We have the fundamental problem of

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Christian living. Here's the fundamental problem of Christian living. Are

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you ready? Every Christian and habits a dead body. Headquarters.

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This is patrol headquarters. This is patrol one. Go ahead,

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Patrol one. This is headquarters. Yes, I'm at First Baptist Church.

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We have made a horrible discovery. There are three hundred

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dead bodies. I started with that. I've repeated that, I've

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repeated it. Now a third time. Why Because their argument

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in this book is that the problem, the fundamental problem

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is that you, as a Christian, you inhabit a dead body.

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The problem is your your body. What is ifical body

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is dead? Therefore that's the problem. All of your problems

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with sin is your dead body. Okay, so then what's

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the answer. How do we overcome the dead body? Because

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it sounds like, now, okay, my body is the problem.

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Now when we say the body, does that include the nature?

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It seems that it's drawing a distinction from the physical,

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actual body, my actual body, and then what's inside of me?

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That the Christian's problem is my body is dead, but

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something inside me is really different, and that that's the conflict.

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All right, I'm going to go back to the book

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a little bit here. We often forget this or we

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do not realize it at all, And they say, their

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argument is the problem is we forget this or we

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don't even realize it. We don't realize it. Hey, I'm

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I'm walking around in a dead body. After all, we

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are physically alive. We are not naturally inclined to regard

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our physical bodies as dead. I think that's true. We

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don't we're not naturally inclined to go, hey, look, I

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know you see me. But just note this body. It

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is dead, dead, dead, dead dead. But from God's point

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of view, the book argues, that's the reality that, from

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God's point of view, my body is dead. This is

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the argument. Paul leaves no doubt about this fact. He

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states plainly, now they're going to quote. Now they're quoting

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from their translation, and if Christ is in you, the

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body is dead because of sin. He does not say

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that the body is dead if Christ is not in you,

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but rather if Christ is in you. This describes the

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spiritual condition of a Christian's body. So they're saying, this

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is the reality of a Christian's body even as a

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Christian you are your body is dead, all right. Now,

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So what they're I think where they're going they're going

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to lead to an inevitable conflict. And the inevitable conflict

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they're going to put forth is my body is dead,

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but inside of me there's life, and there's a there's

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a battle between the life in me and the body

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that surrounds that life. And so the problem is my

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physical body now inevitable. You can kind of see where

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this is going to go okay. So so because you

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think logically, then this would say this, okay, so then

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all I need to do it's just discipline my physical body.

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Like all I gotta do is discipline my physical body

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and then I won't s right, that seems to be

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the inevitable concept because if everything in me that they

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haven't mentioned it yet, but if they're going to go

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to the direction that if everything inside of me has

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been changed or transformed, then that seems to it. I mean,

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there's no more a sinful nature, or if there's no

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more a sinful nature, there's no more a sinful heart,

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then where does the sin arise? They're saying, it's my

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body that's causing the problem. It's it's in other words,

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the engine that would drive the body to sin has

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been changed. Well, if the engine has been changed, then

362
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why wouldn't the engine drive the body. But they're saying

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that the engine is changed, but the body can still

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say no to the engine. This gets very almost schizophrenic

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and almost confusing in how to process this. So when

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we become a Christian, this is going to be the

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argument the book is going to make. When we become

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a Christian, the inward being or natature changes, but the

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physical body remains unchanged. It's the same as it was before. So,

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according to them, when you become a Christian, internally everything changed,

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your entire nature changed. So, according to their theory, their

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view is hey inside now they haven't used the words yet,

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but basically what they're saying inside, internally, you are a

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new creature. The old is gone. Everything is new, no

375
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more sinful nature. You are completely free from sin internally,

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but somehow your external body is the problem. Now this

377
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seems confusing because this seems to state, so can the

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physical body overcome the new nature? Is the new nature

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slave to the physical body? Now, Jesus seems to indicate,

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and you can look up scriptures to see if you

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agree with it, that sin comes from inside, right, that

382
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the sin is coming from the call is coming from

383
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inside the house. They're saying, no, no, no, inside the house.

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The the serial killer has been removed, the enemy has

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been now, there's no inside the house. It's all good.

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The call coming from inside the house is godly and

387
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pure and right now the problem has outside the house.

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This even becomes more confounding and confused. So the way

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they would if you want to draw a picture of this.

390
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This is what they would say. They would draw a

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picture of a human being and an inside if you

392
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want to even do it as a stick figure. On

393
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the inside of the stick figure. It's new. Everything is new,

394
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new nature, new heart, everything's changed, transformed. The body, right,

395
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the body of the stick figure, that's all dead. That's

396
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all dead, all right, So all right, let's see if

397
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they explain any of this. The body, they go on

398
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to say, the physical body is still infected by the

399
00:25:03.599 --> 00:25:06.880
dead virus of sin and as a result, is completely

400
00:25:06.960 --> 00:25:09.960
unresponsive to the new life in the Christian now that

401
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:12.720
the Christian now possesses. So here's the issue. You've got

402
00:25:12.759 --> 00:25:16.680
new life, you've got a transform, but your body is unresponsive.

403
00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:19.039
Your body is dead. Your body is just not it

404
00:25:19.079 --> 00:25:21.720
won't respond. So the the inward life can be like,

405
00:25:21.880 --> 00:25:25.640
come on, do good, come on, don't sin, and the

406
00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:28.960
and the dead body is just like, I don't it's

407
00:25:28.960 --> 00:25:31.759
just it's just unresponsive. It won't do anything. It just

408
00:25:32.119 --> 00:25:34.400
it won't do anything. It just does what the dead

409
00:25:34.400 --> 00:25:37.359
body does, which I guess is just sin because it's

410
00:25:37.880 --> 00:25:42.799
it's infected by the deadly virus of sin. So the end,

411
00:25:43.039 --> 00:25:45.039
so the call coming from inside the house is like,

412
00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:46.839
come on, do good, do good, do good? Do good?

413
00:25:46.920 --> 00:25:48.920
Do good, do good, And the body is like no,

414
00:25:49.240 --> 00:25:53.279
not doing it, not answering the call, unresponsive. So then

415
00:25:53.319 --> 00:25:55.720
how do you get the body to be responsive to

416
00:25:55.799 --> 00:25:59.440
the new nature supposedly inside? This is there there, This

417
00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:01.960
is supposed to the secret. If you'll understand that your

418
00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:04.559
body is dead, then you'll figure out the secret to

419
00:26:04.559 --> 00:26:07.759
the Christian life, or at least secret number one. Let's

420
00:26:07.799 --> 00:26:13.079
see if they explain this anymore. The Christian is inwardly alive,

421
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:17.519
but his physical house is dead. That is totally incapable

422
00:26:17.799 --> 00:26:22.480
of response to the new life within. So inside you're

423
00:26:22.519 --> 00:26:27.960
completely alive, you're alive, but your body is just like sorry,

424
00:26:28.000 --> 00:26:33.359
it's completely unresponsive. Again, their words were, it is totally

425
00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:39.400
incapable of response. The body will not respond to the

426
00:26:39.519 --> 00:26:45.359
new nature. So now how does the new nature? What's

427
00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:51.160
the solution? Then they describe it as a great chasm

428
00:26:51.799 --> 00:26:56.119
yawns between these two completely opposite conditions, That there's a

429
00:26:56.440 --> 00:26:59.960
great chasm, a great gulf in between these two reaction

430
00:27:01.079 --> 00:27:05.000
or two conditions that they would say. On a personal level,

431
00:27:05.240 --> 00:27:09.240
Paul was acutely conscious of this chasm early in his

432
00:27:09.359 --> 00:27:12.839
Christian life, he had personal experience what it meant to

433
00:27:12.880 --> 00:27:16.519
desire God's will inwardly yet be unable to perform it

434
00:27:16.599 --> 00:27:19.079
through his physical body. And then they point to Romans

435
00:27:19.079 --> 00:27:23.319
seven fifteen through twenty five. They're like, they're saying, this

436
00:27:23.400 --> 00:27:25.880
is this is this is the way it describes it.

