Life Resurrected
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Last week:
Paul introduced us to this sinful nature that we are all born into, that which came from Adam
But we see that through Jesus, grace reigns through righteousness!!
Today, we are going to see how we ought to live in this life born of the Spirit.
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Romans 6 (NASB95)
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
This wonderful grace in which we live, how should we handle it?
Grace makes some people uncomfortable and can be offensive.
I have had people argue with me how grace is cheap and people use it as a license to sin, especially on the heals of what we read in Romans 5:20
Romans 5:20 (NASB95)
20 … but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,
However, Paul shuts up the critics of grace right here. He is asking the same question many of us ask; should we continue in sin so grace may increase?? NO WAY!! NOT AT ALL
Paul would even state it this way to those in Galatia in Galatians 5:13
13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
Peter would also have something to say about it in 1 Peter 2:16
16 Act as free men, and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil, but use it as bondslaves of God.
Though we have freedom, though we live in grace, both Peter and Paul agree that this should not be used for evil.
“How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
This is a question we are still asking and wondering about. This naturally leads to the question of how should we live in this age of grace?
Some churches have used this teaching of grace, along with other things, like the ministry of Jesus and Him being referred to as a “friend of sinners”, to justify an accepting of sin in our lives. Quoting things like the greatest commandment is love and judge not lest you too be judged, some have built a gospel for themselves and others that our lives of sin are perfectly fine. Their idea is that one is to come, just as you are, and stay that way because Jesus loves you just the way you are.
But here, Paul says that this isn’t grace, in fact, it is far from it.
“we who died to sin”
This is a new concept in this book that many are confused by it. But there is no need to fret over it, because Paul is going to explain what this means over the next several chapter, and even more specifically in the next 9 verses.
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Paul is going to use baptism to help explain this idea of dying to our sin.
Baptism is something that is very symbolic for us, and we don’t want to miss what Paul is talking about.
As Christians and New Testament believers, we are blessed with the knowledge that baptism represents being buried with Christ and resurrecting to a new life in Him. But even before Jesus, and even before John the Baptist, baptism was a common practice amongst the Jews.
The word for baptism is “Mikveh”
This is a bath, or tank, that needed to hold enough water to fully immerse an average sized man, about 150 gallons.
Jewish law required that a person needed to immerse in a mikveh as part of the process of converting to Judaism. Women were also required to do this before getting married and also while observing the laws regarding their menstrual periods.
All of this is done, not for a physical cleansing, but a spiritual one.
Baptism was a way to identify, whether to the Lord or to your new husband, but it had a sense of identity with it. When one was baptized, they were marked with a sense of belonging, to leave the old life behind and walk in a new way.
Many people today identify themselves with their sin:
Homosexuals
Alcoholics
Drug Addicts
Robber
Scam artist
Their identity is their sin
But Paul makes a firm statement here in V.4 by saying:
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Our identity is not in our sin, it is in Jesus. It isn’t in the old life, it is in the newness of life. And just look at the language that Paul uses here in V.5:
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
Paul was serious about this identity in Christ to where he even had to correct the Corinthians and their misplaced identity of baptism in 1 Corinthians 1:11-17
11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you.
12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”
13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name.
16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.
Paul made it clear, baptism did not identify you with Paul, Apollos nor Peter. Your identity is in Christ and that is it. You were baptized into Him.
Then Paul also tells the Galatians in Galatians 3:27-29
27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.
And Paul would even explain baptism to Titus in Titus 3:4-7
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Our identity is not in whether we are Catholic or Protestant, Calvinist or armeaniest, Baptist or Pentecostal, Republican or Democrat, Conservative or Liberal, American or Mexican, Black or White. Our identity is in Christ, and when we are baptized into Him, we have our identity in nothing else but Him.
I love the reminder of this found in Ephesians 5:25-27
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her,
26 so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word,
27 that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.
We see, that with the Word of God, we are being washed, identified as His bride. We have been baptized into Him, as His bride, and we are His. It is a beautiful picture of what we see in baptism, walking in the newness of life as the Bride of Christ.
Men, when we wash our wives, when we cleanse them with the word, we identify them as the daughters of our God, and we identify them as our brides.
This can be some of the most precious and intimate times in marriage. Your wife has left her old identity to be identified with you, the least we can do is present her in all her glory with no spot or wrinkle.
He continues on:
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
That old self was laid to rest, buried.
Jesus says this in Luke 9:23
23 And He was saying to them all, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
If anyone wants to come after Jesus, they have to deny themselves, or disown themselves.
Its funny, why the world is disowning and cancelling their parents and families and friends, Jesus says, cancel yourself. You are not as good as you think you are, you aren’t worth following nor giving the time of day. You need to deny yourself
Then He says to pick up your cross daily, which means, to die.
The cross was literally an instrument of death, and we are to die daily. Die to that old self, die to the natural tendencies you have, die to those impulses, die to even your own dreams and desires.
Then Jesus finishes with, “follow me.”
We are to follow Jesus. In fact, Jesus says it this way in Luke 14:27
27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Jesus says the key to identifying with Jesus, is to die to yourself.
“So that our body of sin might be done away with”
Or the literal translation, that your body of sin would be made powerless.
This old, wretched body, this old nature of sin we have from Adam, we saw last week how nasty it can be.
But, when you put to death daily that man, you render him completely powerless. Just as Paul would explain in Ephesians 4:22-24
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
You put to death your old self, you put him off, then you put on the Lord Jesus, or, as we already read in Luke, you follow Him.
