The scripture reading is Romans chapter 6. We read together Romans chapter 6. And there we read the holy word of God in Romans 6. 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 are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up 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 resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but under grace. 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 yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey? whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity, even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, being made free from sin and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death. but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We call congregation to reflect upon Lord's Day 16 of the Heidelberg Catechism. Lord's Day 16, and we consider now question and answer 43. Lord's Day 16, question and answer 43. What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross? That by virtue thereof our old man is crucified, dead, and buried with him. That so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves unto him a sacrifice of thanksgiving so far. Beloved congregation, we are considering in the Heidelberg Catechism the benefits of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore we focus on this Lord's Day on question per question, because there's so much to learn from the death of Christ, so much fruit can be received from the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross. So instead of looking at this Lord's Day in one sermon, we will now try to focus on the various questions to, as it were, go a bit in slow motion through this important Lord's Day. And so now we consider then question and answer 43. There are benefits attached to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. What are those benefits? Well, forgiveness of sins. Boys and girls, why did the Lord Jesus die on the cross? To pay for the sins of his people. You know that. That's one benefit. that we receive forgiveness of sins. The second blessing is that death is now most different for a child of God. That because of the death of the Lord Jesus on the cross, the death of a child of God will be an entrance into glory. It's a total different approach and understanding of death But then there's also a third blessing coming from the death of Christ, and that's what we consider now. That is, because of the death of Christ, the sinful nature of a child of God has been put to death. That means that through faith, through surrender to the Lord Jesus, by looking unto Him, A sinner is transferred from death to life. He is transferred from being under the dominion of sin and the evil one, to be now under the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he may live in the liberty of the children of God. So that means then that a child of God is no longer under the dominion of sin, but he now belongs to the Lord Jesus. He is redeemed, that sinner is redeemed from the submission to the might and the dominion of the devil. It's a glorious deliverance. And that's what we find here. In his answer, what further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross that, by virtue thereof, our old man is crucified, dead, and buried with him, that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves unto him a sacrifice of Thanksgiving. So now the catechism places the cross right in the middle of our daily lives, not just at the end, when a child of God dies, not just at the beginning, when they receive remission of all their sins, but right in the middle of our daily lives. This is very practical. We have to understand it well. But it's a huge blessing, what the Lord Jesus earned on the cross, because God places His cross right in the middle of our lives. And what does that mean then? That means that the old man that is within me, is put to death. So there are two things that old man, let's put it this way, the authority of the devil that a person used to listen to and that governed his thoughts, his thinking, his desires, his actions, that that bond of slavery is broken. He is no longer a slave of the devil. But he belongs to the Lord Jesus. What will thou have me do, O Lord? And at the same time, the power of sin within him, because sin is still present, but it doesn't reign over us. It's still present. The Bible tells us that clearly. God's children here on earth are not sinless. They still do sins. So they confess those sins, and they fight against sin, so we can say that sinful nature is slowly but steadily weakened, put to death, mortify your members which are upon the earth. That's what Paul says. That's what God's Word tells us. That's a process. So on the one hand there's a deliverance, and on the other hand, there's a slowly dying to sin, that sin is removed. What is the old man actually? The old man in me is being put to death, well that's my sinful nature, I inherit from Adam, and that's characterized by various bad characteristics, the pride of life, selfishness, anger, covetousness, sexual sins, hatred, envy, backbiting, all my carnal desires, my ungratefulness, etc., etc. That all belongs to the old man. And now, this answer tells us that when we are incorporated in Christ, that my sins and my sinful desires, they are crucified along with