437
00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:30.200
So we can read Romans chapter seven, verse fifteen. For

438
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that which I for that which I do, I allow,

439
00:27:36.119 --> 00:27:40.359
not for what I would that do I not? But

440
00:27:40.480 --> 00:27:43.519
what I hate that do I? If then I do

441
00:27:43.720 --> 00:27:46.559
that which I would not, I consent unto the law

442
00:27:46.599 --> 00:27:49.039
that it is good. Now then it is no more

443
00:27:49.119 --> 00:27:51.920
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

444
00:27:52.160 --> 00:27:54.799
Now here's the confusing part. Paul, right there seems to

445
00:27:54.799 --> 00:27:58.880
say there's sin in him. This is arguing no, no, no, no, Paul,

446
00:27:58.920 --> 00:28:03.200
there's no sin in you. It's just your body. See.

447
00:28:03.240 --> 00:28:06.279
The problem is in you is like do it, and

448
00:28:06.319 --> 00:28:09.319
your body is like I don't. I don't know how to,

449
00:28:09.599 --> 00:28:12.680
I don't know how to describe unresponsiveness. Your body just sits.

450
00:28:13.160 --> 00:28:15.319
I'm just I can just be silent. Your body doesn't

451
00:28:15.720 --> 00:28:21.960
doesn't respond. But here says now that it is no

452
00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:24.559
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

453
00:28:24.759 --> 00:28:27.240
To me, the text seems to indicate sin is still

454
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inside the house. For I know that in me, that

455
00:28:33.160 --> 00:28:35.799
is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to

456
00:28:35.839 --> 00:28:38.240
will is present with me. But how to perform that

457
00:28:38.279 --> 00:28:43.759
which is good I find not. Now they're arguing, Hey,

458
00:28:43.839 --> 00:28:46.799
in you, it's where the desire comes from. But your

459
00:28:47.039 --> 00:28:49.160
the you can't find a way to perform it because

460
00:28:49.160 --> 00:28:56.839
your body will not respond. So inwardly you're like God, Jesus, holiness, purity, righteous,

461
00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:00.160
and your body's just Again. I don't know how to

462
00:29:00.200 --> 00:29:06.359
describe unresponsibleness. It's just nothing. That's the way they are

463
00:29:06.480 --> 00:29:09.480
understanding this. For the good that I would do not,

464
00:29:09.880 --> 00:29:13.200
but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now,

465
00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:15.319
if I do that, I would not. It is no

466
00:29:15.440 --> 00:29:17.480
more that I do it, but sin that dwelleth than me.

467
00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:20.759
That's the second time it says sin dwells in me.

468
00:29:20.839 --> 00:29:23.279
Now they're trying to argue sin only dwells in the

469
00:29:23.319 --> 00:29:28.400
physical body. They're trying to say, in me only refers

470
00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:32.480
to the external flesh, not your inward nature. This is

471
00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:38.799
where I'm struggling with their concept. I find then a

472
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:41.960
law when I would do good, evil is present with me.

473
00:29:42.039 --> 00:29:43.839
For I delight in the law of God after the

474
00:29:43.880 --> 00:29:46.519
inward man. But I see another law in my members,

475
00:29:46.640 --> 00:29:48.880
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me

476
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:51.519
into captivity to the law of sin, which is in

477
00:29:51.599 --> 00:29:53.720
my members. Now this is where they I think they

478
00:29:53.720 --> 00:29:57.039
find some they feel some textual support. See it's in

479
00:29:57.079 --> 00:30:01.119
my members where the sin lies. But in me is

480
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:04.680
the new nature. So it's the inward man fighting the

481
00:30:04.759 --> 00:30:07.599
external body. This is where they feel is the answer

482
00:30:07.680 --> 00:30:12.279
to the Christian life. Well, wretched man that I am,

483
00:30:12.359 --> 00:30:14.839
who shall deliver me from this body, from the body

484
00:30:14.880 --> 00:30:17.240
of this death. And I've seen that that's using the body.

485
00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:19.160
So then they're like, okay, and I can agree that.

486
00:30:19.240 --> 00:30:22.319
Now there's some verses here that sounds like it works right,

487
00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:26.759
But I think you're ignoring the other verses. But Paul,

488
00:30:26.880 --> 00:30:28.880
the way he describes it, I don't think he describes

489
00:30:28.920 --> 00:30:32.119
it according necessarily to their theory. He says, I thank

490
00:30:32.119 --> 00:30:35.839
God through Jesus Christ. So then with the mind I

491
00:30:35.920 --> 00:30:38.279
serve the law of God, but with the flesh the

492
00:30:38.359 --> 00:30:41.119
law of sin. Now, Paul seems to draw a correlation

493
00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:44.160
between the mind and the flesh. I think what he's

494
00:30:44.160 --> 00:30:47.000
trying to say is that my mind I know the

495
00:30:47.039 --> 00:30:49.920
truth now, because when we talk about repentance being a

496
00:30:50.000 --> 00:30:51.839
change of mind, I think this is how it fits.

497
00:30:51.960 --> 00:30:54.559
My mind has changed. I now accept that this is

498
00:30:54.599 --> 00:30:57.039
a sin, there is a God, this is right, this

499
00:30:57.160 --> 00:31:01.559
is wrong. But my flesh, my the rest of me,

500
00:31:01.680 --> 00:31:04.119
is still infected by sin. And I think that goes

501
00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:08.000
beyond more than just the external That goes beyond just

502
00:31:08.039 --> 00:31:15.480
the external body. They describe it this way. Romans seven

503
00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:18.160
fifteen through twenty five, which we just worked through, vividly

504
00:31:18.160 --> 00:31:23.160
describes the struggle that this produced at this early period.

505
00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:27.119
No passage of scripture more clearly reveals the fundamental problem

506
00:31:27.200 --> 00:31:29.960
of Christian living than does Roman seven. Though some have

507
00:31:30.319 --> 00:31:33.480
thought that Roman seven describes Paul's unsaved days, this is

508
00:31:33.519 --> 00:31:36.839
not credible. As an unregenerate, self righteous Pharisee, he could

509
00:31:36.839 --> 00:31:40.680
not have had the sensitive spiritual struggle described in this chapter.

