Romans 6:1-14
Notes
Transcript
Freed from Sin....
Freed from Sin....
Good morning my friends, I hope and pray you are doing well.
Well, we have had some chili mornings this week, sweaters and jackets have come out of the closet and for many, myself included I am not ready for cooler temperatures.
But that is okay. Fall is here and what it tells us is this, God is in control, the seasons pass one to another at His will. And knowing God is on his throne, working, leading and helping us His children is a blessing.
So we walk one day at a time, with the Lord’s help trusting Him.
I hope you are enjoying our walk through the book of Romans, learning about God’s wonderful grace, His work to redeem us and the blessing of living in relationship to our Lord.
Today we start a new chapter, Chapter 6.
As we open this chapter there is a over arching theme, grace triumphs over sin!
Now this important, because we must be reminded that sin is dangerous, sin is the thing that separates us, lures us and can lead us astray, away from God. This is the reason God sent His Son, to die for our sin, putting sin to death and giving us the opportunity die to sin, and learn to live in freedom and victory! God made us to live above sin… God wants us to breath in His AIR again.... Air that isn’t polluted by sin.
So lets begin…
As a born again child of God, I want you to know you, your life is dead to sin. Sin doesn’t have any power of you, it only has the power you all it.
1. Dead to Sin....
As you open Romans chapter 6, this is where the text begins, Dead to sin. Paul has been teaching about grace. And in this Paul has reminded the believers that works, their mentality of keeping the law has no place in true faith.
As he tells the church at Ephesus, “..For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, this is the gift of God, not of works so no one could boast....” Eph 2:8-9.
Paul knows their mindset. So having lived by the law and dealt with the extremes their traditions required, Paul says you’re proposing another extreme…Really. lets look a the text, verses 1-4
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Do you see it? Paul is addressing what someone apparently has voiced…
Should we continue in sin that grace may abound all the more?”
It’s the mentality of someone saying… oh the doctor said two tablets will make you feel better, so lets take 4 or 5, ..it’s good for you!
What? Did you hear this.... Should we keep sinning to experience the grace of God more and more?
The answer here is simply No! It’s never okay to participate in sin, never!
More sin, intentional sin will never result in more grace. Sin hurts us, separates us, brings death and not life..
So what is the answer? Pursue more of Him, more of God and less of what you desire.. Here is why.... 2 thoughts here...
A. Paul says we have died to sin.... What does this mean? - To die to sin removes the control that sin has over the believer. But did we die? Well, not physically.
Christ came and died, taking upon himself the sins of the world, His death paying the price caused by man’s sin, literally atoning for our sin.
When we receive Christ, we die to self and are dead to sin. We have taken His life upon us, we want Jesus and not sin. So our ambition is to please Christ and not self, and certainly we do not want to fall to sin.
Origen, (185 to 253 AD) One of the most influential theologians of ant-Nicene period says this “...To obey the cravings of sin is to be alive to sin; but not to obey the cravings of sin or succumb to its will, this is to die to sin....”
Friends, please know that sin wants to dominate your life, to control your conduct!… leave sin to its natural outcome, it takes its tole on our lives and brings us to death (James 1).
But it doesn’t have too..
Go back and look at verse 3
3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
So not only have we died to sin… Paul also tells us this truth....
B. Paul says we have been baptized in Christ.... Do you remember your baptism… The words we say as you are symbolically buried with Him.
“.....You have been buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in newness of life.... “
it is a picture of your life in Christ… If you are baptised into Christ, you are baptized into his death as well. Christ’s death for sin becomes our death to sin.
He overcame sin… We in Christ, we can overcome sin as well....
But death isn’t the end my friend. go back and look at verse 4 again..
4 We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
Just as we have been talking about our death and burial to sin symbolically through baptism… but that isn’t the end of the story.
Christ died, buried and what? He rose, He rose again on the 3rd day. Just as the Father raised the Son, so we to are raised in the water to live an entirely new way of life.
This is what Jesus death on the cross does… Apart from Christ we were dead to sin.. Remember Eph 2 verse 1.
1 And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
But we were raised to an entirely new sphere of life, a new existence, we are “Alive in Christ” Remember what Jesus said in John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
You see your walk, your life, your conduct in Christ ( literally since you are in Christ) is to be so different from your previously way of living. It should be like the difference we see in life and death...
Q. Are you always pursuing the life you have in Christ, or do you live more for you?
Now lets move to our second thought my friends, not only are we dead to sin, but Paul says that we are Alive to God here in this next section.
2. Alive to God.....
So often we talk about this life merely in physical terms, but friends just as we are physical, please know we are just as spiritual. It is an equal balance my friends.
But before Christ, we were dead spiritually because of sin.. But in Christ we are alive spiritually.
Lets look at our text.... verses 5-11
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. 7 For one who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
So remember that Paul has been making this series of comparisons, death and life.
His first thought is simple, If you are in Christ, you are united with Him not only in His death, but also in life.
