Scripture: Topics: Romans Bible Study
The book of Romans 6:1-23, I've been looking forward to getting to this chapter because it is the heart of the book of Romans. It's what it's all been pointing to. This is episode nine in our series. I am Michael Pearl and you are at The Door in Lobleville, Tennessee.
The word of God is what we're teaching tonight. And it says, "Every word of God is pure." That is if it's God's word, it is pure. If it's pure, it's God's word. "He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee and thou be found a liar."
So God thinks an awful lot of his word to say, "If you add a word to it, you're a liar. If you take away a word, you're a liar." Proverbs 30:5-6
Well, there's 9,422 words in the book of Romans in the authorized version. You can't add to or take away from that number. The New International Version has 9,733 words in it, which is 311 additional words. So the New International Version has added to the words of God and therefore they are found to be a liar with 311 counts of lying. I don't know how many years that would get you, but it would be awful.
Now, we're going to review briefly just a couple of verses. Last week, we talked about,"Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." That's where it started in Romans 3:28 and that subject continued all the way up through Chapter 5. "A man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."
Galatians 2:16 "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law, shall no flesh be justified." An abundance of scripture on that subject.
The Jews say, "Paul is an antinomian." Remember, he's writing this to the Romans, where there are a lot of Jews that are going to read it and he knows it's going to be distributed among the church, which is primarily still Jewish at that point. The Jews would accuse Paul of being contrary to the law, anti-law.
Galatians 3:24-25 "Wherefore, the law was our school master," he said it was good if you use it lawfully, "to bring us into Christ. That we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a school master." The law is our school master. After faith comes, we're no longer under a school master. "For where all children of God," that is Jew and Gentile, "by faith in Christ Jesus."
“More of that faith only heresy and he's beard's too short.” I've had all kinds of comments from the Amish who are working their way to an uncertain heaven.
I've never met one that knew he was going to heaven, that believed he was saved right now, but they're all working there, but they're usually quite critical of everyone else. Especially if we know we're working our way to heaven. Well, I'd like to say to you Amish seeing this video, that you're going to receive the gospel of faith tonight, where you won't have to work your way to heaven anymore.
Romans 4:3-5, "For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now, to him that worketh," that is like works for his salvation, works to please God, "to him that worketh is the reward," that is eternal life, "not reckoned of grace, but of debt." That is if you worked, then you would go to heaven based on your works, not on grace. "But to him that worketh not," as he stops trying to work his way to heaven, "but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." So God counts just a little faith in Jesus Christ as the righteousness of God. "Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works saying, 'Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom Lord will not impute sin.'"
I've taught this book of Romans for 54 years and that there's no merit in teach. I've known people taught something for 64 years and still teaching error. But I've also seen it transform thousands of lives in that 54 years. When I say thousands, I literally mean thousands. I've gotten letters and met personally, Amish, who got, back when we were giving out the cassette tapes, they got a set of cassette tapes and took them into the barn with their recorder and listened all the way through Romans and got saved doing that.
I've had others say they went out and take their tractor and their mule and they go out in the field and they would listen to it out there where no one could see them listening to it. I heard last week, some people in the Philippines, a Bible school is listening to this even as we're teaching it here. So this goes all over the world and we get letters from people. I've taught it in the prisons for many, many hours. I've taught it in the schools for many, many hours. I've taught it in boys' homes for many, many hours.
The Jew says, "If a man is justified by grace through faith, what is to prevent him from continuing in sin?" And I've heard that an awful lot from Jews and Amish and Pentecostal Holiness and Church of Christ and a number of others, Seventh Day Adventists.
Paul addresses this slander three ways. Romans 6:1"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid." That's the first place he addresses it in our text.
Roman 6:15, "What then? Shall we sin because we're not under law, but under grace?" You see Paul knew that what he was teaching would lend itself to this charge, that his people would see that Paul was saying salvation is a free gift, without any works, comes to any kind of center at any time and it's effective, always in transforming lives. He knew that and he knew that there'd be people who were bound in legalism and religion, who'd say, "Well, what you're saying then is you can just get saved and live any way you want to."
Romans 3:7-8, "For the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am my judge to sinner and not rather, as we be slanderously reported." That his people were slandering Paul. "And as some affirm," they were saying this is absolutely true. Paul is saying this, "Some affirm that we say, 'Let us do evil, that good may come.'" So they're actually recusing Paul of suggesting that we should sin because God gets to be gracious and forgive us and so we can go on sinning.