510
00:31:40.960 --> 00:31:44.119
In this passage, Paul declares his inward spiritual pleasures in

511
00:31:44.160 --> 00:31:46.559
God's commandments. He says, I delight in the law of

512
00:31:46.559 --> 00:31:49.480
God according to the inward man. Yet immediately adds, but

513
00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:52.079
I see another law in my members, that is, the

514
00:31:52.119 --> 00:31:54.440
member of his body warring against the law of my

515
00:31:54.559 --> 00:31:57.039
mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of

516
00:31:57.119 --> 00:32:00.519
sin which is in my members. No wonder that uh

517
00:32:00.759 --> 00:32:04.640
an exasperation, he exclaims, O wretched man that I am,

518
00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:08.519
who will deliver me from this body of death? Now?

519
00:32:08.559 --> 00:32:12.440
I do agree. Roman seven gives us a very you know,

520
00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:20.039
back and forth, a very almost a duality, a conflict,

521
00:32:20.599 --> 00:32:24.480
a disagreement, almost a schizophrenic kind of description, like there's

522
00:32:24.519 --> 00:32:31.200
two things going on. Now. I think the problem is

523
00:32:31.200 --> 00:32:33.720
when we start trying to break this down, like to

524
00:32:33.799 --> 00:32:39.200
which part? I think, if we, if we if we're

525
00:32:39.200 --> 00:32:41.559
not careful, if we if we take all the bad

526
00:32:41.640 --> 00:32:44.359
part and just make it to the external body, but

527
00:32:44.480 --> 00:32:48.480
inwardly everything is good. This to me seems problematic because

528
00:32:49.240 --> 00:32:52.599
the inward part is what is that not the motor

529
00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:56.440
that drives the body. But now they have the inward

530
00:32:56.480 --> 00:32:59.119
part that's right, but the body is unresponsive. So well,

531
00:32:59.160 --> 00:33:08.240
then how do you get the boy to respond? Now,

532
00:33:08.319 --> 00:33:12.839
he goes on to say, his own dead body frustrated him.

533
00:33:13.279 --> 00:33:15.240
It is safe to say, therefore, that we have not

534
00:33:15.440 --> 00:33:18.079
grasped the true nature of Christian living unless we perceive

535
00:33:18.160 --> 00:33:21.519
this basic truth. So his argument is, hey, you've not

536
00:33:21.599 --> 00:33:25.519
even understand Christianity one oh one. You've not even understand

537
00:33:25.559 --> 00:33:36.680
the basics until you realize your body is dead. Now,

538
00:33:36.839 --> 00:33:40.440
what is he going to say here? If we imagine

539
00:33:41.240 --> 00:33:45.440
that by some effort of our own will, we can

540
00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:49.640
do what the Lord expects of us, we are seriously mistaken.

541
00:33:50.119 --> 00:33:53.240
So he's like, hey, now, if you think that somehow

542
00:33:53.279 --> 00:33:56.200
we can do what the Lord expects of us by

543
00:33:56.279 --> 00:33:59.319
our own will, it can't happen, all right, So now

544
00:33:59.359 --> 00:34:01.599
I know that I can fill the setup coming right,

545
00:34:01.640 --> 00:34:03.799
because it's going to be like, hey, you can't do it.

546
00:34:04.000 --> 00:34:06.720
Your body is dead. Your body will not respond, so

547
00:34:06.759 --> 00:34:08.960
you can't do it. And I know at any point

548
00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:11.760
you can hear the dramatic music dun't dun dun dun du.

549
00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:14.840
But God will do it for you all again. If

550
00:34:14.880 --> 00:34:18.480
God will do it for you, then we should be

551
00:34:18.519 --> 00:34:22.320
able to cold be perfectly sinless because we already have

552
00:34:22.360 --> 00:34:25.639
a suppose that everything inside has been changed. So and

553
00:34:25.679 --> 00:34:27.920
then if God fixes the body part, well then we're

554
00:34:27.960 --> 00:34:31.760
ready to go. Right. And if God fixed the inward part,

555
00:34:31.760 --> 00:34:33.800
why didn't he just fix the body part as well?

556
00:34:37.559 --> 00:34:41.480
But Okay, let's see where they're going to go here,

557
00:34:41.800 --> 00:34:46.719
all right, now, So what we need to understand, according

558
00:34:46.800 --> 00:34:49.239
to their theory, is that number one, your body is dead.

559
00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:52.480
Your body is dead, dead, dead, dead, and your body

560
00:34:52.519 --> 00:34:54.360
can so I can think if we wanted to break

561
00:34:54.360 --> 00:34:56.039
their theory down. Number one, you have to understand your

562
00:34:56.039 --> 00:35:00.000
physical body is dead. Number two, inwardly, you've been completely transformed.

563
00:35:00.360 --> 00:35:03.239
Number three, your physical body, though, is dead and will

564
00:35:03.239 --> 00:35:06.320
not respond to that inward nature. And then number four,

565
00:35:06.599 --> 00:35:11.960
the thing you need to remember is the spirit of resurrection.

566
00:35:12.880 --> 00:35:16.000
Oh boy, okay, so we got to know the body

567
00:35:16.079 --> 00:35:18.599
is dead. We got to know that inside everything's been changed.

568
00:35:18.760 --> 00:35:22.599
We got to know that the body that the new nature. Though, oh,

569
00:35:22.880 --> 00:35:25.519
the body is unresponsive to the new nature. This is

570
00:35:25.559 --> 00:35:28.239
their theory. And number four, we have to understand the

571
00:35:28.280 --> 00:35:35.119
spirit of resurrection. And they state it this way. The

572
00:35:35.159 --> 00:35:37.920
fact that the Christian body is dead is only half

573
00:35:37.960 --> 00:35:41.320
of the truth. Hey, your body is dead, but there's

574
00:35:42.079 --> 00:35:49.159
more to the story. And again they make a reference

575
00:35:49.239 --> 00:35:52.000
to Romans eight ten and if Christ be in you,

576
00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:54.320
the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit

577
00:35:54.440 --> 00:36:01.760
is life because of righteousness. The other half of the story,

578
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:06.199
according to them, is good news, all right. The spirit

579
00:36:06.400 --> 00:36:13.039
is life because of righteousness. In other words, God's own

580
00:36:13.159 --> 00:36:19.400
spirit of life inhabits the same spiritually dead physical house

581
00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:22.480
in which you live. So here's how they're going to

582
00:36:22.559 --> 00:36:28.320
describe it. Right, your body is dead, but inside not

583
00:36:28.360 --> 00:36:31.559
only has everything been changed, not only has the nature

584
00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:36.280
been changed, there's inward transformation. According to their theory. Now

585
00:36:36.320 --> 00:36:42.559
God's spirit is there. Now are you telling me God's

586
00:36:42.599 --> 00:36:54.239
spirit can't get the body to respond? Okay, where is

587
00:36:54.280 --> 00:36:55.880
this going to go? Where is this going to go?

