Sin No Longer Dominates Us Pt 3

In vv. 3-5 Paul teaches that our water baptism identified us with Jesus Christ. We are untied to Christ through our salvation, and we share in the benefits of his death, burial, and resurrection. Our water baptism identifies us as followers of Christ who share in these benefits.

How can such a person, who identifies as one who is untied to Christ and all of the benefits of such a union, even consider the idea of continuing in sin? The very idea is ludicrous! That is the point of vv. 1-5.

Now Paul, continuing to address the issue of believers continuing in sin that grace may abound, explains to us how our identification with Christ and all its glorious truths works itself out practically in our lives to kill sin.

Paul wanted the Roman Christians to stop living under the domination of sin.

We must stop living in sin because sin no longer dominates our lives.

How do we stop living under the domination of sin?

I want us to look at three steps that will enable us to stop living under sin’s domination.

Step #1

I. We must KNOW the full implications of our death with Christ (vv. 6-10)

And what is it that Paul wants us to know?

A. Our old man was crucified with Christ (vv. 6-7)

Romans 6:6–7 ESV

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.

Transition: Not only does Paul want us to know that our old man was crucified with Christ, but Paul also wants us to know:

B. The finality and power of the death of Christ (vv. 8-10)

Romans 6:8–10 ESV

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.

Transition: Knowing the full implications of your death with Christ is only the first step of being free from the domination of sin. We must now turn our attention to step #2.

Step #2

II. We must CONSIDER the full implications of our death with Christ (v. 11)

Simply knowing the truth of our union with Christ and the full implications of our dying with Christ is not enough. We must move on from merely knowing to considering the truth of our death with Christ as significant to me personally.

Romans 6:11 (ESV)

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

So you MUST (imperative) constantly ( present) CONSIDER / RECKON the truth of your union with Christ to be true of you personally.

Consider- To determine by mathematical process to reckon or to calculate— In other words you must do the math. This is logical, it is mathematical. Work out Paul’s argument. Look to Jesus! Look to His death (its finality and its power). Look to His resurrection (how he lives unto God- how he lives unto the glory of God!). Do the math and calculate all of that truth as applicable to your every day life.

What must you consider?

SO, lit. “In the same way”! That is an astonishing conjunction. IN THE SAME WAY, YOU TOO must consider. What is Paul saying? In the same way or manner as Christ. Why did Paul want us in the previous verses to take our eyes off ourselves and instead look at Jesus? Why did Paul want us to know deeply the finality and power of Jesus’ death and the glory of His resurrection? Because IN THE SAME WAY we must also consider / Reckon / Calculate what?

Consider yourselves to be dead sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Do you know what that means?

In the same way that Jesus is dead to sin, you are dead to sin! The finality and the power of Jesus’ death to sin is your death to sin. You have been united to Christ, you have been united with His death and His burial. You now participate in the same benefits of His death as He does! Wow! Consider this to be true in your life Christian.

No longer tell yourself the lie that you can’t stop sinning. No longer tell yourself the lie that sin will always get the better of you. It is false. It is a lie. It is not true whatsoever. Why? Because you are so special and great? NO, because you are united to Christ and his death, his once and forever death to sin, is YOUR DEATH!

Consider that to be true!

You are now alive to God! How alive are you? You share the same life that Jesus has! You are united to Him. Just as Jesus now lives to the advantage of God- that is to the glory of God because of his resurrection- in the same way you too can walk in newness of life. You have the potential to glorify God with your life, free from the domination of sin because of your union with Jesus’ life! Reckon it to be true- do the math and consider it true of you personally!

Illustration: MBA beat Coleman for the first time in 4 years this past weekend in the WACS tournament. MBA was the better team, they had the talent and the ability, but a key factor to the game was believing they could actually win. If they would have gone on the field thinking, “we have never beaten them before, we will never beat them now.” What would have happened? They had to consider, reckon, calculate the facts as true to themselves personally. And they won 8-0!

Refutation: So all you have to do to defeat the domination of sin is to believe you can do it? Do I just need to believe in myself? NO! That is the mumbojumbo of the world. Paul is not saying belief in yourself- he is saying believe in Christ! You can defeat the domination of sin when you by faith reckon that Christ’s death to sin is your death, that Christ life to God is your life!

Philippians 4:13 ESV

13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Romans 6:11 (ESV)

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God IN CHRIST JESUS.

Application: How do you do that? How do you consider these great truths true of yourself personally?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

The most essential step is constantly to read the Scriptures.

“If you look at any saint who has ever adorned the life of the Christian church, you will find that they have always done that. They have always been men and women who have spent a great deal of their time in reading the Bible, studying it and familiarizing themselves with it.

How you read it matters so much! It is not something that you do mechanically, as a chore that must be completed every day. You must read it so see God! You must read it to come to a deeper knowledge of the greatness and holiness of God. At times your Bible reading must humble you so that you bend your knees to God and weep on the floor. When is the last time your read your Bibles like that?