This remains a popular charge against those who believe the gospel of grace. I've heard, "You believe the gospels are not part of the gospel." That is Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. They say that because I've taken passages like where it says, "Blessed are the poor in Spirit or blessed or the meek or if you don't forgive men, their trespasses you're heavenly father will not forgive you yours. Or you have to visit the widows and the sick and the orphans. If you don't, you'll be cast into everlasting fire." I say that those passages are law designed to convince us of our sinful state, not a path to heaven.
I get that charge. "You believe in once saved, always saved." I never have used that term and yet, I get accused of it all the time because I'm teaching the gospel of grace. You see, they understand that if it's God that does the saving and he does it by grace, then it's a whole lot more secure than what they're working on.
"Faith without works is dead," the church of Christ tells me over and over and over again, "Faith without works is dead." And so they have faith and add works to it and hope that the works rise to the proper level to demonstrate they've got the right kind of faith so they can make it in. The only thing in this life, they never know because they never received the Holy Spirit and are never born again. "You believe you can be saved without repenting of all your sins." Find repenting of sins anywhere in the Bible and we'll discuss that. "You must visit the sick and those that are in prison, or God will cast you into everlasting fire."
I actually heard a fella one night in a Bible study prayer meeting, put his hands to his head and leaned back and moaned deeply and said this, "Widow Johnson up there is sick and I haven't been to see her. And my mama told me, 'Son, if you don't visit those that are sick, you'll go to everlasting fire.' I've got to go visit her." And he was absolutely sincere. "If you don't forgive those who trespassed against you, God will not forgive you." And so there's people who are anxious that maybe they will fail to forgive someone and be damned.
Roman 6 again, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that Grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein." God forbid, that's a very strong negative in the Greek.
Now God forbid is found 24 times in the Bible, nine times in the Old Testament, 15 times in the New Testament. 10 of those New Testament references are here in Romans. Now, the way we understand how forceful that God forbid is by looking at some of its usages.
But here's the way it's translated into commercial Bibles.
The Commercial Versions:
Not at all. That's not very strong. Certainly not, a term you use every day about different things. By no means. Some of the translations give it. Not own your life. The word, "Not on your life." Those four words are not in the Bible in any Greek Bible. They come up with that because they're making it easy for you to understand. Let me ask you, who doesn't understand when you say, "Are you going to go there? God forbid." Who doesn't understand that? What is it about that that's complicated. It's very forceful.
Romans 3:3-4, "For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Let God be true and every man, a liar."
Romans 6:15 "What shall we say? Shall we sin because we're not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
Romans 9:14 “What shall we say? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid." That's the way it's used. That's the context of it.
Romans 11: "I say then, hath God cast away his people?" Talking about the Jews. "God forbid." We'll come to that actually in about a month's time.
Does imputed righteousness, countenance continuing in sin? No, because those who are in Christ are dead to sin. Free from sin because we're saved from the penalty and saved from the power by the finished work of Christ. "God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer, therein?" So Paul doesn't answer should we continue in sin. He answers with a question, "How can we continue in sin? How shall we, that are dead to sin live any longer therein." In other words, he says something has happened to us that forbids us from continuing in sin, something that's taken place, that's transformed us, that makes the idea of continuing in sin an absurdity. Now, that's something that the people who have never received the Holy Spirit don't understand.
What does it mean to be “dead to sin” as the text says?
Romans 7:4 "Wherefore my brethren, you also become dead to the law." Now that helps us understand what it means to be dead to sin. There's a parallel here in the use of terms. Dead to the law. You see, when I died to the law, the law didn't die. When I became dead to the law, what died? I died, not the law. In my death, it exempted me from the law because the law is only for living people. Being a dead man now crucified in Christ, I'm out from under the law. The law remains intact.
Now, I'm dead to sin. That doesn't mean sins lost its power or it's pull or it's temptation. It just means that I have been in my association with sin am now dead to it, through the body of Christ. Dead to sin and dead to the law.
Peter 2:24"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness." So it's not just Paul, but Peter and others speak of this being dead to sins as well.
Galatians 2:19, "For I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God."
Roman 6:2 again, for "God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein."
In Adam, we were dead in sin. In Christ, we are dead to sin. You see when Adam committed his act of sin, I died in Adam. When Christ committed his acts of righteousness and resurrection, I live in Christ. Now, my living is not indigenous to this body. In other words, nothing has happened to this body yet that would make it live forever. It's still a corrupted body. But yet I have in Christ, eternal life. I have in him what he has, which is resurrection in life. Nothing has happened to me that's indigenous to my nature, my soul, my Spirit, my body that makes me dead to sin. In other words, I can still sin. I can still think about sin. I can still be tempted by sin. I can still be drawn into sin. But in Christ, I'm dead to sin. In Christ, I'm free from sin. You'll see that more clearly.