Then we see that you are no longer a slave to your sin.
“For he who has died is freed from sin”
“freed” in the Greek is a legal term which means “acquitted”
This is the same word as used in Romans 3:28
Romans 3:28 (NASB95)
28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
Some misinterpret this to say that we will never sin again. That is not at all what Paul is talking about, in fact, in Ch. 7, we will clearly see that in what Paul says.
However, what we read here is that we will be justified in spite of our sin. Our sins are no longer counted against us, past, present or future. We are freed from the oppression of sin, freed from the guilt of sin, freed from the mastery of sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Because Jesus lives, we live.
We may have died to our old nature and die daily, but that doesn’t mean we are stuck in a boring, stoic state. We have life. In fact, Jesus really brings this home by saying 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.
Satan looks to rob you of life. When we go and live according to our old nature, we only find hopelessness, depression, and despair. We live in death.
But Jesus, He came so that we would live life and live it more abundantly. We actually have life.
Jesus came, He lived a sinless life, he died a guiltless death, He was raised by the power of God. Death is no longer a master over him, because even as Jesus describes Himself to John in Revelation 1:17-18
Revelation 1:17–18 (NASB95)
17 …“Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,
18 and the living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Jesus conquered death, and now, He lives. He sits at the right hand of the Father, He lives to God.
But us, in the same way, are to be dead to sin, and live a life in God through Jesus Christ.
Now, being dead to Sin, but alive to God… this is wrapped up in the whole idea of putting off, putting on idea
Many of us struggle with the practical application of what Paul is talking about here. Baptism makes sense to us, but what does that look like in real life.
Lets put this in the context of where we already were in Ephesians 4:17-24
17 So this I say, and affirm together with the Lord, that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind,
18 being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;
19 and they, having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness.
20 But you did not learn Christ in this way,
21 if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus,
22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,
23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,
24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.
So we get back here, laying aside our old self, the one that was futile, or empty in their minds, a dark understanding, hardened hearts and giving themselves over to their sensuality
This was the old self, this is the nature that we talked about last week in Adam. This is the devastating effects of that sin nature.
But this isn’t how we are in Christ. We aren’t darkened, we aren’t empty in mind, we aren’t becoming hard, we are now living in the the likeness of God that was created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. So because of that, we get live in Christ, we get to live in a new way.
Look how Paul explains this to us, here in Ephesians 4:25
25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbor, for we are members of one another.
In our nature of Adam, our first tendency is to always lie.
We already read in Romans 3:4 that every man is a liar, and even when I look at my children, they are crazy little liars. I didn’t have to teach them that, they just do.
But Paul says here to lay that falsehood aside, and instead, speak truth.
Some of you are still living in your old nature, lying to people to get what you want. We make things up or embellish a story so people would be more persuaded to hear us. But this is the old self, we need to die to that.
Now move on to Ephesians 4:26
26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger,
You know what happens when people are mad? They gossip, they slander, they do nasty things.
Anger is not the problem, it is what you do with it. Jesus says in Matthew 5:23-24
23 “Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you,
24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.
If there is something between you and another brother or sister, go reconcile. Don’t spread rumors, don’t slander, don’t gossip. Why, because look what Paul says in Ephesians 4:27
27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.
When we sinfully deal with our anger, it gives an opportunity to the devil to make it way worse. Again, we need to die to our old nature that wants to be sinful in our anger, and instead, reconcile and make ammends.
Then Paul keeps going in Ephesians 4:28
28 He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.
If you steal and take things that don’t belong to you, you need to die to yourself. Put off that old flesh, and instead, go to work. Go do something so not only you provide for yourself, but you can help others in need.
This is difficult, because I know people who use other people, especially in the church, to take. They are always asking, and usually by way of a sob story. If you are in this church, and this has been your habbit, stop it. You need to die to that old self that hustles for your own benefit, and start doing things so you can actually help with other’s needs, not them helping you with yours.
Then, look at Ephesians 4:29
29 Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.
When we speak, it can be so damaging. Even James recognizes our tongue in James 3:8
8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.
When we walk in our old nature of Adam, what we say can get pretty wild. I’ve heard people talk before, where every other word they use is the F word or something of the sorts, and it is always appalling.
But when we die to this nature, we leave all that behind. We are to only speak words that edify, words that give grace to those who hear.
If this is something you struggle with, you need to come back here, to Romans 6, that we are to die to sin, but live to God through Jesus. Our mouth is a place that this should be reflected.
And then Paul says in Ephesians 4:30
30 Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
Don’t ignore the Holy Spirit, do not grieve the Holy Spirit. People who live according to their sin nature live according to their impulses, but those who die live according to the moving and work of the Spirit.
Finally, Paul wraps it all up by saying in Ephesians 4:31-32
31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
32 Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.
Put all these things away. Don’t harbour them, don’t dwell on them, but follow Jesus into the new nature, the new nature of grace.
Because Christ has forgiven you, you should be quick to forgive. Because Christ forgave you, you should be tender-hearted toward other christians, because Christ forgave you, you should be kind to one another.
We don’t treat each other the way we did when we were slaves to sin. We treat each other according to Christ and His grace toward us.
You see, many times we identify ourselves with our old self, and that means we act and do accordingly. But we have put to death the old man, and now, our identity is in Christ, and this changes how we act, how we talk, how we think, because we are dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ.