588
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:03.559
He can dwell there, okay. And the reason he can

589
00:37:03.639 --> 00:37:07.079
dwell there is because of righteousness. That is, the Christian

590
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:10.559
has been justified by faith and has received the imputed

591
00:37:10.639 --> 00:37:13.880
righteousness of God. So they're like, hey, how can the spirit?

592
00:37:14.440 --> 00:37:17.559
How can the spirit now move in? Well, because it's

593
00:37:17.599 --> 00:37:21.039
moving into a body that's been declared to be righteous

594
00:37:21.400 --> 00:37:23.559
by imputed righteousness. Now, this is where it gets a

595
00:37:23.599 --> 00:37:26.079
little confusing, right, This is where it gets a little

596
00:37:26.800 --> 00:37:30.480
because imputed righteousness doesn't make me righteous though, So you're saying,

597
00:37:30.480 --> 00:37:34.920
the spirit can dwell inside my dead spiritual body that

598
00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:39.400
is sinful because of imputed righteousness. Imputed righteousness allows the

599
00:37:39.440 --> 00:37:45.400
spirit to move in because imputed righteousness does not make

600
00:37:45.400 --> 00:37:48.360
you righteous. Everyone needs to understand that imputed righteousness does

601
00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:51.760
not change you, does not transform you. It declares you

602
00:37:51.800 --> 00:37:53.760
to be that which you are not. That's the entire

603
00:37:53.800 --> 00:37:59.760
Protestant Reformation, which Catholics to this day reject. They believe

604
00:37:59.760 --> 00:38:08.119
it in confused righteousness. So I don't know how well

605
00:38:08.159 --> 00:38:10.960
their argument works there. But okay, they says, the Holy

606
00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:14.119
Spirit can and does take up a permanent resident in

607
00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:16.679
the Christian's very own body. So hey, but the thing

608
00:38:16.679 --> 00:38:18.599
they want you to know is your body is dead.

609
00:38:18.840 --> 00:38:22.960
Your nature has been changed. Your body cannot respond to

610
00:38:23.039 --> 00:38:26.679
that new nature. But the Spirit of God takes permanent

611
00:38:26.760 --> 00:38:31.880
resident in you when you become saved. So, according to them,

612
00:38:32.280 --> 00:38:35.440
the body is dead, but inside you have a completely

613
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:38.480
new nature. The old is completely gone, and you have

614
00:38:38.559 --> 00:38:42.400
God dwelling inside of you. This is the way they

615
00:38:42.440 --> 00:38:51.800
are describing it, all right. Therefore, the Spirit of God

616
00:38:51.880 --> 00:38:55.320
dwells in every believer, even though the believer's physical body

617
00:38:55.360 --> 00:38:58.320
is dead because of sin the reality of the Spirit's

618
00:38:58.360 --> 00:39:03.079
presence within us leads to an ass astounding possibility. All right, now,

619
00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:05.960
so now listen, please, now this it gets interesting. All right.

620
00:39:06.760 --> 00:39:11.079
Please note we've kind of got the premise of their theory,

621
00:39:11.119 --> 00:39:15.079
their hypotheses here. Right, your body is dead, completely dead.

622
00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:20.880
Right inside you have a completely new nature. However, your

623
00:39:20.960 --> 00:39:25.599
body is unresponsive to that completely new nature. And though

624
00:39:25.920 --> 00:39:29.039
you have the actual spirit of God dwelling inside of you,

625
00:39:29.159 --> 00:39:31.800
a new nature and the spirit living inside of you,

626
00:39:32.119 --> 00:39:34.599
however your body is still dead. So then listen to

627
00:39:34.639 --> 00:39:38.079
how they describe this. This reality of the spirit and

628
00:39:38.119 --> 00:39:42.960
the new nature basically means now there is a great possibility.

629
00:39:43.039 --> 00:39:47.840
Please note they said possibility, not inevitability, not a guarantee,

630
00:39:48.119 --> 00:39:52.400
just the possibility now presents itself. What is this possibility?

631
00:39:53.239 --> 00:39:57.480
The possibility is that His mighty power can resurrect the

632
00:39:57.559 --> 00:40:01.199
spiritually dead body we inhabit during our lives on earth.

633
00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:06.920
So now we have the possibility lying within us because

634
00:40:06.960 --> 00:40:08.920
of a new nature in the spirit that now our

635
00:40:09.000 --> 00:40:14.000
dead body that won't respond. Dundun, dun dun. He can

636
00:40:14.280 --> 00:40:25.679
resurrect that dead body here on earth. Now it's a possibility. Now,

637
00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:29.480
how do we activate this possibility to become a reality.

638
00:40:31.039 --> 00:40:33.880
And what happens if I have a completely new nature,

639
00:40:34.039 --> 00:40:37.519
the spirit living in me, and a completely resurrected dead body.

640
00:40:37.800 --> 00:40:39.599
I mean, at that point, you've got to just declare

641
00:40:39.599 --> 00:40:41.280
me to be perfect, right, I mean I have to

642
00:40:41.320 --> 00:40:45.800
be I have to reach perfection. But no, they only

643
00:40:45.880 --> 00:40:49.079
describe it as a possibility. So when you go so

644
00:40:50.719 --> 00:40:53.840
you know, and around, if we go back to our

645
00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:59.159
kind of opening illustration, headquarters, this is patrol one, headquarters.

646
00:40:59.159 --> 00:41:02.639
This is patrol one. Patrol one, this is headquarters. Go ahead, Yes,

647
00:41:02.920 --> 00:41:06.199
we are at First Baptist Church. We have a horrible discovery.

648
00:41:06.280 --> 00:41:09.760
There are three hundred dead bodies. But don't don't send anybody.

649
00:41:09.880 --> 00:41:13.159
Don't send paramedics, don't send anybody, because the reality is

650
00:41:13.719 --> 00:41:21.920
they can be resurrected if they choose to, if they

651
00:41:25.960 --> 00:41:28.679
they don't need any help. They just currently don't want

652
00:41:28.679 --> 00:41:31.800
to be alive. That is that is that is that?

653
00:41:32.079 --> 00:41:34.480
So the issue is you sin because you don't really

654
00:41:34.480 --> 00:41:36.599
want a resurrected body, Because if you just wanted a

655
00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:39.800
resurrected body, you've got all the power inside. You just

656
00:41:39.800 --> 00:41:41.280
got to tap into the power and then all of

657
00:41:41.320 --> 00:41:44.679
a sudden, by the power of is it grad school?

658
00:41:44.880 --> 00:41:47.239
What is it? Whatever? However? He man went, I can't remember.

659
00:41:47.440 --> 00:41:49.239
I wasn't a big fan of it, Okay, but the

660
00:41:49.280 --> 00:41:54.079
power of whatever true. And then your body is now alive.