Romans 6:3 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death?" He's going to explain to us now how we got dead to sin and at same time dead to the law. "Know ye not," don't you know, "that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death." We became pre takers of Christ's death by being baptized into Jesus Christ.
Now Roman 6:3 in the New Century Version, which is said to be a Bible for the 21st century. Well, hallelujah. We finally have a Bible for the 21st century. Here's what it says in Roman 6:3, "Did you forget that all of you became part of Christ when you were baptized?" Church, Christ would love that, wouldn't he? Now, if that's corrupt, what about some of the others? Look at this. Here's the New Century Version again and underneath is the authorized version. Compare them. "Did you forget that all of us became part of Christ?" When it says, Know ye not, that so many of us," in other words, not all of us, "but just as many as were baptized into Jesus Christ." Whereas the New Century Version says, "All of us became part of Christ when we were baptized." It doesn't say that... That's nowhere in the text.
Let's look at it a little closer. How about some... This is a designer Bible for designer faith, is what we're looking at here. Do you have a designer Bible? A designer Bible for a designer faith adapted to the thinking of modern man guaranteed to promote equality and tolerance and to throw Christian doctrine into doubt. A new version every nine months, purported to be based on the oldest and best manuscripts, correcting the ignorance of earlier translators, the wide divergence of translations, proving that we know nothing for sure, that we can look to the latest wave of scholarship to lead us ever onward and upward as they seek to recover the long lost text, that's become corrupted beyond complete reconstruction construction. Now, we are to believe that the almighty science of textual criticism and the Madison Avenue approach to the production of over 400 commercial Bibles deceptively fostered upon gullible Christians who are forever skeptical of their politicians, preachers, NSA, FBI, lawyers, Supreme Court, public school systems, global warming scientists, social planners, psychologists, ecologist.
But these same Christians have absolute faith in the self-selected group of unbelieving Bible scholars whose motives are absolutely pure and above the possibility of being part of a satanic conspiracy, they say, to deprive believers of faith in the preservation of the holy scriptures of which Jesus said not one jot or tittle would pass away until all was fulfilled.
But with our new progressive approach to religion and divine revelation, having adopted the scientific views of a predominant strain of modern Bible scholarship, at least we will not be dismissed as primitive and unscientific as were Christians 100 years ago who rejected the scientific discoveries of organic evolution. Ever onward and upward until we get to heaven and are able to finally read the holy scriptures that are preserved in heaven, having not read them for 2,000 years now since they've been lost, according to modern scholarship, that is.
Now, I don't believe that. I don't have a designer Bible for a designer faith. I've got the one that reads just like it did in Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Syriac, Coptic, the old German, old French, old Spanish, the Gothic all the way down to the present. A text that can be found, the readings that can be found in multiple translations throughout the entire history of the church. That's not been changed, jumbled or substituted as you see, this one has.
Back to Romans 6:3, "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death." Okay. Here is the Greek word. This is the Greek sentence on the top and underneath it is the translation. This is a word for word exactly how the Greek reads. "Are you ignorant..." By the way, that word ignorant there that you see at the top is the word "ayvoeite" like agnostic. That's ignorant, no knowledge. "Are you ignorant that as many as were baptized into Christ Jesus into his death place were baptized."
That's a word for word Greek to English. Notice the strength of that into Jesus Christ into his death place were baptized. It's clearly stating that we're baptized into the same place he was when he died.
Now, here is the English Standard Version compared to it. Notice the words in red there are the ones that they have no counterpart for in the Greek. "Did you forget..." The word agnostic, no knowledge has nothing to do with forgetting anything. It's not having knowledge. "That," they finally got one word right, "all of us became part of..." That phrase appears nowhere in the text. "All of us became part of..." And then they leave out the baptism into completely. They got the word Christ. They leave out the word Jesus. They add, "When we were," which is not in the text. They leave out again, the next three words, four words and then they finally get the word baptism right at the end. That's not a translation. That is something fostered upon Christians to cause them to doubt the integrity of the words of God.
Now, I like to throw those things out to you once in a while because when I use the Bible, I'm teaching it word for word just like it reads.
Romans 6:4-8, "Therefore we are buried with him by baptism," that is baptism into him, "into death. That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together," when Christ was putting the grave, he was planted together, "in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man," an old man is not a part of us, it's the sum total of who we were before we were baptized into Christ. "Our old man is crucified with him." Not was, but is right now. "That the body of sin might be destroyed." This is what the body of sin, this 225 pounds right here. That's the body of sin. "That the body of sin might be destroyed. That henceforth, we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him. Knowing this, that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death has no more dominion over him." Death has no dominion over a dead man.