2. You must not only read the Scriptures, you must also meditate upon them.

“There is a line of a hymn which says, ‘Take time to be holy.’ I am not sure but that it is not something which we all ought to have pasted upon the walls of our homes in this foolish, ridiculous, hectic age in which we are living.”

Meditation is the lost art of talking to ourselves. Not like a crazy person, and not even out-loud. I mean that you all become preachers to yourselves using God’s word. Say to yourself, “Don’t you know who you are?”

Camp Joy men’s retreat: speaker Brother Dean Kurtz. Stand in front of a mirror and say to yourself biblical truth. Battling depression: I am a child of the King, I am co-heir with Christ, I am adopted into God’s family, and so on. Until he believed it. He was exercising faith in God’s Word. He was meditating upon God’s word, speaking to himself the truth.

Personally I ride my bike after a morning of deep study: And I talk about the Scriptures to myself. I make application of the truth of God’s word to me personally. The best time for the Spirit of God to illuminate my mind to the significance of the Scripture.

We must reclaim this lost art of considering Scripture as true for us personally!

Read the Scriptures, Meditate upon the Scriptures, Place your humble trust in the truth of God’s Word, especially of your union with Christ and the power to overcome the domination of sin in your life.

If we want to stop living under the domination of sin we must take the step of knowing the full implications of our death with Christ, we must consider the full implications of our death with Christ, and the final step is:

Step # 3

III. We must APPLY the full implications of our death with Christ (vv. 12-14)

In order for sin to no longer dominate your life as a Christian, you must first of all know deeply the doctrine of your salvation. But, merely knowing is not enough. We must move on from knowing to personally considering the doctrine of my salvation to be true of me personally. But merely knowing and considering are not enough. We must move on then to applying the full truth of the doctrine of our salvation- of the doctrine of our union with the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord! Only then will we experience freedom from sin’s rule and reign in our lives.

Romans 6:12 ESV

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

Prohibition:

12Μὴ οὖν βασιλευέτω[1] ἡ ἁμαρτία

Therefore, do not let sin reign

Therefore: once you know and consider the truth of your salvation- then go on and make application of that truth.

Do not let sin reign: (pres, act, imperative), You must not let sin reign!

Reign: to reign as king- to rule as a king or supreme ruler over a nation This imperative is fundamentally linked to the doctrine of vv. 1-11. This doctrine is summarized by the promise that Paul gives us in v. 14a.

Romans 6:14 (ESV)

14 For sin will have no dominion over you,

Without the content of the doctrine of vv. 1-11, and without the promise given in v. 14, the imperative would be absolutely useless.

“One may as well tell a drowning person simply to swim to shore as tell a person who is under sin’s mastery not to let sin reign.” — Douglas Moo

But, because we know the benefits of our salvation, the benefits of our union with Christ, the benefits we share of His death, burial, and resurrection; and because we have taken the time to consider these truths to be true of us- we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus— we can let the imperative of v.12 have its full effect!

Let not sin therefore reign!

Specifically, Paul commands us no to let sin reign in our mortal bodies.

Mortal bodies: may be speaking of only our physical bodies, but I think (like in v. 6) that Paul is speaking of our whole person. It is our whole person that is still in contact with the world.

We still live in this world in mortal bodies. We are no longer in the body of sin- the whole of my person who was under the reign of sin and the dominion of death. We have been translated out of that position- now we are united to Christ- we have a new position.

But, as long as we dwell on earth- we still live in mortal bodies. The power of sin over our whole person has been destroyed, but the presence of sin (and the weakness and suffering that go along with the corruption of sin) still remain.

There is coming a time when we will experience the fully measure of our redemption in terms of these mortal bodies!

Romans 8:23 ESV

23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

There is coming a time when we will exchange these mortal bodies for something much much greater!

1 Corinthians 15:53 ESV

53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.

That time is coming and it will be glorious and beyond our comprehension!

But until that time the presence of sin very much remains. We still dwell in mortal bodies.

And we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies! In what way?

Romans 6:12 (ESV)

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions.

εἰς τὸ ὑπακούειν ταῖς ἐπιθυμίαις[1]αὐτοῦ,

so that you obey its evil cravings (passions, lusts, desires).

[1]evil craving n. — an inordinate, self-indulgent craving (that displaces proper affections for God).

Soccer game- evil craving of revenge

Internet- evil craving of sexual immorality

Ministry- evil craving of comparing myself with others and thinking I’m better, or becoming depressed because I am clearly not!

Family- evil craving of selfishness, yelling in anger, rebellion

Don’t let the passions of your mortal bodies (the corruption of sin that still remains and permeates your entire person) to reign over you, don’t obey its self-indulgent cravings.

You don’t have to anymore! You are united to Christ. You have died with Christ, you have been buried with Christ, you have risen with Christ.

His death- this once and forever death to sin- is your death! Consider yourself to be as dead to sin as Christ is.

