the world wanted to do things. And I was very competitive and athletics was so important to me. And I moved on to high school and into college. I was always kind of a late bloomer, a small kid. I was third string in high school until my senior year when I played, and I was third stringer in college for two years before I finally started.
But I wanted to be successful. And the more I bought into the world's formula for success, in good grades, in popularity, in athletic achievement, in lots of friends, in the social life, the more I bought into that world philosophy, the more I pushed God out of my life. And yet the whole time I was telling myself I was a Christian. And I kind of kept that in the back of my head. I didn't want anyone to really know.
I wanted to live like everyone else but have the confidence that I was going to heaven and was saved. And one of the verses that maybe even I twisted to justify that is Romans 8.28, that you hear people say all the time, all things work together for good for those that love God. Well, I thought about that verse, and at the end of 1981 when I graduated from Dartmouth, I was successful finally by the world's model. I was going to go to Los Angeles to play pro football
for the Los Angeles Rams. That was my dream and my goal, something I'd always wanted since I was a little kid, since my dad had played and I loved playing quarterback. And yet after being successful and finishing college, I knew that there was something wrong. I felt something wrong. I'd felt the compromise in my values. I'd seen myself turned from a leader into a follower. And I'd seen that I was very selfish. All those things going against what I knew God planned for us to have in our lives.
And I thought again and opened up my Bible to Romans 8.28 and read the verse. And there was more to it than what I'd read that first time. It says, all things work together for good for those that love God and are called according to his purpose. And a light bulb went on in my head and said, Jeff, you've been called according to your own purpose for 20 years. And you've called yourself a Christian, but you've been trying to be Jeff Kemp's own boss.
You've been trying to do things the world's way. You've been trying to become happy and popular and successful. And you've done that in the world's eyes, but it hadn't worked. So I made a true commitment, a full life commitment that Jesus Christ would be the purpose and the center and the goal in my life. The Bible started becoming my game plan instead of what the crowd was doing around me.
And prayer was the main tool for entering into the battles that you face each day playing football in the NFL or trying to find a good Christian wife, which God soon brought into my life. And after making that commitment in 1981, God fulfilled not only a purpose in my life, but a plan. And the plan isn't always easy. It's not intended to be. We usually grow closer to God in the tough times than in the easy times when we tend to take credit for things.
And I've been traded twice in the NFL and I've been a fourth stringer. I've struggled, and yet I thank God that my career has gone that way because it's always made me hold on tight to the Lord. My wife Stacey became a Christian a year before we met. And we now have two little boys who have been married for five years. And God is working great things in my personal family and my larger family as we go through this incredible process of political running for office.
But Christ is the center and I just enjoy the chance to get to share it with all of you. Thank you. We're glad to have you here tonight. It may be one of these days you get traded to the Vikings. You never know, right? They've got two good quarterbacks. I don't know if I want to come here. Well, just give them time. Just give them time. Are there a number of other Christians who are working with you at the football organization you're with now?
You may be interested to know that on every single football team in the National Football League, there is a chapel service on Sunday morning before the games since we can't go to church with our families. And every team I believe has Bible studies. Some of them are pretty small. The Seahawks have about eight or nine believers who bring their wives, their girlfriends. And we have a very strong fellowship, a good little discipleship group.
And Steve Largent and Paul Scancey are two of my very best friends on the team. And Steve Largent for a long time has been a leader in standing up for Christ. Not only by espousing his faith in front of others and professing Christ, but by standing for excellence as a Christian. I mean, we're called to do all things heartily as unto the Lord.
I don't know anyone who does things more heartily unto the Lord than Steve Largent, who's proven that you don't need to have all the talent in the world to glorify God through whatever he's called you to do. Well, thanks for coming tonight and sharing with us in this service. I know there are probably some people who want autographs after the service. I don't know if you're available for that or not, but I might be one of them.
But God bless you, and we're thankful for men like you who are representing the Lord as well as a team in athletics. God bless you. Okay, thanks. Thank you, Randall. I understand that Mark and Roxanne Henderson have a little boy, is that right? Bradley? Brady? Brady. And what's his middle name? Joe. Joe. Okay. Joel, excuse me. Well, I'll get it right, you know. His eyes are going, my ears are going. So we congratulate them. We're happy for them. John and I are good friends.