Romans 6:10 "For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God." Now, he's saying that this is Christ's experience and having been baptized into Christ, that's our experience.
Now the word, baptize, baptizo, is union with or identification with and has nothing to do with water. Nothing at all. I'm going to show you. There are three things when there's a baptism. I'm using water here because that's what you're familiar with. There is the baptizer, there's the baptizee and there is the element into which they're baptized. That's the three things. Now, it can be used a multitude of different ways.
Here is an actual quote by James Carroll, "...to brilliant young graduate students whose work of this committee amounted to a baptism in defense policy..." That's a secular common use of the word baptism. In other words, they were immersed into the defense policy. They had to be totally absorbed and engaged in the information.
"The optimistic new Senator from Pennsylvania, who ran on a platform of peaceful bipartisanship was baptized into the house today as he's met with boos from longtime members of both parties." So there again, you see it used in a common way.
"Senator Johnson received his baptism of fire today as he was grilled by the select committee on foreign relations concerning gifts he received from a Saudi prince."
"Young Frank Malone had his baptism into the world of motor sports today when he nearly slid into the wall before regaining control."
See the word baptism, none of these has anything to do with water, does it?
There's seven baptisms in the Bible, did you know that? John's baptism with water unto repentance is the first and we'll go through these quickly.
Mathew 3:11"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance." And he says, "You shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire." There's three different baptisms in that one verse, we'll come back to 2 and 3.
Mark 1:8 "I indeed have baptized you with water. You'll be baptized with the Holy Ghost."
That's the second baptism, two different baptisms there in the same verse.
Luke 7:29, “...being baptized with a baptism of John.”
John 3 :23, "And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim because there was much water there." It takes a lot of water, if you're really baptized. You, can't do it with a sprinkler.
And then the second baptism, baptized with the Holy Ghost, different from water baptism.
Mathew 3:11 "I indeed baptize you with water, but you'll be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire." There's a third baptism, Holy Ghost and fire.
Acts 1:5-8 "John truly baptized the water. You should be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. The Holy Ghost is come up on you." That baptism, the Holy Ghost is the Holy Ghost coming up on them.
1 Corinthians 12:13 "For by one Spirit, we're all baptized into one body." The baptism of the Holy Spirit places us into the body of Christ. That's the seventh one. That's not the baptism of the Holy Ghost. That's the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is doing the baptizing into one body. “And have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” That's the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Two different baptisms in the same passage.
John 4:10, "He she said to Jesus, 'Give me to drink.' And he said, 'If you ask of me, I would give you the living water.'" And this spake of the Spirit. That was the baptism of the Holy Ghost. He said, "I'll give you living water. “Whosoever drinketh of the water I shall give him shall never thirst. It shall be in him a well of water springing up under everlasting life."
John 7:37 Then, "In then in last days, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried and said, 'If any man thirst, let him come and drink this spake of the Spirit," which they believe on him should receive. "For the Holy Ghost was not yet given." So it was the Holy Ghost given that was this baptism of drinking. Baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Then the third baptism is a baptism with fire.
Matthew 3:11 "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but he that come after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I'm not worthy to lose. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." Now, there's been a total misunderstanding of this passage. Many people think baptism of fire is really getting excited about God and worshiping and shouting and running around and jumping and speaking in tongues and whatever else. That has nothing to do with the baptism of fire. In fact, I don't want the baptism of fire, please. No, I've escaped it. I've avoided it and it'll never be part of my life and I'm thankful for that. Why? John answered saying unto them, Luke 3:16 "I indeed baptize you the water, but there's cometh one mightier than. He'll baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand." With fire, whose fan is in his hand. Now, what's a fan for? It stir a fire, to stir it up. "And he will thoroughly purge the floor," that's the trash on the floor, "and gather the wheat into his garner. But the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable." So the baptism of fire is burning up unquenchable chaff.
2 Thessalonians 1:8 “Inflaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God,” Nobody knows the Lord Jesus Christ. Baptism with fire is hell. It has nothing to do with the Holy Ghost.
There is no passage that associates fire with the Holy Spirit. You say, "oh, yes. It does." Said, "Cloven tongues as a fire." He's describing what they looked like. What's a cloven tongue? Have you ever looked at a fire flames and notice how it's got these little cloven shapes. What they saw was the Holy Spirit coming down and the description was, "It was shaped like a flame of fire." There was no fire got on them. They didn't receive the baptism of fire. They received the baptism, the Holy Ghost. That's the only possible place you could construe fire with for the Holy Ghost.