Christ. They are killed with Christ in His death upon the cross. There's a major shift in one's life. It's noticeable by others. They notice a different attitude in you. You may not even notice that yourself so clearly. Although your desires and your longings and your prayers are now totally different when the Lord rules over you, you long for Him, you thirst for the living God, you love His commandments, you seek to fight the good fight of faith. That never was the case. But now, in that life of grace, that is the case. And you start to see more sins in you than you previously did. And you may not think yourself to be different, but others do see it. You're more concerned. You're friendly. You're sensitive. There's love in your actions. Patience. You desire the well-being of others. That's because the Lord Jesus has entered your life. My sins and carnal desires are crucified along with Christ, are killed with Christ in His death upon the cross. Such a one is incorporated among the children of God, and therefore they are called to listen to their God. They are now called to obey the Lord, And no longer are they allowed to listen to the power of sin, or of the devil, or of his old nature. And when sins rise up in him, he has to resist them, because he now belongs to a new master. A child of God is dying to sin. He is dead to his old master. and he is slowly dying to sin, and he is awakened to a new life with Christ. And this is glorious congregation. This pertains to our daily life, the way we think, the way we act, the way we behave. This is practical Christianity. In Romans 6 verse 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe we shall also live with Him. So, our old man, all those lusts and desires, they are crucified with Christ. That means we are no longer under their dominion. You're no longer a slave to your lusts. Those chains have been broken. so that the body of sin might be destroyed. That means your daily life of sin would be destroyed slowly, steadily. Then you are dead with Christ. And when you're dead, you're freed from sin. Let's use an example. It may be a bit hard to listen to. Romans is beautiful, but sometimes a bit hard to read. Don't you find that? I do. But it is beautiful. Let's try to use an example. And I'll tell you a story. It's not a real story. It's an imagined story. But it shows us what Romans want to bring, wants to bring across. So, there was once a poor slave. He was kept as a prisoner in the castle of a giant. That giant was mean, was harsh. He was a tyrant. He would beat that slave and demanded more of that slave and more. And that poor slave had to work harder and harder and sometimes that slave wanted to escape. He was imprisoned behind high walls and there were times that he could find a ladder and he would put that ladder up against the wall and he would try to climb up to get on the top and to jump off. But before he reached the top, the giant would always be there and he would push that ladder down and the slave would fall down with a thud upon the cobblestones of the court of that castle. And then the giant would beat that slave terribly because he had tried to escape. So that poor slave could never escape from that terrible, cruel giant. Now it happened to be that quite close to this castle there lived a king, and the king was a good king. And the king had heard about the misery of this slave, and he found out a way how this slave could be delivered. And this amounted to the fact that the king went to the castle of the giant, entered the castle, and that he crucified that slave. and the slave died and the king went home again and then when the giant came out calling his slave he received no answer and when the giant told the slave what to do there was no response and then the giant walked up to that slave and saw he was dead the giant was terribly annoyed For now he could no longer command that slave, and no longer could that slave listen any more to the giant. The giant had no authority any more upon the slave, and therefore the giant took hold of that body of the slave and threw it over the castle wall. The relationship of master and slave was broken. That relationship used to be a reality, but it didn't function anymore. He was dead, was no longer a slave. And then the good king came by and found the body of that slave, and he raised that dead slave to life again. And the slave lived, and he was free. He was redeemed from the power of that terrible, mean giant. And the slave who was now free was so happy, so full of gratitude and joy, because this good king had delivered him. And he was even allowed to live in the palace of this king. And this king was so wise, and gracious, that the love of this slave, former slave, floated over towards this king. His heart was full of love, he was joyful and glad, he was full of devotion for his Redeemer, and he was fully resolved to serve this good king forever. The old relationship that he had had with the giant had been broken by death, and yet this slave was alive. He had received a new life, and now there was only one whom he desired to serve. He was now dead towards his old master, and was made alive for his new master. He was dead to sin, and he lived for God. Romans 6, verse 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, and that henceforth we