And for those of you who may be visiting tonight, when I make a comment like I did a few moments ago, it's all in fun. John and I tease each other all the time. And I know John, you didn't take offense at that, did you? Yeah. Any more than I did when he remarked about my tie a couple of weeks ago. So I guess it was about a month ago now that I was asked to speak at a retreat for Small Church 22. It was up at a camp between Little Falls and Long Prairie.
I was to arrive there about 8.30 on a Friday evening and left in plenty of time to get there. I had good directions, but the direct D got lost. And as I was driving around central Minnesota with the temperature about 10 below zero, not knowing where I was, I decided to stop and ask at some farm homes. I could not find anybody who would answer the door. I don't know if they were all out playing bingo that Friday night or if they were scared by this imposing figure who came to the door.
I'm not sure what the reason was. But I stopped at one place that looked inviting, lights were on. As I got out of my car and walked toward the door, there was a deck that came out from the door. And just as I was about to step on the deck, I heard this deep growl from underneath the deck. And I looked down and saw two bright eyes staring at me from Rin Tin Tin in a bad mood. And he moved out from under the deck toward me. I started backing up. And he was ferocious.
He did not have a collar on or a rope or a chain. I reached in my pocket and found the only weapon I had, which was a camera, which I intended to place right behind his tonsils when he jumped at me. I backed up as fast as he was coming at me. And as I was backing up, I backed over a snow drift and fell flat on my back. At that point, I could see him making one last leap on this preacher and going for my juggler vein.
I did escape, however, got back in the car, and the adrenaline was flowing through my body so badly I could hardly drive. I shook. And at that point, I was ready to come back to the Twin Cities, to civilization, I'll tell you. Well, it reminded me of that verse in the scripture that says, The devil is like a roaring German shepherd, walking about, seeking whom he may devour. We have an enemy that we fight. We've been talking about that in the mornings.
But we have not only an enemy without, we have an enemy within. And that is our theme for tonight as we turn to Romans chapter 6. We're talking about this matter of victory over sin. In Romans chapters 6, 7, and 8, we have God's answer to that. In chapters 6 and 7, he speaks about our union with Jesus Christ. And in chapter 8, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Because of those two facts, you and I can know victory over sin.
Now, I hope you have an outline that was placed into your hand when you came in, do you? Oh, good. I see most of you shaking your head yes. If you don't have one, by the way, you might want to lift your hand and I should get one to you. If you do not have an outline, yes, we have some who need them. We'll move ahead, but you just keep your hand up and they'll work up the aisles and hand you the outline. Last week we looked at the first part of this key statement that says we died to sin.
Let's read together verses 1 through 3. I'll read you follow along in your scripture. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? The key phrase in those three verses is found in verse 2 where it says we died to sin. Last week we focused on the first key word, we, our identity. Who are we?
If you men will just work up the aisle, there are some with hands up here at the front. Oh, you're out of them? Okay, we'll make some more next week then. Sorry about that. Maybe you can look on with somebody near you. We, who are we who have died to sin? The answer is that we are, in Paul's language, in Romans, saints. It doesn't mean that we're sinlessly perfect. It doesn't mean that we're part of some super spiritual group.
But all who have been called of God to belong to the Lord Jesus Christ as his own are saints. Those who have been set apart from the secular to be sacred. Those who have been called out from the profane to be God's own personal possession. All believers are saints. Our essential identity is no longer as sinners, though we still sin. But there has been a radical transformation in us. We are brand new people. We are people that we were not before. We are new creatures in Jesus Christ.
We have a new identity. And because of that identity, the apostle says, how can we, considering who we are, continue to live in sin? It's ludicrous. It doesn't make sense, he says. That we who have been called by God to be saints, who have been set apart by God for special purpose, that we should continue living in sin. That's our identity. Now we want to talk briefly about our enemy, which is found in that same phrase, we died to sin. The enemy here is the one within us. It is sin.
Not sins, the acts or the expressions or the deeds, but rather that which is the root of the deeds, sin. As a power, as a force or a principle that is within us. Sin as a power force entered into the creation in the garden. It came through Adam, as it says back in chapter 5 and verse 12. Therefore, just as through one man, sin entered into the world. The word entered there has the idea behind it of coming in through the door.
Sin was not a part of God's creation in this world until that point when Adam opened the door by his disobedience. And sin entered, and along with sin came its partner, death. And it says, so death spread to all men. That is, it spread out like a vapor, permeating, penetrating all of the human race, because it says all sinned. Now the tense of that verb means that all sinned at one time, one occasion. And that one occasion was when Adam sinned.