His life- the life that he right now lives to the glory of God- is your life. It enables you too to live for God’s glory. Consider yourself to be alive unto God!

On the basis of our faith in the death and life of Christ that is our death and life, we have the ability to say no to the evil cravings of our mortal bodies. We have the ability and the power, through faith in Christ, to kill the very reign of sin over us. We no longer have to be dominated by sin. And it is all done by faith in and through Jesus Christ and the salvation He has so richly provided for us!

Romans 6:13 ESV

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.

Paul becomes even more specific in how we are not to let sin reign in our mortal bodies. He goes deeper and states that we are not to present our members as instruments for unrighteousness.

Members is the idea of the specific parts of our bodies, our limbs. I think the idea here is our natural capacities and abilities that God has given to us.

We must constantly avoid placing at sin’s disposal any part of our bodies. That is we must constantly avoid using our abilities and resources as instruments or weapons for sin and unrighteousness.

“Our natural capacities and abilities that God has given us are weapons that must no longer be put in the service of the master from whom we have been freed.”—Douglas Moo

In fact, you must do the exact opposite. Take note- there is no neutral ground. You are either presenting yourself and your capacities to sin for unrighteousness or you are presenting yourself and your capacities to God. NO MIDDLE OPTION!

Instead of placing your capacities as sin’s disposal, you must instead place your capacities at God’s disposal as weapons of righteousness!

Notice the qualifies- “as those who have been brought from death to life.” Paul meant theology to be intensely practical. Also, note if you have never been brought from death to life you have no hope of escaping sin’s domination of your life. Only those who have been united to the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ through salvation have this hope!

If you are struggling with sin and you do not know Jesus Christ as your Savior, you have no hope against sin! You are totally underneath its power. You are in the realm of sin and under the dominion of death. What you need is not to clean yourself up and try to get rid of sin on your own. What you need is to participate in the life-giving power of the blood of Jesus Christ. You need your sins forgiven and its power broken. And only the once-for-ever death of Christ can do that! Only the everlasting life of Christ can cause you to walk in newness of life. You must repent and trust Christ alone for your salvation!

For those who are saved- know and consider that you have been brought from death to life and through a life of faith in Christ’s completed work for you- present yours members as weapons of righteousness unto God!

Romans 6:14 ESV

14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

For sin will have no dominion over you- future tense. Is it only one day in the future that sin will no longer have dominion over me? Does it have dominion over me right now?

This verse is a promise that is valid for every believer at the present time: Sense- sin shall certainly not be your Lord—now or ever!

Have dominion over you- have lordship over you; to dominate (completely) v. — to exercise control over someone as his master.

Greek word- κυριεύω verb form of the noun kyrios.

Who is the kyrios of the Christian? The Lord Jesus Christ!

Romans 10:9 ESV

9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Romans 14:9 ESV

9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

Jesus is our Lord! Not sin. Jesus wants to be your lord, you master, he wants to have lordship over your life. He died and he lives again for this reason- to be Lord both of the dead and the living.

Romans 6:14 ESV

14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

So it stands to reason that Jesus would make it possible for our situation as believers that sin would no longer be able to have lordship over us. Jesus is the one who now deserves that right.

Sin shall certainly not be your Lord—now or ever! For you are no longer under law but under grace- transitional statement. Paul will pick up this point and work it out in the rest of the chapter.

Application:

Friends, wouldn’t you like to put a stop to the reign of sin in your life? Would you like to stop engaging in those sins that too often have become so habitual that we cannot imagine NOT doing them? Sometimes, we feel like it is an impossibility to stop sinning. We get to the point in our lives where we feel we must fail!

Paul is reminding us of the glorious truths of our salvation that we must put into practice, that we must apply to our lives. Sin no longer has lordship over you- you are under a new Lord- the Lord Jesus Christ. You are ones who have been brought from death to life through Christ. You are united to him, to his death and his life. Live like it!

Don’t let sin sin reign over you, don’t obey its evil cravings, don’t offer sin your members as weapons of righteousness!

What sin are you struggling with right now? What evil cravings of your mortal bodies are you being tempted with this week?

Sexual immorality, rebellion, pride, anger, unforgiving spirit, bitterness?

Sin shall certainly not be your Lord- not now, not ever! Put into practice your theology! Walk by faith in the truth of Jesus Christ. Confess your sins to the Lord, take drastic steps to rid your life of the temptation, think of one way you can instead use your members as weapons of righteousness.

Take the necessary steps to stop the domination of sin in your life.

Step#1- Know the full implications of your death with Christ

Step #2- Consider the full implications of your death with Christ

Step#3- Apply the full implications of your death with Christ.

Imagine if every believer in our church took Paul’s teaching seriously. Imagine if we all put hands and feet of obedience of Romans 6 to our lives. How would our lives change? What would it be like to kill that habitual sin in your life?

Remember what you are in Jesus Christ, dwell richly on your union with Christ- any by faith take small steps of obedience to practically live from from the domination of sin.

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