661
00:41:55.559 --> 00:41:59.159
He's alive. It's alive. Okay, franken sign, Okay, all right,

662
00:41:59.239 --> 00:42:07.480
I'm just slaughtering pop culture references. You get the idea,

663
00:42:11.599 --> 00:42:16.800
his mighty power can resurrect the spiritually dead body we inhabit,

664
00:42:16.960 --> 00:42:20.639
are we inhabit during our lives on earth? This is

665
00:42:20.679 --> 00:42:23.320
the meaning of Romans eight eleven. So they say, Romans

666
00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:25.559
eight eleven. But if the spirit of Him that raised

667
00:42:25.639 --> 00:42:30.159
up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that

668
00:42:30.280 --> 00:42:32.880
raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your

669
00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:35.360
mortal bodies by the spirit that dwell in you. Now

670
00:42:35.559 --> 00:42:37.440
some would argue, no, this is the promise of what

671
00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:40.960
God will do, not what he In other words, it's

672
00:42:41.000 --> 00:42:45.599
more eschatology, it's prophecy. They're saying, no, no, no, God

673
00:42:45.639 --> 00:42:48.800
can do it right now. He can resurrect your dead

674
00:42:48.880 --> 00:42:57.760
body right now on earth. So then the inside and

675
00:42:57.840 --> 00:43:02.119
the outside would be imperfect aligne. So therefore then by

676
00:43:02.400 --> 00:43:06.440
just logical inference, you should be perfect. So how does

677
00:43:06.480 --> 00:43:14.360
this work? How does this work? Then? All right, well,

678
00:43:14.360 --> 00:43:20.880
here we go. However, often they say readers take Romans

679
00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:23.360
eight eleven is a reference to a future resurrection. But

680
00:43:23.440 --> 00:43:27.400
this understanding overlooks the context and the flow of Paul's thought.

681
00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:31.199
The dead alive theme of ten continues in eleven and

682
00:43:31.280 --> 00:43:34.280
climaxes in twelve and thirteen, and the last two verses,

683
00:43:34.320 --> 00:43:37.239
Paul draws the conclusion, Therefore, brethren, we are debtors not

684
00:43:37.280 --> 00:43:39.119
to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For

685
00:43:39.159 --> 00:43:40.920
if you live according to the flesh, you will die

686
00:43:41.280 --> 00:43:43.320
reap the experience of the dead body. But if you,

687
00:43:43.480 --> 00:43:45.639
but of the spirit, you put to death the deeds

688
00:43:45.639 --> 00:43:47.840
of the body, you will live reap the experience of

689
00:43:47.840 --> 00:43:50.719
the spirit life. The apostle wants his readers to know

690
00:43:50.800 --> 00:43:54.719
that that the same power that operated in the resurrection

691
00:43:54.800 --> 00:43:58.039
of Jesus can operate in them as well. Since the

692
00:43:58.079 --> 00:44:01.079
spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dwells in us,

693
00:44:01.360 --> 00:44:03.960
God can give life to our mortal bodies through the

694
00:44:04.000 --> 00:44:07.400
same spirit. So what they're doing here is just making

695
00:44:07.400 --> 00:44:10.559
the argument, Hey, hey, look, here's the deal. You've got

696
00:44:10.599 --> 00:44:14.480
the power, you've got the spirit, you've got the new nature.

697
00:44:14.920 --> 00:44:20.440
All you've got to do now is somehow what words

698
00:44:20.480 --> 00:44:28.800
did they use here? See here it just says God

699
00:44:28.840 --> 00:44:31.760
can give life to our mortal bodies through the same spirit,

700
00:44:33.440 --> 00:44:37.559
So God can They haven't told us exactly how to

701
00:44:37.559 --> 00:44:41.480
make it happen yet, right, I mean, it's there, right, hey, headquarters,

702
00:44:41.480 --> 00:44:43.559
we got three hundred dead bodies. But just wait, they

703
00:44:43.599 --> 00:44:46.920
can do it. We're gonna watch. We're gonna videotape down.

704
00:44:46.920 --> 00:44:49.239
I want this from a YouTube channel. They're all going

705
00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:52.039
to be They're gonna come alive. Right, So how is

706
00:44:52.079 --> 00:44:59.199
this going to work? All right? Okay, so he says,

707
00:44:59.239 --> 00:45:03.519
he is talking about an experience that belongs to Christian living.

708
00:45:04.039 --> 00:45:08.280
This is the splendid bottom line for the Christian It

709
00:45:08.400 --> 00:45:12.320
is this the spirit. If by the Spirit we put

710
00:45:12.320 --> 00:45:14.960
to death the deeds of the body, we shall live.

711
00:45:15.079 --> 00:45:17.519
That is, we shall live by means of the resurrection

712
00:45:17.679 --> 00:45:21.159
power of the Spirit of God. Of special interests, here

713
00:45:21.239 --> 00:45:24.000
is the word mortal. The original Greek word, like the

714
00:45:24.039 --> 00:45:28.639
English one, means subject to death. This presents an interesting perspective.

715
00:45:28.960 --> 00:45:32.039
The spiritually dead body, which is resurrected, so to speak,

716
00:45:32.079 --> 00:45:34.760
by the power of God's spirit, nevertheless remains a body

717
00:45:34.800 --> 00:45:37.519
that is mortal and therefore subject to death. Thus, in

718
00:45:37.559 --> 00:45:39.800
these frail, mortal bodies of ours, we can have an

719
00:45:39.800 --> 00:45:43.039
experience of life that manifests the resurrection power of God.

720
00:45:43.280 --> 00:45:46.519
The Christian life, therefore, is God's miracle and our mortal bodies.

721
00:45:46.679 --> 00:45:49.360
It's not at all the product of human strength or determination.

722
00:45:49.639 --> 00:45:53.719
It is a supernatural work of God. That's an exciting realization.

723
00:45:54.199 --> 00:45:57.159
The words spoken to the prophet Zachari are fully appropriate,

724
00:45:57.320 --> 00:46:00.280
not by might nor by power, but by my spirit,

725
00:46:00.400 --> 00:46:03.159
says the Lord. Now this gets really even more complicated.

726
00:46:03.719 --> 00:46:05.920
So now it's not what we do. We don't do

727
00:46:05.960 --> 00:46:10.079
anything about this. So wait a minute, all right, So

728
00:46:10.119 --> 00:46:13.079
we have a completely new nature. We have the spirit

729
00:46:13.119 --> 00:46:15.639
living in us, and this gives us the possibility that

730
00:46:15.719 --> 00:46:20.039
in this life, my moral body can be completely resurrected.

731
00:46:21.599 --> 00:46:29.440
But it has nothing to do with me. Okay, then

732
00:46:29.480 --> 00:46:33.079
there should never be a call to headquarters. Headquarters. This

733
00:46:33.119 --> 00:46:38.000
is patrol one. Patrol one, this is headquarters. Go ahead,

734
00:46:38.519 --> 00:46:42.639
we're at first Baptist Church. There's three hundred dead bodies. Hey,

735
00:46:42.679 --> 00:46:46.920
Patrol one. According to the book I have here, don't

736
00:46:46.960 --> 00:46:52.119
worry about it. The way for them to be resurrected,

737
00:46:52.159 --> 00:46:54.239
for the way that for them to come back to life,

738
00:46:54.320 --> 00:46:56.559
it's not based on what anybody can do. We can't

739
00:46:56.599 --> 00:46:58.800
do anything about it. You can't do anything about it.