When Adam sinned in the garden, he represented all of us. We were still in him. Very literally we were in him. Genetically we were in him. And when he sinned, we sinned. Sin brought death. And as it says in verse 21, sin reigned in death. Sin is an enemy. Sin is the power of evil that holds all men who are in Adam as slaves. Chapter 3 in verse 9 says that. It says, we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks, or Gentiles that is, non-Jews,
are all under, under sin. Under the bondage, under the enslavement of sin. Sin is the master of all men. Sin is a power, is a principle, is the master of all men. That is the enemy, sin. Let's think for a moment now about our identification. We see that key thought in the word died. It's the verb here. He says, we died to sin. Now the tense of that verb means that we died once and for all to sin. Paul is not saying here that we continually die to sin.
Nor is this a command. Paul is not saying here you should die to sin. But what he says is that you did die to sin. You died to sin. Now the question is, if we died to sin, when was that? Well, the answer is we died to sin when Christ died. That's what he says in verse 3. He says, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Just as we sinned in Adam and incurred the condemnation of death, so through our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, we were identified with Him in His death. We died together with Christ. How? Well, he says through baptism. We've been baptized into His death. What does that mean? Well, first of all, I'd like you to take your finger and just feel your Bible right there at verse 3. Now don't get into verse 4, but just feel verse 3.
Is it wet in your Bible? Is there any water there? No? Not of mine either. Often when we see the word baptize, we immediately think of water baptism. And that's legitimate. We baptize people in our baptistry. The word baptize means to dip, to immerse. And it's a very beautiful picture of our death, burial, and resurrection with the Lord Jesus Christ. But keep in mind that when you see the word baptize, it does not always mean water baptism. And indeed here it does not.
The word baptize not only has that literal meaning of to dip or immerse, but it also has a figurative meaning. A figurative meaning. It means to identify with. Let me give you an example of that in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. He says, I do not want you, verse 1, to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. And he says, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
Now there are a number of things that we could point out there, but the thing I want you to notice is that it says they were all baptized into Moses. What does that mean? Well it means that on that occasion, as they passed through the sea on the dry ground, that they were identified with Moses as their great leader. It was sort of a picture of water baptism in a way, wasn't it? Because there was the water vapor over them in the cloud.
There was the water on each side of them, although they didn't get wet. The Christian army did, but there was water all the way around them. But the point here in the word baptized into Moses is that they were identified with Moses as their leader. And that is the meaning of baptism in Romans chapter 6. What it means is that we were identified with Jesus Christ at the moment that we were saved. We were united to Him, or identified with Him.
So that what happened to Jesus at that moment also happened to us. Now that's a key thought. What happened to Jesus happened to us because we were identified with Him at the moment that we trusted Him as Savior. We were identified with Him in His death. We were united to Him in His burial. And we were raised together with Him so that all that happened to Christ at that instant happened to us as well. Now there are other texts in Scripture that we could look at to talk about this.
Let me just give you a couple of references for your own study. Colossians chapter 2, verses 9, 10, 11, and 12. Again in verse 20 of that same chapter. Then Colossians 3, verses 1 and 4. Ephesians 2, verses 4 through 7. And then of course the great Galatians 2, 20. These verses all speak to the same truth of our identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now although this word is figurative here, you need to understand that this identification with Christ is actual. It's not fanciful.
It's not the figment of imagination. It's not a daydream. It's not theoretical. But we were actually identified with Jesus Christ. We were united corporately to Jesus Christ at that moment that we trusted Him. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 13. We were all baptized into Christ Jesus. Again that's a dry verse. We were all identified into the body of Christ Jesus. It says there, made one with Him. So we died with Christ. We died to sin.
But now we have to ask a very practical question. And that is, in what sense then have I died? When it says that I have died to sin, in what sense have I died? Have I died to the guilt of sin? Well, yes, in a sense that is true. We no longer have the guilt of sin to condemn us. And what a blessed relief that is to know that the guilt of sin is no longer charged to us. I spoke to a lady this afternoon on the telephone who is wracked with misery and torment in her soul.
Because she cannot understand release from guilt. She's a Christian. She's trusted Christ. But she still feels terribly guilty over things in her past. Praise God that when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, at that moment we die to the guilt of sin. We're no longer guilty in the eyes of God. We are justified. We are righteous. Not just forgiven so that the sins are taken away. That's blessed in itself. But we have added to us righteousness. So that God sees us righteous in Christ.