Why? Just as Jesus rose from the dead, having been resurrected by the Father so we will share in the resurrection as well since we are united in Him.
Listen to Paul as he describes what happens in our lives as we are in Christ.
A. Power of Sin is Broken.... Sin and its power is broken the moment a person finds Christ as their Savior.
To have Christ is to be in Him, united with Him. Being in Christ is the power to live differently.. How? It’s the power and presence of His Holy Spirit in us.
Paul says this in Gal 2:20
20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
To be in Christ, we find that our our old self is dead, we have put to death the old self, the old person. Just as He was crucified, so we have been as well our old self is crucified with Him. We have put the old man, the old self to death.
When we unite with Christ and the old man is crucified, we have stripped the sinful nature of man from any power. So the power of sin is broken in our lives.
So if the power of sin is broken, we are set free from sin and its effects...
B. Free from the effects of Sin… In Christ we are set free, all the power of sin has been exhausted, it is powerless to overcome our new life in Christ.
As we die to self through the power of the Holy Spirit, the power of sin is lost and our new life in Him, lived by faith blossoms in the person, and fulfilling the purpose God has for us.
I love what verse 9 says Romans 6:9 says,
9 We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
Sin and its consequence death no longer has dominion over Christ, and likewise us since we are in Christ. It does not control us, it has no power to harm us, the only controling force in our life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Q. Ask yourself my friends, What rules your life? What controls your life? Is it sin, is it self and its desires or is it Jesus.
I love Paul’s plea in verses 10 and 11, I think it is a thought we must pay attention too..
10 For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. 11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Christ’s death overcame sin once and for all. What? Did you hear that..
The children of Israel dealt with sin for hundreds of years, sacrifices and more sacrifices trying to remain right in front of God.. But Paul says here, Jesus died once and for all.. He was the prefect sacrifice for sin
Wow, No other sacrifices, no other work, His actions solved, overcame death once and for all.
Friends, we must settle our accounts once and for all. We make the appeal to God to save us in Christ Jesus, and if we ask sincerely, He does save us, he does forgive us through the blood of His Son.
And upon receiving Christ we consider ourselves dead to sin, and alive to God.
Let me ask you one other question.... Have you allowed Jesus to put to death your old man, your old ways, once and for all. Or do you keep digging up those old bones, those old ways and that old life ??
Make no mistake, we do not have to live like we used too, God has made us alive in Christ and set us free from the power of sin… PTL...
We are free....
Now my friends we look at the last thought this morning…
3. Be on the Alert....
I think you know this, but we need to be reminded.... we need to be reminded to be on guard as we live in a sin touched world.
And the Bible tells us to be on the alert, to be on guard so that the enemy and his evil ways do not sneak in, in an attempt to control us.
Look with me at this last section today, Romans 6:12-14
12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
When you look at this call from the Apostle Paul in verse 12 we see it’s imperative that we act.... it is knowing and putting it into action.
Sin is like a ruler who seeks to be sovereign in your life, sin wants to rule over you, it seeks to take your freedom away.
But remember, in Christ, we have died to sin, Sin no longer has the authority to enforce its demands… Our death to self in Christ, severs the relationship to sin.
We are free.....
But the call remains, it is very practical.. You are to avoid the presence of sin, and do not present your members to sin, instead present yourself to God..
Listen my friends, remember what Peter tells us about the devil’s work in 1 Peter 5:8
8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
The devil prowls, his agents are working, hoping to draw us away, to trap us, to devour us. Literally kill...
So the challenge is be careful… listen if we called your house and said there are lions, tigers walking around outside in your neighborhood. You would be real cautious. You would try your best to stay safe because you do not want to be attacked and killed.
Do we take the issue of sin that seriously? … Avoid evil, do not entertain evil and certainly do not fall to the lies of the devil that this or that is ok, if you only do this or that… That is nothing more than legalism and it leads to death
Instead listen the call Paul says in Romans 6:13
13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness.
Instead of doing the one, present yourselves to God remembering you were brought from death to life…
Our bodies are to be devoted to him as instruments of righteousness. William Barclay and old theologian says “....we present ourselves to him making ourselves weapons in the hand of God., instead of sin....”
Can we live like that?, Can we be ready and on the alert of remain free from sin?.. YES.
How is it possible? We who are in Christ, live under the power of grace, not the legalism of the law.
You have been removed from the old era where the law intensified sin, instead you are under grace, God by his grace has placed us in a new relationship with himself and His grace enables us to overcome sin.
But remain vigilant, stay hopeful, and follow God and nothing in this world.
I would encourage you to expand your Christian worldview in everything you do...
Take a look at every situation and ask? Is this of God, does it honor God and glorify God. And if it doesn’t ask God to keep you from it and send it on its way.
Be on the Alert, so that nothing slips in while you are unaware.
Are you dead to sin and alive to Christ?
Lets pray..
amen...