should not serve sin. Congregation, this is the glorious reality of Christian life. When you are a child of God, You must understand that the relationship in which you first lived regarding sin and the devil has now been broken. There was a time in your life when you were under the dominion of sin, and the devil was a terrible tyrant. The devil issued his commands, and you listened, and you had no peace, and sometimes you wanted to escape. just like someone who is addicted, and he wants to deliver himself from his addiction, and tries to work himself up out of the misery, but he cannot do it every time he falls down again. And maybe you tried many times in your own power to be delivered from the miserable service of sin and death. You tried to climb up out of that deep pit, and you tried to do so much praying and reading scripture and obeying, but it didn't work. You fell down again, painfully. You fell down upon the hard rocks of sin. You were a prisoner, and you could not redeem yourself. And when you know grace in your life, you know what happens. There was a time in your life when God entered your life, and God broke that dominion of sin in your life, and He did that by means of the crucifixion of His Son. The crucifixion power of the Lord Jesus entered your life. He died in your place, and He gave you new life. The strength of the Lord Jesus came into your life. You were raised to a new life, and the dominion that you were under, the dominion to sin and the devil, has now been broken. You've been redeemed by the death of Christ. Now He lives in you, and He leads you into a new life of surrender and dedication to God. Now you want to serve nobody except your blessed Savior and Redeemer, the one who broke that bond of slavery to the devil, who snapped those chains in which you were connected to the Prince of Darkness. You now want to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. He is your new master. You are now no longer under the dominion of the devil. You now live, and you will never die. You will never again be under the dominion of the devil. Christ has become your master. And in Romans 6, verses 8 through 10, now, if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we also shall live with him. knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. And the Lord Jesus lives now then in you. The Lord Jesus incorporates you into his death, The Lord Jesus took his people along in his death on Calvary. And the Lord Jesus took his people along from the grave, and he arose to a new life. And so every child of God has died to sin and evil. Evil no longer overwhelms him, because now he lives for Christ. And that's how rich the crucifixion of Christ is. A human being is united to Christ. And that happens by regeneration, that the Holy Spirit enters your life, and so you are delivered from the power of sin and you receive a new life with Christ. That's the practical and the glorious result of Christian faith. But now we return to that story. The slave is now free and he lives with his good king. But on a certain occasion that old giant, the old tyrant, meets him again. And that giant says, hey, what are you doing here? He starts to command him, and threatens even to beat the slave if he will be disobedient. What must then that slave do? He must realize that his old master has no authority over him whatsoever. The giant does not have the right to demand matters of this slave, He no longer can beat that slave, because his former slave now has a different master. He now serves the good king who redeemed him, and now the slave may call his old master an imposter. You have no right to demand anything from me. Get thee hence, Satan, because Christ is now my master, and the Lord Jesus protects me. And that's why I will be obedient to the Lord Jesus, and He gives me strength to obey the Lord Jesus. The devil has now actually lost his power and authority in the life of that child of God. And so that child of God can say, I no longer have to listen to you, I'm no longer allowed to listen to you, I refuse to listen to you, Now that's very nice to say, but it's not enough. It's not enough to say that I will not listen to you and I will now do the will of God, but he must practically learn to do the will of his new master, the Lord God. He must live practically in obedience to Christ. He must actively rise up in a new life with the Lord Jesus. He needs the love of the Lord Jesus to work in him. And that has all kinds of consequences for daily life. Because when the Lord Jesus enters your life, you no longer can join in with the world, and you no longer want to join in with the world. that you have no pleasure to watch films and movies where it's all about violence, and lying, and adultery, and hating, and hitting, and fighting, and envy, and lust. Someone who is in Christ Jesus cannot watch those things, and does not want to watch those things. You loathe these matters. And likewise, an image can come up on your screen that at first glance you know that's very attractive. Or when you're in a store, you walk past a rack of magazines and you see a picture, and you know exactly what it is. But when the Lord Jesus lives in your heart, you cannot watch that immorality. And you don't want to watch it. So you turn your face away from it. And when you are