740
00:46:59.039 --> 00:47:00.719
God is the one who will do it. I mean,

741
00:47:00.800 --> 00:47:03.719
they're already believers, they are already Christians, so don't worry

742
00:47:03.760 --> 00:47:08.079
about it. And at some point God can just miraculously

743
00:47:08.320 --> 00:47:11.599
resurrect them and then they'll be basically perfect. You'll want

744
00:47:11.639 --> 00:47:13.440
to hang out at that church because it'll be three

745
00:47:13.519 --> 00:47:17.400
hundred perfect people who basically never sin again because their

746
00:47:17.719 --> 00:47:20.440
physical body will be in tune with the new nature

747
00:47:20.480 --> 00:47:32.000
that's inside of them. But until that happens, this is

748
00:47:32.039 --> 00:47:36.159
their conclusion that if we see a person living the

749
00:47:36.199 --> 00:47:40.199
true Christian life, we are looking at a resurrection miracle.

750
00:47:41.360 --> 00:47:44.920
We are not looking at an experience based on human effort, determination,

751
00:47:45.159 --> 00:47:47.480
or willpower. So when you see someone you're like, man,

752
00:47:47.639 --> 00:47:50.760
they're living out the Christian life. It's basically perfect. They

753
00:47:50.800 --> 00:47:53.280
have a brand new nature. They have a resurrected body.

754
00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:56.239
That's a resurrection miracle. But it did not happen based

755
00:47:56.280 --> 00:48:00.559
on anything they did. God did it. And if you

756
00:48:00.599 --> 00:48:07.199
see someone else, you're like, well, they're a Christian inside,

757
00:48:07.199 --> 00:48:09.719
they're all new, but that body is not responding right now.

758
00:48:09.920 --> 00:48:13.159
But maybe sooner or later God will resurrect him. God

759
00:48:13.320 --> 00:48:16.320
God chose not to resurrect these four people, but he

760
00:48:16.400 --> 00:48:19.639
chose to resurrect this one. And now we're not talking

761
00:48:19.639 --> 00:48:23.159
about election and regeneration. This is talking about people who

762
00:48:23.199 --> 00:48:25.599
are Christians. This is their whole theory that you are

763
00:48:25.599 --> 00:48:28.039
a Christian, but your body is dead and now God,

764
00:48:28.320 --> 00:48:32.320
Now God has already changed you internally. Right, you're alive spiritually,

765
00:48:33.280 --> 00:48:35.480
but he just chooses when he may or may not

766
00:48:36.239 --> 00:48:56.719
resurrect you're external, your fleshly body. They go on to say,

767
00:48:56.800 --> 00:48:59.320
we are looking at the operation of the power of God.

768
00:49:00.119 --> 00:49:01.840
For the first secret of the Christian life is this.

769
00:49:02.039 --> 00:49:04.480
It is a miracle of resurrection. In other words, it's

770
00:49:04.480 --> 00:49:07.800
the miracle of living a resurrected life, even before Christ

771
00:49:07.840 --> 00:49:12.880
resurrects us physically. Now, there's no explanation how this happens,

772
00:49:12.920 --> 00:49:24.079
why it happens, no explanation. Now it asks some questions

773
00:49:24.159 --> 00:49:26.119
in the book. It asks some questions in the book.

774
00:49:26.320 --> 00:49:27.599
I don't know if this is going to help us

775
00:49:27.639 --> 00:49:29.920
at all. It says, do you agree that dedication is

776
00:49:29.960 --> 00:49:34.239
not the fundamental nature of Christian living? Why or why not? Well,

777
00:49:34.400 --> 00:49:37.119
dedication can't make it out. Dedication can't make it work,

778
00:49:37.159 --> 00:49:40.599
because dedication cannot make the dead body operate according to

779
00:49:40.639 --> 00:49:44.400
their view. And what sense do Christians have a dead body?

780
00:49:44.480 --> 00:49:48.199
It does not respond to God or the New Nature

781
00:49:48.280 --> 00:49:50.760
or the Holy Spirit. How does the fact that Christians

782
00:49:50.800 --> 00:49:54.679
have dead bodies relate to how Christians live the Christian life? Well,

783
00:49:56.199 --> 00:49:58.239
we've got to have that body to be resurrected, or

784
00:49:58.280 --> 00:50:01.599
I cannot live the Christian life. How is the Hodges

785
00:50:01.719 --> 00:50:03.960
explanation of the role of the Holy Spirit and the

786
00:50:03.960 --> 00:50:07.559
life of the believer different than the typical explanation. Compare

787
00:50:07.599 --> 00:50:09.320
the two different views on the role of the Holy

788
00:50:09.360 --> 00:50:12.039
Spirit in the Christian life, Hodges and the typical view. Well,

789
00:50:12.239 --> 00:50:15.280
all right, so basically, I think the typical view is

790
00:50:15.280 --> 00:50:20.360
that we have I don't know what the typical view is.

791
00:50:20.440 --> 00:50:22.840
It just sounds to me very similar to the typical view.

792
00:50:23.559 --> 00:50:25.239
I think the typical view is, now we have the

793
00:50:25.280 --> 00:50:28.400
power in God's doing it, so we you know, it's

794
00:50:28.400 --> 00:50:30.800
already there. And his view seems to be it's there,

795
00:50:30.840 --> 00:50:33.880
it's inside of us, but it doesn't mean anything's going

796
00:50:33.920 --> 00:50:36.440
to happen until the resurrection occurs. And when he says

797
00:50:36.559 --> 00:50:40.440
the resurrection, not the resurrection at the end, but resurrection now.

798
00:50:40.559 --> 00:50:43.840
But the resurrection now, I guess it's just I don't

799
00:50:43.840 --> 00:50:45.960
know when it's supposed to happen. It doesn't sound like

800
00:50:46.000 --> 00:50:53.920
there's anything we can do. Now. I've got a lot

801
00:50:53.960 --> 00:50:56.159
here on Romans eight. I got a lot here on

802
00:50:56.239 --> 00:50:59.920
Romans eight. I did ask let me see if I

803
00:50:59.920 --> 00:51:03.000
can find it, because I was a little confused by

804
00:51:05.239 --> 00:51:08.800
this entire chapter. Right, I didn't really get us anywhere,

805
00:51:08.800 --> 00:51:12.079
but here here we go. All right? So uh. Some

806
00:51:12.159 --> 00:51:15.320
people will say, well, because he even said it that

807
00:51:15.360 --> 00:51:17.360
we have a new nature. Right, even even in the

808
00:51:17.400 --> 00:51:19.920
book and the sixth Secrets of the Christian Life, Hodges

809
00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:22.960
even said we have a new nature because everything inside

810
00:51:23.000 --> 00:51:27.159
has been completely changed. We're basically perfect on the inside,

811
00:51:27.199 --> 00:51:29.719
but our body won't respond to it. We even have

812
00:51:29.840 --> 00:51:32.000
the spirit, but our body won't respond to it. So

813
00:51:32.079 --> 00:51:34.679
I wanted to make sure we'll wait a minute. In

814
00:51:34.800 --> 00:51:38.719
that chapter doesn't really say the words new creation. He

815
00:51:38.800 --> 00:51:40.559
just seems to say we have a new nature. So

816
00:51:40.599 --> 00:51:43.920
I started having a conversation about Ai in this particular chapter.

