#25 HCBC 5-13-07 AM
Dying to Sin Means Living a New Life
“In Christ” -- Part II
Romans 6:1-4
We have made the point that, in Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8, Paul is making a case for the security of the believer.
Rom 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have
gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we
rejoice in the hope of the glory of God.
Rom 8:30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also
justified; those he justified, he also glorified.
In our previous passage, Rom 5:12-21, we saw that Paul contrasted being in Adam with being in Christ.
In Paul’s explanation of the gospel as being by grace apart from the law, grace that is greater than all our sin, he has raised two questions.
1) Does grace diminish the purpose and importance of the law? (Romans 7)
2) If grace increases as sin increases, shouldn’t we go on sinning? (Romans 6)
I. Salvation vs Sin
A. Should Sin Continue After Salvation? (1)
Where does the triumph of God’s grace over sin lead us?
Some say: “Continue to sin!”
If grace wins over sin, how should we live? Sin -- Righteousness
If we choose “go on sinning,” it is called antinomianism.
It is logical: If salvation is by grace not works, why should we stop sinning?
If we sin more, that would mean more grace,
So why not sin?
It is natural: There is a natural attraction to sin.
Sin is fun… (Rom 1:25)
As far as the old nature is concerned, righteousness calls us to an
unnatural path.
Lk 9:23 Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come
after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross
daily and follow me.
It is pious: Religiosity! “a form of godliness”
If we go on sinning, we are only multiplying God’s grace!
We are religious people because, by our sin, we promote God’s
grace.
To “go on sinning”:
Overlooks God’s purpose in salvation: to save us from sin!
The punishment…
The guilt…
The presence…
The practice…
To “go on sinning”:
Overlooks God’s means of salvation: union with Christ!
Union with Christ is the source of holiness and cannot be the source of sin!
To “go on sinning”:
Overlooks the meaning of God’s grace:
“The business of grace is to deliver us from the bondage and the reign
of sin, and to put us under the reign of grace.” D. M. Lloyd-Jones
A reigning monarch is a triumphant monarch.
If grace is reigning in us, grace is advancing its conquest over sin.
Christians sin, but they are not defeated by sin and they do not continue
in it.
Which message does your life proclaim:
The message that says Christians can go on sinning because it causes grace to
abound when we do?
Or the true gospel message that says to understand the purpose and the means
and the grace of God in salvation does not allow us to go on sinning!
Puritan writer: It is a lamentable fact that one man who dishonors the gospel by an
unholy walk does more injury to the souls of men than ten holy ones
can do them good.
Let your life be marked by righteousness, not marred by sin – for your own soul’s
good as well as for the good of other people.
What shall we say? Shall we go on sinning…
B. We Died to Sin (2)
Paul quickly makes the point that this is an unthinkable position!
By no means! (NIV) = Let it not be! = “It is inconceivable for it to be thus!”
It should not even be considered! God forbid! (KJV) May it never be! (NAS)
“We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer?” (vs 2)
What does it mean that we died to sin?
JMB says that this verse is the key to understanding the doctrine of sanctification.
To understand this verse is to understand how to live a holy life!
“And because it is the key to sanctification, I would go so far as to say that
Romans 6:2 is the most important verse in the Bible for believers in the
evangelical churches to understand today.”
Misconceptions of “We died to sin.”
(1) The Christian is no longer responsive to sin.
If this were true, there would be no need for the many instructions to flee from sin.
(2) The Christian should die to sin.
True but Paul said that we have already died to sin.
(3) The Christian is dying to sin day by day.
True but the secret to sanctification is something that has already happened to us.
(4) The Christian cannot continue to sin, because he has renounced it.
Dying to sin was not something we did, but something that was done to us.
(5) The Christian has died to sin’s guilt.
Incomplete. It does not answer the question as to why we can no longer live in sin.
Because Christ died for our sin, and because we are now in Christ, we have died to sin!
Verse two of Romans 6 says: “We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer?”
Scripture has a lot to say about what it means to be “in Christ” and dead to sin!