Now, the fourth baptism. Jesus suffering in death. His death on the cross was a baptism.
Matthew 20:22 "Jesus answered and said, 'Ye know not what you ask. Are you able to drink of the cup that I'll drink of and be baptized with a baptism that I'm baptized with?' And they said, 'We are able.' He said unto them, 'Ye shall drink indeed of my cup.'" Now drinking the cup is symbolic of drinking judgment. All you've got to do is look up the word cup every time it's used in the Bible and you'll see that has to do with drinking the bitterness of a judgment that God brings.
Matthew 20:24"You shall be baptized with a baptism I'm baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give. It should be given to those of whom it is prepared of my father." This was the baptism of death.
Here, Luke 12:49 "I come to send fire on the earth but I have a baptism to be baptized with. And now, I am straightened till it be accomplished!" A few days before his crucifixion. And he is constrained, straightened in anticipation of this baptism that he's going to experience on the cross, this baptism into death. Jesus went into death, thoroughly immersed in it, came out three days later.
Now, believer's water baptism is the fifth baptism. The New Testament water baptism is not the same water baptism as John's baptism. Say, "How do you know that?" The Bible says so.
Acts 19:3-4 "And he said unto them, 'Unto what then were ye baptized?" They found a couple of disciples wandering around a couple years after the day of Pentecost and they were preaching the baptism of John and didn't know Jesus had come and died and they'd missed all that part, been away somewhere. "And they said, 'Unto John's baptism, we were baptized.' Then said Paul, 'John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance.' Saying unto the people that they should believe on him, which should come after him, that is on Christ Jesus. And when they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus." So these believers were baptized twice. One with John's water baptism, one with the New Testament Christian water baptism, different baptism. So they were baptized twice.
Matthew 28:19, "Go, ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost." That's believer's water baptism, again.
Acts 28:38, "And he commanded to the chariot to stand still and they went down into the water, both Phillip and the eunuch and he baptized him." They had to come to a body of water, a Creek, a pool before they could baptize because sprinkling is not baptism, that's an oriental ritual that's done by a lot of strange and foreign religions. It has nothing to do with Christianity. Water of baptism by immersion is scriptural, New Testament baptism.
Then believer's water baptism is followed by baptism unto Moses. This is a strange baptism.
1 Corinthians 10:1-2 "Moreover brethren, I would not have ye to be ignorant. How that all our fathers run under the cloud and all pass through the sea and were all baptized unto..." Now, you notice it doesn't have the word with, the preposition with. "Were baptized unto Moses." Not with Moses. To have been baptized with Moses, they had to sprinkle him all over them or put them inside his body or... It would've been impossible. "They were all baptized unto Moses." It's talking about an association in the cloud and in the sea. Now, you know none of them got wet, don't you? None of them got wet. They were not baptized into Moses and they didn't get wet. Not baptized into.
Okay. The baptism unto Moses and then finally the baptism into Jesus Christ. This is the seventh baptism.
Romans 6:3 "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ." So you've got a baptism into, you've got a baptism unto and you got a baptism with. Remember the three parts, the baptizer, the baptizee and the element.
In water baptism, the baptizer is a man or a woman. The baptizee is the believer and the element is water. But in Jesus' death, the baptism was Jesus. The baptizer was the Roman government. The Jews were the baptizers. Jesus was the baptizee and death was the element into which he was baptized.
And then in the Holy Ghost baptism, the element is the individual and the Holy Spirit comes up on them by God, the Father is doing the baptizing and places the Holy Spirit on them and in them. So let's read on.
Galatians 3:27 "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ." Now, if you're baptized into, that's not being baptized with the Holy Ghost, this is Christ. You're baptized into Christ, have put on Christ. Picture being baptized into an overcoat. And now I'm inside the overcoat and I've put on the overcoat and I'm covered with the overcoat.
1 Corinthians 12:13 "For by one Spirit, we're all baptized into one body. Whether we be Jews or Gentile, bond or free, we've all been made to drink into one Spirit." This is a baptism into Jesus Christ. They were baptized into the one body.
Are there seven baptisms or is there just one baptism? Which is it?
Hebrews 6:1-2 "Therefore, leaving the principle of the doctrine of Christ, let us go unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God. Of the doctrine," singular, "of baptisms," plural. You take off one letter there, you're going to change the Bible doctrine. If you were to add a S to doctrine or take an S off of baptisms, you destroy Bible doctrine altogether on baptisms. This is accurate. “Of the doctrine of baptisms and of the laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.” There's one doctrine that incorporates baptism's plural, seven of them in all.