united to the Lord Jesus, you cannot speak lies anymore. You're not allowed to do that, because that's what your old master told you to do. But when I'm united to Him who is the truth, I must speak always the truth. And when I do sin, and I go against the good and blessed will of God, after I first have experienced His love, then everything in my life shrivels. Then I become dry and barren. Then the chastising hand of the Lord is upon me. because I refuse to listen to my new master. And when I do watch matters that I should not be watching, and when I do gossip about my neighbor, and when I do hate and resent him, and when I do not want to forgive my neighbor, when I am harsh, then I am ruining that relationship with my new master, then love is removed, peace is no longer present, and then the chastising hand of God is upon me. And then it can even be, when I do those things that I shouldn't be doing, that it will turn out that I never was a child of God, because I still under the dominion of the devil I do his works, And I said I'm a Christian, and I said I'm doing confession of faith, and I made people believe that now I'm a Christian, but I never knew the Lord Jesus in my heart. I was never redeemed by Christ, because I still do the things that the slaves of Satan does. And then I consider the blood of Christ unclean. It's also possible that one's life is cleansed and that the devil departs. It can be that a person lives in all kinds of outbreaking sins and that the devil sees some resistance and some calling upon the Lord and then the devil leaves. And that heart remains empty. The prayers for the Lord are no longer heard in that life. That person is still outside of Christ. Morally, he changed himself. He looks quite decent, but he does not live for the Lord. There's no surrender to Christ. That heart remains empty. And after a while, the devil comes back again. and he enters that hut and takes more devils along with him, the situation becomes worse with that man than at first. Because we cannot play with sin. We must hate all manner of sin. There needs to be an ongoing repentance in our life, and that's a struggle. That's the battle, that's a Christian battle. And the strength for that battle does not lie in ourselves, but in God. And therefore, you need to be united to Christ, and He infuses strength in you to fight that good fight of faith, Because after Christ has redeemed you, that old master, the devil, he has lost his authority. You're no longer his slave. But he is still powerful, and he still has an ally in your own heart. That's the old man living in you. That old man has to be put to death, and that's a process in the course of time. That's the struggle that Paul speaks about. The complaint that he utters, the good that I would, I do not. The evil which I would not, that I do. And every person stumbles into sins. And that's why a child of God, he also still sins. But the difference is, he turns to the Lord, asking for remission, and confessing that he has sinned again, and he hates it, and begging the Lord for strength to resist those sins, and daily asking for forgiveness of sins, as the Lord Jesus taught us in the Lord's Prayer. That's the struggle of a Christian. He's been redeemed from the power of the devil, is no longer under the dominion of sin. That's a reality. He's no longer a slave like he used to be, but he still falls into many sins. And when he falls, he has to confess that as quickly as possible to receive new strength so as to fight against the prince of darkness. And that's why Paul writes in Romans 12, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Then you also understand what Paul writes in Ephesians 4, that ye put off concerning the former conversation, your former walk in your old life, that you put off the old man, which is corrupt according to deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." The old man must be put to death, and the new man must rise up. That's a process in the life of a child of God that's characteristic. Someone who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ does not know this struggle. and doesn't want to put off that old man. If we are outside of Christ, we want to live according to the lust of the flesh, and according to the pattern of this world, the pride of life, and covetousness, and self-love. And so, you and I, we need to examine our lives. Who do you belong to? Who do you obey? By nature, we obey the devil. We have sold ourselves to the devil in paradise. We have listened to his temptations. We rebelled against God. We've become a slave of the devil in sin. And the end of that will be death, everlasting death. That's what's going to happen to the people of the world who are outside of Christ. And where do you belong to? Now, to receive an answer to this question, in our thoughts we will go back to ancient Rome. It's a market day in Rome, and there are wares being sold, but there are also slaves being sold. And so we approach that booth where we see slaves standing in a row, and they are being sold. And we will watch them for a little while. And you walk up to one of those slaves, and you ask, who is your master? And the man says, I belong to that man. But is it true what he's saying? A slave can say things which are not true at all. We only know whose master