1. Being “in Christ” means that we are identified with Christ in His death:
(Rom 6:10)
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in
me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me.
Col 2:20 Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as
though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules:
Col 3:3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
2 Tim 2:11 Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live
with him;
1 Pet 2:24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to
sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.
2. Being “in Christ” means that we are no longer condemned: (Rom 8:1)
Jn 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe
stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's
one and only Son.
Jn 5:24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me
has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to
life.
Rom 8:34 Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who
was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
3. Being “in Christ” means that we will never be separated from the love of God:
(Rom 8:39)
Mt 28:20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Jn 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch
them out of my hand.
Jn 15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself;
it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
4. Being “in Christ” means that we are members of one body: (Rom 12:5)
1 Cor 10:17 Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body,
for we all partake of the one loaf.
1 Cor 12:12 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all
its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ.
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus.
Eph 4:13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of
God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of
Christ.
5. Being “in Christ” means that we are all fellow workers: (Rom 16:3)
Mt 9:37-38 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers
are few. 38 Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into
his harvest field."
1 Cor 3:8-9 The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose, and
each will be rewarded according to his own labor. 9 For we are God's fellow
workers; you are God's field, God's building.
In vs 3-4 of Rom 6, Paul explains the nature of being in Christ, death to sin, and the new
life that is the result!
II. Being in Christ Produces New Life! Rom 6:3-4
A. Baptized into Christ Jesus (3)
In verse three, Paul begins with the phrase “Or don’t you know…”
He might well have said: “You should know and remember…”
He is reminding his readers: “This is something that is basic to your
faith.”
Here, Paul unfolds the secret to sanctification!
He is saying that our growth as a Christian is based upon our knowledge of
what has taken place at salvation!
That is: We were united to Jesus Christ!
We were baptized into Jesus Christ!
We became one with Jesus Christ and we will change and grow!
In Scripture there are two ways that the term “baptism” is used and the context
should always be the key to understanding which usage is meant.
The usages refer to spiritual baptism and water baptism.
Spiritual baptism is what takes placed at salvation which unites an individual
with Jesus Christ.
Water baptism is the prescribed manner of giving a public testimony of what
has already taken place in spiritual baptism.
If a particular passage of Scripture does not include water,
it is most likely a reference to spiritual baptism.
Water baptism:
Mt 3:11 "I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will
come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not
fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with
fire.
Mt 3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by
John.
Mt 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit,
Lk 3:21 When all the people were being baptized, Jesus was baptized
too. And as he was praying, heaven was opened
Acts 8:36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water
and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water. Why shouldn't I be
baptized?"
1 Cor 1:14 I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except
Crispus and Gaius,
Spiritual baptism:
1 Cor 10:2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the
sea.
1 Cor 12:13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—
whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the
one Spirit to drink.
Gal 3:27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ.
But verse three of Romans 6 has more.
It says that we were baptized into Christ’s death!
When Jesus Christ died for our sins, we died to sin!!!
We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
And what does verse four say about this dying to sin?
B. Death to Sin = New Living (4)
It says that because Christ was raised from the dead, we too live a new life!
The Christian life is a changed life!
We are always coming back to Ephesians 4:17-32!
The practical working out, in sanctification, of the reality that has taken place
at salvation.
Because we were buried with Him through spiritual baptism into death,
Why wouldn’t we live it out in a changed life?
Because we are raised with Him so that we may live a new life,
Why wouldn’t we live it out?
Because we know that when we see Jesus face to face we will be like Him,
Why would we think and speak and act more like Him between now and then?
What do you think about your sin?
Rom 7:15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do,
but what I hate I do.
Rom 7:16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good.
Rom 7:17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me.
Rom 7:18 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.
For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
Rom 7:19 For what I do is not the good I want to do;
no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.
Rom 7:20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it,
but it is sin living in me that does it.
What a wretched man I am!
Should we go on sinning so that grace might increase?
Paul tells us in this passage that growing as a Christian
does not come from mystical experience,
it does not come from emotion;
it comes from knowing that we died to sin!
How can we live in it any longer?