Dead to Sin, Alive to God
Notes
Transcript
Key Verse: Galatians 2:20 “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.”
The Tension of Grace
The Tension of Grace
Have you ever met someone who forgot who they were? Maybe it’s the soldier who comes home from war, unsure of how to live as a civilian. Or the retiree who, after decades of working, struggles to find their purpose. When identity changes, it can be disorienting.
As Christians, we’ve undergone the greatest identity shift imaginable. Through Christ, we’ve gone from being slaves to sin to being children of God, freed and forgiven. Yet, how often do we struggle to live in this new identity? In Romans 6, Paul reminds us that we are not who we once were. Sin no longer defines us; Christ does.
Today, we’ll dive into Paul’s message about what it means to be dead to sin and alive to God. And we’ll see how this new identity shapes every choice, every struggle, and every moment of our lives. Paul gives us some brilliant insight to understanding who we are in Christ and how this plays out.
I. The Abuse of Grace (Romans 6:1-2)
I. The Abuse of Grace (Romans 6:1-2)
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
One of the biggest struggles we have as Christians is what should we do now? After all we are saved by grace through faith in Christ, we have passages like Ephesians 2:8-9
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.
It’s a free gift, we know we cannot earn salvation. Now the temptation comes in and we have to ask then what, now that we are saved do we double down saying well now that we are saved we have to try all that much harder. No this too we find in error because it puts us back under the Law.
What about then since sin is no longer counted to us, and when we do sin we receive grace, and the more we sin the more grace we receive, therefore let us go on sinning that grace may abound!
This too is an error, a very troubling error, for then we are just saying let us do whatever, we can live a life of sin, knowing that God will save us anyways, so why worry about it. It would be like the child who gets in trouble to hitting his brother, and he scolded by his parent and told to apologize, and his brother forgives him. Then the brother turns around and hits him again, was he really sorry, or just sorry he got caught? Where is the true repentance, can we say that we love our brothers and sisters while striking them? Or can we say that we love God, while spitting upon him as he is nailed to the cross?
There is a tension for sure.
Well listen to what Paul says next and how he answers this, Romans 6:1-2
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
How can we who have died to sin, continue to live in sin? Bringing up the next question then how have we died to sin? Or have we even died to sin?
II. Our Union with Christ in Death and Resurrection (Romans 6:3-5)
II. Our Union with Christ in Death and Resurrection (Romans 6:3-5)
Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
For those who argue that baptism doesn’t do anything, Paul here disagrees with that opinion, in fact he tells us exactly what baptism does, that when we are baptized we are baptized into Christ Jesus, and thus baptized into his death.
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.
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.
It doesn’t get much clearer than that, in the waters of baptism we are drowned to ourselves, our old lives, the old Adam, the man of sin is drowned and we are now in a life in Christ, a new life, a resurrected life. Thus it answers that question then if we are dead to sin then why then do want to go on sining?
Well because the devil is a liar and a deceiver and really good at magic tricks to get us looking the other way. There is always a pull by the world, by the old Adam, by the enticement of sin to continue then to live in it, to come back to it, to get the instant reward, to live for the hear and now.
And this is the struggle and in fact Paul deals with this isn the next chapter of Romans talking about the good that I want to do I don’t do and that which I don’t want to do I keep on doing. This is the reality in which we live, the simultaneously saint and sinner. The knowing we are forgiven and yet we go in sinning.
What then are we to do? Go on sinning, by no means!
III. Freedom from Sin’s Dominion (Romans 6:6-7)
III. Freedom from Sin’s Dominion (Romans 6:6-7)
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.
For one who has died has been set free from sin.
There is the real kicker, the main issue, have we really died to the self? We should be careful going here because I don’t want you to be led into despair thinking that you can never get it right and thus give up, no the real reward remains in that tension, in the struggle, in the Law and the Gospel, think about it in terms of the confession and absolution that we say. At the first of it was say that we are sinners, in fact we often quote 1 John 1:8
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
and 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
So we confess our sins, that is the repentance when we are brought to the reminder of our sin, and so we confess our sins to God, and before one another and then something very very important happens after that. Jesus word is proclaimed, your sins are forgiven, God has forgiven your sins, the pronouncement is made, and now if we could just live in that all would be well and we wouldn’t sin anymore.
The Old self is crucified once again, we remember our baptism, we die to ourselves and then we live again because Jesus has died in our place and paid it all.
IV. Alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:8-11)
IV. Alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:8-11)
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.
For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.
It is all accomplished by Jesus the work is finished on the Cross, in fact the gospel of John records for us Jesus final words “it is finished”, then we know for the rest of the story three days later he rose from the tomb, defeating death and the grave and has won the final victory! Now the life he lives, he lives for God and so will we in that final, when we are able to finally put off this body of sin, when Jesus returns and we are at last finally risen from the graves and will live with him for eternity.
For now though:
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
There it is, do we actually consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ, or do we let life get in the way, the distractions take us away from the wonderful gift that awaits, distract us from the peace of knowing Christ, no we do not need to sin anymore, in fact it shouldn’t even be on our radar to ask that question should we go on sinning that grace may abound. For we are dead to ourselves and alive in Christ! That my fellow believers is the greatest of news for all, true gospel.
Law and Gospel in Everyday Life
Law and Gospel in Everyday Life
That leads us to our final part of this then what does it mean then to live out the Law and Gospel, to live in an understanding of this tension that still remains. Well it is living it out, it is believing it, it is resting assured in that tension, that when temptation comes, when sin enters in, and it is bound to as long as we are in this mortal body, that we recognize it for what it is, sin is sin, it is missing the mark of Gods Law, his call for perfection. Then instead of thinking we need to embrace this sin, we repent of it, we acknowledge it, and most of all we confess it. For it is in that confessing that we admit God is perfect and we are not and that only he could pay the price it cost to make up that shortfall that we have. It is then that we hear the good-news, the gospel, that because Jesus died on the Cross, He paid it all, and I can say back to you, when you confess your sins, that your sins are forgiven, not because I forgive them, but because of Christ paying it all, God has forgiven you in Christ Jesus.
The distinction and tension is simply this then
Now then you have been drowned to yourself in the waters of baptism and your have been raised to new life in Christ Jesus! Go in peace then knowing your sins are forgiven, for you are a new creation in Jesus Christ. Amen