Then it says, in Ephesians 4:4-5, "There is one body, one Spirit. Even as ye are called in one hope of you're calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all..."
And now we read that there's not many baptisms or just one. The question is, "Will, the real baptism please stand up?" It can't be all seven, there's just one. So six of those have to be a picture of. And the other one has to be the real one that saves. One baptism's got to be effectual and count. The others have to be representative or symbolic, a type.
1 Peter 3:21 "The like figure..." Now, you know what a figure is, don't you? That's where you're figuring something, giving a representation. "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us." Now, that passage is dangerous in the hands of an ignorant person, ignorant of the seven baptisms, who has suggests that baptism is water baptism into the pool. If that's what it is, then you've got the Church of Christ doctrine again, that you get saved by being baptized in water. The question is what baptism is that? He answers it, "Not the putting away of the filth to the flesh." He's not talking about something that washes away sins, "but the answer of a good conscience toward God." This baptism he's talking about that saves us, creates a good conscience toward God. How? By the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Romans 6:4 "Therefore, we're buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together, in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his," see the last word, "resurrection."
1 Peter 3:21 "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth now save us,...the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection."
Hebrews 9:14 "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works?" The only passage in the Bible that speaks of the purging of the conscience is not done by water baptism, it's done by the blood of Christ. Through the death of Christ and the resurrection of Christ, our conscience is cleared by that figure of water baptism. By what water baptism figures, which is our baptism into Christ.
Here's our seven baptism and I've emphasized the prepositions there.
Baptism with water; with water again, believer's water; Jesus' death; baptized with death; baptism with fire; baptized unto Moses, not with Moses, not into Moses, unto Moses; baptized with the Holy Ghost or baptized into the body of Jesus Christ.
Notice the only one that's into, the only one that actually places us inside of Jesus is the baptism into the body of Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:13 "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body." When Jesus died, God, when I believed he placed me into Jesus Christ, so that all who believe become part of him, put on Christ, drink into one Spirit, have that Spirit in their belly, a living water and become part of his history. So Christ's history becomes my history.
“If one died for all, then we're all dead.” 2 Corinthians 5:14
“We have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:13
"Know ye not so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death." Romans 6:3 “Therefore, we're buried with him by baptism into death.”
Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "I am crucified with Christ." That is when he died, I died.
Romans 6:5 "For if we've been planted together in the likeness was death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection." When Jesus was raised from the dead, each of us who were in Christ were raised from the dead as well.
Now, granted, I was not there at that moment when Christ was raised from the dead. But being placed in Christ, he becomes my head at which point his experience becomes mine. Do you remember how Levi paid ties to Melchizedek 400 years earlier when he wasn't around? Because he was in the loins of Abraham. God has placed me into, adopted me into God's family. I am now Christ. His experience becomes my experience, his past becomes my past. So I have now died for my sins, been buried for my sins, been raised from the dead for my sins and been ascended into heaven and where Christ is, I'm seated on the right hand of God right now and I am free from sin.
That's the full gospel. That's the gospel that not only saves you from the penalty of sin, but saves you from the power of sin.
Colossians 2:12 "Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye arisen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead."
Ephesians 2:5-6 "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ."
That is, when Christ was made alive, we are made alive. "(By grace, ye are saved.) And hath raised us up together." When he was raised, we were raised. "And made us sit together in heavenly places." That's not future tense, that's past tense. See, being in Christ, I'm already seated on the right hand of God, just as being in Adam, I was counted as sinner when I didn't see it. Being in Christ, I'm counted as raised and ascended though I haven't yet experienced that. "And hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places." Each time a believer believes, he ascends and is seated on the right hand of God in Jesus Christ. "And made us sit together in heavenly places."
Colossians 3:1-3 again. "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God."
Here is putting it all together.
Romans 6:1-8 "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death. Therefore, we're buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that hence forth we should not serve sin. For he, that is dead, is freed from sin." That's his answer. Shall we continue in sin? His answer is, "How can we? We're baptized into Christ. We're dead to sin. We're free."
Romans 6:8 "Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him." In other words, if you've been crucified with Christ and raised, you're now going to continue to live in Jesus Christ.
Now, grace stops us from sinning from the inside-out. The legalist try to obey the law to stop sinning and it never works. They accuse us of saying that we're continuing in sin by saying, we're already saved, that we're free to go ahead and sin. The thing is, grace works in our hearts to stop us from sinning. There's nothing to work in the heart of a legalist, to stop him from sinning.