he is by watching him. So we step back a few steps and we just observe this slave. We'll see whom he belongs to. And so we see a rich man coming by and calling him. But there's no response. Another man comes by and he shouts something to that slave. The slave doesn't move. And then there's another voice saying, slave, come here. And then you see the slave perching, his ears, and he gets into action and he walks straight to that man. He obeys him. He knows whose master, whose slave he is. He knows really who is his master. He can say he belongs to someone else, But he listens to that one. Well, who do you listen to? Who do you listen to? We're in church, and we all know we must belong to the Lord Jesus. So we can say, yes, I belong to the Lord Jesus. But who do you listen to? If the devil tells you, you don't have to speak the truth, just tell a few lies, just distort the truth a little bit, and you do that, then he is your master, because you're listening to him. Or when the devil tells you, be angry, and you are angry, or the devil says, give a big mouth, answer him back, come on, and that's what you do and when the devil tells you think about yourself don't care about other people think about yourself or do what you like to do watch what you want to like what you do what you want to watch and it's your body go ahead do with it what you want and really You don't have time to read the Bible now. It's too late now. And you don't read the Bible. And the next day is something else. And you don't read the Bible. And so you're continually listening to what the devil tells you. You don't know it's the devil. Of course he hides himself, he camouflages himself. He lets you think that you're in control of your own life. Yes, you're your own master. But the devil is telling you what to do. Who do you belong to? Who is your master? Who has authority upon your life? That if you're like that, don't you realize that the devil is bringing you into eternal darkness? And the worst part is that you are doing injustice to the loving Lord Jesus Christ. The devil has never done anything good for you. He has never given you anything nice. All the good things of life you enjoy, the sunshine, the air you can suck into your lungs, the good food you have, that all comes from God. God has only done good to you, but in the meantime you're listening to the devil, and that will bring you into eternal misery. Who do you listen to? What are you doing with your life? Will you be in the place of eternal regret? Or will you be in the place of eternal joy? Do you know what's needed for all of us? That we are united to Christ. That we are united to the death and resurrection of Christ. Because in His death, we die to sin. We are dead to the devil. And you are liberated. You feel it. You know it. You rise up in a new life. It's the work of God's Spirit working in you, pouring out sanctified love in your heart. And you look to the Lord Jesus Christ as your Master. You say, Lord, take my heart and my life. May it be devoted to Thee. You receive new perspective upon life, new desires, new joys you never tasted before. You've been redeemed from your old life, miserable life, and you've been placed into a life of the love of Christ. Living waters now flow from within you, planted there, by the Lord Jesus. One last example. Marriage. As long as you are married, you are obliged to love your husband or your wife. But if your spouse has died, and the marriage ceases to exist, then you're free to marry someone else. Will the death of Christ is imputed to a man, and that old marriage to sin is dissolved. He is now married to Christ, and he wants to obey Christ. And that's why God's children enter into a struggle. Christian life, I just mentioned it, is a struggle. struggle against sin you're not a slave anymore but the struggle is still there you have to arm yourself you have to put a watch before your eyes and you cleave to the Lord Jesus and the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 6 with all prayer and supplication you clothe yourself with the spiritual armor the Holy Spirit gives that in life And so it's a struggle. But that struggle will end. It will end in full victory. When a child of God dies, he dies forever to all his sins. Death makes an end to sin. And that's why death, for a child of God, is not a loss but it is gain. You can't see it, but it's reality. Death is for a child of God, deliverance from the body of death, and then I'm eternally free to rejoice forever in the sovereign grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Ever-blessed Lord, we come to Thee at the end of this service to again thank Thee for this precious gospel. O Lord, teach us to love this gospel and to increase in love to it, because Thy Word is truly the Word of eternal life and of liberty and of true joy. And so we thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for Thy precious sacrifice given on the cross and cause us to joy in the cross of Christ, and to rest upon Thee, to look unto Thee. Look upon us in mercy, and go with us, Lord, this coming week. And all that is scheduled to take place in the congregation, various meetings, gatherings at a Bible class, ladies' society, choir, Lord, will Thou bless all these labors and glorify Thyself in our lives. For Jesus' sake. Amen.