817
00:51:44.320 --> 00:51:48.679
And AI said this in the secret in secret number

818
00:51:48.679 --> 00:51:51.360
one in the book The Secrets of a New Uh,

819
00:51:51.679 --> 00:51:55.079
the Secrets of a New Life from six Secrets of

820
00:51:55.119 --> 00:51:57.960
the Christian Life by Zaine Hodges. He does not emphasize

821
00:51:58.000 --> 00:52:01.119
that we are new creations and the traditional sense of

822
00:52:01.159 --> 00:52:06.199
a complete transformation. Instead, Hodges presents presents a nuanced view

823
00:52:06.320 --> 00:52:09.239
of the new life as something that is already present

824
00:52:09.280 --> 00:52:13.000
within us, specifically through the end dwelling of Christ. He

825
00:52:13.079 --> 00:52:16.320
explains that this new life is not automatically expressed by

826
00:52:16.320 --> 00:52:20.320
every believer, but rather it must be realized and actively

827
00:52:20.519 --> 00:52:24.960
relied upon. So what Ai, how AI understands it? Is? Hey,

828
00:52:25.119 --> 00:52:28.519
all right, look, you're new on the inside. It's not

829
00:52:28.559 --> 00:52:31.320
going to be experienced by everyone because it has to

830
00:52:31.360 --> 00:52:36.400
be realized and actively relied upon. So somehow, even though

831
00:52:36.400 --> 00:52:39.920
the book says there's nothing you can do, even Ai

832
00:52:40.079 --> 00:52:42.880
is like, well you got to do something. So he's like, well,

833
00:52:42.880 --> 00:52:44.280
you got to rely on it. See if you'll just

834
00:52:44.320 --> 00:52:47.000
simply go, okay, you know what, I'm just going to

835
00:52:47.039 --> 00:52:49.719
rely on the spirit in me. I'm going to rely

836
00:52:50.000 --> 00:52:52.920
on my new nature and then boom, then the body

837
00:52:52.960 --> 00:52:57.320
will be resurrected. The book doesn't indicate that AI, I think,

838
00:52:57.440 --> 00:52:59.199
is just trying to understand. I don't think the AI

839
00:52:59.320 --> 00:53:02.519
even understands the book. AI goes on to say this,

840
00:53:03.880 --> 00:53:07.119
Hodges distinguishes between the life we received in Christ and

841
00:53:07.159 --> 00:53:11.199
our practical experience of it, while Christians have the life

842
00:53:11.239 --> 00:53:14.320
of Christ within them. He stresses the importance of faith

843
00:53:14.360 --> 00:53:16.679
in allowing the life to be lived out in practice.

844
00:53:16.800 --> 00:53:20.559
See Ais like, you've got to allow it. Now. The

845
00:53:20.599 --> 00:53:22.760
book did not say I have to allow it. It

846
00:53:22.800 --> 00:53:26.239
says there's nothing I can do. But AI, to me

847
00:53:26.400 --> 00:53:29.239
is struggling with trying to understand the concept, because when

848
00:53:29.280 --> 00:53:31.840
you're done with that chapter, you have no clue what

849
00:53:32.039 --> 00:53:37.199
to do. Hodge's approach approach tends to focus more on

850
00:53:37.239 --> 00:53:39.920
the believers learning to depend on the un dwelling life

851
00:53:39.960 --> 00:53:43.239
of Christ, rather than emphasizing a total transformation into a

852
00:53:43.239 --> 00:53:46.360
new creation as described in parts of the New Testament.

853
00:53:46.679 --> 00:53:49.719
His message in the chapter is about tapping into the

854
00:53:49.760 --> 00:53:52.719
power of this new life through faith, recognizing that this

855
00:53:52.800 --> 00:53:55.920
life has already given but not necessarily fully being lived

856
00:53:55.960 --> 00:54:02.119
out in the daily experience of many Christians. Right well,

857
00:54:02.119 --> 00:54:06.079
AI doesn't really understand it either, because the book doesn't

858
00:54:06.079 --> 00:54:09.480
even explain it that way. The book is basically like, look, hey,

859
00:54:10.159 --> 00:54:13.400
your body is dead. So let's just kind of go

860
00:54:13.440 --> 00:54:16.199
through what the book is saying. Your body is dead.

861
00:54:17.599 --> 00:54:20.360
Number two, you have a completely new nature. You've been

862
00:54:20.400 --> 00:54:24.920
completely changed on the inside. Number three, your body cannot

863
00:54:24.960 --> 00:54:29.840
respond to that new nature. Number four, you have the

864
00:54:29.840 --> 00:54:34.280
Holy Spirit living inside of you. Number five. This now

865
00:54:34.360 --> 00:54:43.360
makes it possible for a complete resurrection. Next, the resurrection,

866
00:54:43.840 --> 00:54:47.400
if it happens, will then completely resurrect your body so

867
00:54:47.519 --> 00:54:50.679
that your body can respond to the new nature. And then, yeah,

868
00:54:50.760 --> 00:54:53.199
you can live out the Christian life. However, you can't

869
00:54:53.239 --> 00:55:03.840
make the resurrection happen by human effort. I say all

870
00:55:03.840 --> 00:55:06.239
of that, and I want to kind of put myself

871
00:55:06.239 --> 00:55:08.400
on the back end. I think that was very profound

872
00:55:08.400 --> 00:55:10.360
the way I broke that down. I think I did

873
00:55:10.360 --> 00:55:12.880
a very good job giving all of those points. I

874
00:55:12.880 --> 00:55:15.159
think everyone can write that down. And then I kind

875
00:55:15.159 --> 00:55:19.159
of laugh because I'm like, there's like a word salad.

876
00:55:19.239 --> 00:55:23.679
It means nothing. It's just like words. It sounds all good.

877
00:55:23.840 --> 00:55:27.760
What do you do with that? So so, remember the

878
00:55:27.800 --> 00:55:31.000
book starts with these stories of people in total despair

879
00:55:31.079 --> 00:55:34.320
and no hope, and they're ready to get get out

880
00:55:34.360 --> 00:55:36.639
of ministry and they can't find any hope in the

881
00:55:36.679 --> 00:55:38.960
Christian life. And my hope in the Christian life is hey,

882
00:55:39.519 --> 00:55:42.599
look look here, here's the situation. You're dead. Your body

883
00:55:42.639 --> 00:55:46.199
is dead, it can't respond. There's nothing you can do, right,

884
00:55:46.280 --> 00:55:49.320
there's literally nothing you can do, but just note the

885
00:55:49.360 --> 00:55:54.559
possibility of resurrection lies within you, the possibility of it.

886
00:55:55.679 --> 00:55:58.599
So what do I do? Oh, I guess we wait

887
00:55:58.679 --> 00:56:01.519
until it activates? Well, how do I make it activate?