Matthew 23:27-28 "Woe unto you, Scribes, Pharisees hypocrites! For your like unto whited sepulchers." That's a tomb that's been white washed. "Which indeed appear beautiful outward." He said, "You're like a tomb that's painted up fresh and looks good." "But are within, full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." There's bugs and worms and spiders and mice and rotten filth. And he said, "That's what you're like inside." "Even so, ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within you're full of hypocrisy and iniquity." He's talking about the law keeper.
Ezekiel 36:26-17 He promises, "A new heart also will I give you, and a new Spirit will I put within you and I'll take away the stony heart of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you and cause ye to walk in my statues and ye shall keep my judgements and do them." The only way you're going to walk in righteousness is having the Spirit of God dwelling inside to motivate you from the inside-out.
Justified from the penalty of sin
Liberated from the power of sin
He died and was resurrected for us,
In him we died and were raised as well.
Here's the full gospel. Justified from the penalty of sin by Christ's death. Liberated from the power of sin by Christ's resurrection and indwelling presence. He died and was resurrected for us. In him, we died and were raised as well.
We also receive the power of his resurrected life that transforms us.
In Christ, we receive the merits of his resurrection. All that he was as a perfect man and a resurrected man is now charged to me. We also receive the power of his resurrected life that transforms us.
He advances his argument, "Likewise..." in the same manner that all of this is Christ experience, "Likewise reckon," you understand the word reckon, "reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.” “Dead indeed, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."
The believer's responsibility is to reckon that's what you have to do now. Now, see if what Christ did was indigenous to our being, that is, it was some kind of an implant that changed all that's present in me, then there'd never be in the scriptures any need to exhort me to continue in the faith or exhort me to walk in holiness or to stop sinning or any warnings for people, Christians who sin there wouldn't be in there.
I didn't get constitutionally altered when I got born again. But what I got was an entrance of baptism into Jesus Christ. I'm still me, but I'm in Jesus Christ. Being in Jesus Christ, there is available to me all that he is. I'm now in the warehouse where I receive all things that pertain to life and godliness. My responsibility is not to work to be good, but to reckon these things to be true in my experience, just to count them to be.
Now, I reckon is to establish by counting or calculating; to consider as being this comes out of a dictionary, expect, believer or suppose; think, believe or conceive; identify as a point of reference or count as fact, all these come out of your dictionary. That's what reckon means.
Romans 6:11 "Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin...”
Romans 4:9 “For we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteous." How was it then reckoned?
Romans 8:18 "...For I reckon the sufferings of this present time."
Luke 22:37 “...And he was reckoned among the transgressors.” In other words, counted numbered, listed, made part of.
When we're not living it and can't find it inside, we look without to the Christ that dwells within and we reckon what he says to be true and then we experience a living faith that transforms from the inside-out.
God reckoned. Jesus on the left there, the righteous one, me on the right, the sinner and God made Jesus the sinner and made me the righteous one.
God tells me to reckon myself to be crucified, buried, raised again and ascended into heaven. God tells me to reckon myself to be free from sin. I believe it. I feel it.
Therefore, he says, Romans 6:12-13 "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body." He's talking about this body. "That ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield..." This is the first time he's given us a command here in Romans. Up to this, he's been telling us all about the doctrine of justification and sanctification. Now, he tells you to do something. "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body." You now have a duty and obligation to refuse to let sin inside. It's like you can't stop a bird from landing on your head, but you can keep it from building a nest there. You can't stop sin from blowing by, coming your way, becoming a thought, but you can refuse to do it and it'll pass on.
Romans 6:13"Neither yield ye your members..." Members are eyes, ears, nose, hand, tongue, feet, sex organs. "Don't yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God." You see, I unto the law, I tried, but couldn't yield myself to God. With the Spirit that dwells within, I can in fact, yield myself to God. "As those that are alive from the dead," because I am, God says, in Christ, alive from the dead. And your members as instruments of righteousness unto God, your hands, your feet, your sex organs should be members, instruments of righteousness unto God.
Romans 6:14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you.” That's a fact. He says that three times in this chapter. You're free from sin. Free from sin. Free from sin. “For sin shall not have dominion over you. For ye not under the law, but under grace." The assumption is that being under the law, sin will have dominion being under grace. It will not.
So Paul is still answering the question, "Shall we continue in sin?" His answer is, "If you're under the law, you will. If you're under grace, you will not." I should go back and get the rest of that verse.