That's justification. But I believe that when it says here that we died to sin, it means more than that we died to the guilt of sin. Does it mean that we have died to the possibility of sin? No, it doesn't. And even the Apostle Paul will testify to that in chapter 7. So hang in there for his testimony. It's tremendous. The transparency of the Apostle. When it says we've died to sin, it doesn't mean that we have no longer the possibility of sin within us. Because we can, and sadly we do, sin.
So he's not saying that we died to the possibility of sin. But what he is saying is this. When he says in verse 2 that we died to sin, he means we have died to the reign of sin in our lives. We've pointed out the verse in chapter 5, verse 21, that sin reigned in death. In the sphere of death. Sin reigned as a taskmaster, as a cruel death spot over our lives before we were saved.
And those who have not yet heard, those that we heard sung about earlier this evening, are still under the reign of sin. Held in that cruel bondage to sin. But you and I who have come to Jesus Christ, who have received from Him grace and forgiveness, we have died to the reign of sin. We have died to its rule, its dominion, its mastery over us. We have finished now with the reign of sin. And we are now under the reign of grace in our lives.
Again, chapter 5, verse 21. As sin reigned in death, before we were saved, when we were still in Adam. He says even so grace might reign through righteousness. That's what happens now that we're saved. Grace is reigning in our lives, not sin. We have been taken out of sin's territory, as Paul said to the Colossians. He says God has translated us out of the domain of Satan. And has placed us into the kingdom of His dear Son. So no longer are we under the reign of sin.
No longer are we a part of the domain or the kingdom of sin. We are now under the reign of grace and we belong to the kingdom of His dear Son. Now that is an actual fact. That is truth that the Word of God teaches us. But we have to keep in mind that there is a distinction between what the facts are and what our experience may be. We have to distinguish between what the facts are in God's Word and what our experience may be at the moment. Paul says that we are no longer under the slavery to sin.
But in experience there are times when we obey sin and we do what it tells us to do. And even though it's a fact we're free from it, we yield to it. Though we shouldn't. One commentator points to the slaves after the Civil War who were given their freedom from the cruel bondage that they experienced. And yet because many of them had all of their lives been in slavery they did not know what it was to be free. The fact was that they were set free.
There was a document stating that they were no longer in bondage to their owners. And yet many of them for a long time had difficulty with the facts in experience. They remained as servants. They did not know how to act, how to appropriate, how to live in light of the new truth about them. And there are many of us Christians who are just like that. God has set us free. That's the fact. We no longer have to obey sin. But in the case with most of us we have lived a long time under bondage to sin.
And the result is that we still have yet to fully implement the facts into our lives. You say, wait a minute, if I am really truly free from the reign of sin why am I still tempted to sin? Why is there still this enemy that allures me and entices me to disobey God? Why do I still experience that if in fact I am dead to sin? The answer to that is simply this, that sin didn't die. God doesn't say here in Romans chapter 6 that sin died. He says you died. Sin is still very much alive.
And it dwells in you as a power, as a force to be reckoned with. It's an enemy that lives inside of you. But the fact that we have to write in our hearts, Paul says in fact in verse 3, do you not know there is something that we need to know? And that is this truth that when we came to Jesus Christ and trusted him as Savior, at that moment we died, we died to sin, though it still lives. We died to it and we have been therefore released from slavery to it so that we no longer have to obey sin.
Now my friend, that is the key to victory. It is this truth that we died to sin. Paul goes on from here now to tell us how to use that key. As it were how to turn the key in the lock and open the door so that we might experience this victory more consistently in our lives. We'll take that up next week. Let's bow together. Father, this truth is so transforming and life changing that it's like dynamite, it's powerful.
And I pray that you will write it on the heart of each person here who's yours, each saint of God. May we know this truth. Grant that we shall be able to understand who we are now in Christ, that we're somebody in Christ, that we're part of your new creation, that we're your new people, that we're citizens of a new kingdom, that we're no longer under the old taskmaster and system.
And as we know that, I pray that by grace the Spirit of God will enable us to use that truth as a key to victory in our experience as we battle with sin, which is still very much alive as our enemy. Lord, each week as we build this truth that you're going to speak to us, may it be an exciting and a releasing, a liberating experience for all of us. May we know the truth and may it truly set us free to experience the quality of life that you've made possible for us in Christ.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen. God bless you. We thank you for being here for the service tonight. Now, there's some important meetings after the service. We encourage your attendance at them. And if you're not going there, may God give you a safe journey home and a fruitful week as you walk with Him. God bless you.