888
00:56:01.559 --> 00:56:03.400
I don't know. Come on, come on, come on, come on.

889
00:56:03.679 --> 00:56:07.360
Resurrect my body, resurrect my body. And I don't know

890
00:56:07.400 --> 00:56:10.679
how you can say. If your body is resurrected, then

891
00:56:10.719 --> 00:56:14.159
you could not be I mean your new nature. You

892
00:56:14.159 --> 00:56:17.079
would have the nature, you'd have the spirit, and you

893
00:56:17.119 --> 00:56:19.679
would have basically a new body. How would you not

894
00:56:19.760 --> 00:56:31.840
be sin? Is that not speaking of glorification? Now we

895
00:56:31.880 --> 00:56:34.719
did not dig into the text. We're at fifty six minutes.

896
00:56:34.760 --> 00:56:36.679
I immediately want to start going through all the different

897
00:56:36.679 --> 00:56:39.719
ways to interpret Romans eight ten through eleven. But I've

898
00:56:39.760 --> 00:56:43.559
presented their way. I've given you their hypotheses. Now again,

899
00:56:43.599 --> 00:56:45.920
I still want you to go purchase the book Six

900
00:56:47.320 --> 00:56:50.119
Secrets of the Christian Life by Zay and Hodges. Again,

901
00:56:50.159 --> 00:56:53.199
it's only like three dollars or four dollars. I read

902
00:56:53.400 --> 00:56:54.800
I kind of read through that. I want you to

903
00:56:54.840 --> 00:56:57.199
read through the chapter carefully. I want you to bring

904
00:56:57.960 --> 00:57:00.639
talk about it with other people. Have other people going, hey, hey,

905
00:57:00.760 --> 00:57:03.039
what do you think about? Discuss it? Say what you

906
00:57:03.079 --> 00:57:05.159
can come up with. I mean, if you can, if

907
00:57:05.199 --> 00:57:07.800
you can, if you can draw this out, for those

908
00:57:07.840 --> 00:57:10.280
who are artistic, draw it out. What does it look like?

909
00:57:10.679 --> 00:57:13.559
All right? There, I am inside of me. Look at that?

910
00:57:14.320 --> 00:57:16.559
Oh man, the call coming from inside the house? Now

911
00:57:16.719 --> 00:57:19.440
is all good? That got rid of the serial killer.

912
00:57:19.920 --> 00:57:23.000
I'm safe. There's no longer a stranger in the house. Right,

913
00:57:23.199 --> 00:57:26.480
it's all good. It's it's godly, it's new. Oh look

914
00:57:26.519 --> 00:57:29.119
at that. The Holy Spirit is inside as well. But

915
00:57:29.199 --> 00:57:31.679
wait a minute, I got a problem. My body is

916
00:57:31.719 --> 00:57:33.960
dead and it will not respond. All right, how do

917
00:57:34.000 --> 00:57:37.280
I get it to respond? Well, you need a miracle

918
00:57:37.320 --> 00:57:39.159
of resurrection? Well how do I get the miracle of

919
00:57:39.199 --> 00:57:51.360
resurrection to occur? Well? I don't know. Nobody seems to know.

920
00:57:51.400 --> 00:57:54.280
The key is or there's some magic words? Right, Do

921
00:57:54.360 --> 00:57:58.079
I say some magic words? There? There? You know something

922
00:57:58.119 --> 00:58:07.000
I need to say? Do I need to have a ceremony? Hey, headquarters,

923
00:58:07.000 --> 00:58:11.079
this is patrol one. Patrol one, this is headquarters. Go ahead, Yes,

924
00:58:11.599 --> 00:58:16.079
we're at First Baptist Church. And well wait, wait, wait, wait, wait,

925
00:58:16.159 --> 00:58:18.199
we thought there were three hundred dead bodies, but one

926
00:58:18.239 --> 00:58:21.800
of them is moving headquarters. You're not gonna believe that.

927
00:58:21.840 --> 00:58:23.760
Three hundred dead bodies, but one of them is starting

928
00:58:23.840 --> 00:58:27.599
to move, it's starting to move, it's breathing, it's getting

929
00:58:27.679 --> 00:58:34.719
up headquarters. One of them is alive. Well, how did

930
00:58:34.760 --> 00:58:43.880
it happen? Now? If we're talking salvation, then we could

931
00:58:43.880 --> 00:58:46.079
be getting into Obviously you could argue, well, that sounds

932
00:58:46.079 --> 00:58:48.079
a little bit like election. So does it work? On

933
00:58:48.239 --> 00:58:51.679
the same principle that out of three hundred Christians, God

934
00:58:51.719 --> 00:58:56.079
may only resurrect the bodies of five, and then five

935
00:58:56.119 --> 00:58:58.000
of them get to walk around. But even if he

936
00:58:58.119 --> 00:59:01.119
was only five, those five would have to be perfect

937
00:59:02.320 --> 00:59:05.199
because they would have a completely new nature, a completely

938
00:59:05.280 --> 00:59:10.280
new heart, the spirit inside of them, and a resurrected body.

939
00:59:10.639 --> 00:59:14.800
Ladies and gentlemen, they would be basically perfect. Okay, well,

940
00:59:15.239 --> 00:59:17.719
nobody has ever been resurrected, so I don't how is

941
00:59:17.760 --> 00:59:19.920
this the secret to the Christian life? This just leaves

942
00:59:19.920 --> 00:59:26.119
me utterly completely confused, discombobulated, and conflicted, and I don't

943
00:59:26.199 --> 00:59:35.039
get it. Now. We may need to do some more

944
00:59:35.079 --> 00:59:47.559
work on Romans aid So here's your assignment. Get the book.

945
00:59:47.599 --> 00:59:50.280
I want you to read that chapter like ten times

946
00:59:50.360 --> 00:59:53.360
and see if you can figure it out. You break

947
00:59:53.400 --> 00:59:55.159
it down, see if you can figure it out. I

948
00:59:55.239 --> 00:59:56.880
tried to break it down as much as I could.

949
00:59:57.039 --> 00:59:59.280
You tell me what you think, all right. But here

950
00:59:59.280 --> 01:00:01.400
I want you to start listening to random sermons on

951
01:00:01.519 --> 01:00:07.199
Romans eight ten through eleven. You've heard their presentation. Now

952
01:00:07.320 --> 01:00:10.239
you can see what you can find. All right. I

953
01:00:10.280 --> 01:00:16.440
want to do more, but we're at an hour. Thanks

954
01:00:16.440 --> 01:00:20.800
for listening. Everyone, have a great day, and I hope,

955
01:00:21.480 --> 01:00:24.960
I hope you have a resurrection day and you can

956
01:00:25.000 --> 01:00:27.000
then show me how to live the Christian life. In

957
01:00:27.039 --> 01:00:31.320
the meantime, this has been the Theology Central podcast hosted

958
01:00:31.360 --> 01:00:36.920
by someone who not only has a dead body but

959
01:00:37.039 --> 01:00:42.119
still has a sinful nature. God bless