Romans 6:15 "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourself servants to obey, his servant ye are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death." So he said, If you are yielding yourself to sin, then you're the servant of sin. If you're yielding yourself to God, you're the servant of God. By their fruits, you're going to know them. "... of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin." You used to be, you're not anymore. "But ye obeyed from the heart, that form of doctrine which we delivered you, being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness."
Three times, it says that in that chapter, free from sin. I've had people publish long dissertations on the web saying, "Mike Pearl believes that you eradicate the old nature. Mike Pearl..." Hey, I'm worse than that. I don't even believe there is one. Never was. "Mike Pearl believes that you can live a sinless life." Yeah, I'll go for that one. I believe you can. Or someone said, "Mike Pearl believes he's sinless." Well, I never said that. Never intimated that, but all you've got to do is say what the Bible says, "We're free from sin." And a lot of people go ape.
Because most preachers, their job is to fuss people every week about the same sins they've been committing for 40 years. The people come and get scolded and feel good about it and go home and do the same thing again.
When you come to church and you're told, "Well, this will be the last day you'll sin. You're free from now. Quit it, go home and sin no more. Reckon yourself to be dead and live unto God." And that just freaks them out. That's the wrong kind of Bible doctrine and they don't hear it, but it's Bible doctrine.
"Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteous." I remember when I was going down to the prison every week, on several occasions, a prisoner would come up to me. I taught this down there at least once a year, I taught through Romans. A prisoner came up to me and big eyes lit up and smiling and grinning. He said, "I went all week and didn't sin.
Now, I had that happen several times. You know what? I didn't set him down said, "Now let me ask you a question here. Are there any sins of omission in your life? Did you forget to pray for somebody? Did you eat the wrong thing? Were you lazy? How can you say you hadn't sinned all week?"
Now, when he told me he hadn't sinned all week, he means that he hadn't looked at any of the pornography that's around there. He hadn't smoked any joints. He hadn't taken any heroin or crack or LSD off the back of a stamp. That he hadn't done some other sexual things and that he hadn't listened to any dirty jokes and he hadn't beat up on anybody or cut them or stabbed them. He hadn't back talked a guard, hadn't done anything dishonest, didn't steal anything or anything like that. All his habits of life, he didn't do any of those all that week long. He didn't sin and he's proud of it and I'm proud of it that he didn't sin.
Now, that would trouble some people, but I've seen it so many times. God stops people from sinning. Oh yes, I know. The older I get, the more sin I discover in my life. It's not because I'm doing bad things that you would think were bad, but they're things that you would think are okay, that God tells me is not. The older I get, the more I realize how far I am from total righteousness like Jesus Christ is. But like the lady said, I'm a whole lot better than I used to be. If I lived another 13,000 years, I'd get close, maybe, maybe. Again, I might be after 13,000 years so ashamed of who I was, such enlightenment that I just wouldn't even stand up to teach anymore. I don't know.
But I'm free from sin. I don't mind saying that. God has stopped me from sinning. He frees me from the acts of sinning over and over again.
Romans 6:19 "I speak after the manner of men, because the infirmity of your flash for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness, to iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness." Now, Paul wouldn't command us to do this if it wasn't something we had to do. If it was automatic, there'd be no need to exhort us. When he says, "Don't yield your members," it's because you still could.
Romans 6:20-21 "Yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when we were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed?" He's just reminding you, think about what the rewards used to get for sinning. They weren't very good. "What fruit had ye in those things whereof ye are now ashamed for the end of those things is death.”
Romans 6:22 “But now, being made free from sin," that's the third time, "and become the servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life." Let me tell you something. There's nothing sweeter in life than a clear conscience and to worship God. A clear conscience and be able to worship God. Paul said, "Herein, do I also exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and man." Acts 24:16. When you have a clear conscience toward God and man and you know God and you worship him, it's a high. It's a high that the world knows nothing about. It's a liberty of freedom, a joy, a peace. It's a rocking chair on the front porch with chicken frying and apple pie in the background and kids playing in the yard. It's just sweet. I missed the verse there. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." He's just summing up the chapter. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
John 8:36 "If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free in indeed." Yes. Thank you.
Romans 8:3-4, our final verse, "For what the law could not do," we'll be coming to this passage, not tonight. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh," great way of saying that. Nothing wrong with the law, but the flesh wouldn't let the law do its work. "God sin his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who," qualified, "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." So if we walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, the righteousness of the law will actually be fulfilled in us. That's the end of Romans 6. Chapter 7 is going to be a wild chapter next week. Tune in for that one.