Dead to sin, alive with Christ

Introduction

The Apostle Paul is writing to the Church at Rome to prepare them for his visit that he plans to make on the way to Spain. Of course, we know from history he did end up in Rome but as a prisoner.

This letter to the Romans is slightly different to the other letters Paul wrote to churches. The others were written to tackle particular problems in the Churches at the time, this letter is a more of a general statement of Paul’s doctrine.

He does know that the church in Rome has a mixture of both Jews and Gentiles and so speaks alot about God’s plan for both.

In Paul is explaining the truth that Christ died in the place of sinners so that they can be justified before God. He explains that all who were in Adam died because of sin, and all those who are united to Christ by faith are made righteous in God’s sight. By one man, Adam, many were made sinners, by one man Christ, many are made righteous.

Then in verse 19-20 Paul makes the statement “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more” Here he is referring to God’s free grace that he shows to sinful people in Jesus Christ.

But its as though Paul makes this statement and then he thinks to himself “ I know what people are going to say to a statement like that.” And he anticipates the criticism that he might receive.

But its as though Paul makes this statement and then he thinks to himself “ I know what people are going to say to a statement like that.” And he anticipates the criticism that he might receive.

V.1 he says “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?.”

He knows what people might think. “Well if thats the case lets keep on sinning. If God’s grace abounds the more we sin, well lets just sin on. If its by grace then it doesn’t matter if we sin or not.”

In the verses that follow Paul shows that this kind of mindset is impossible when you are a Christain because a great change has taken place in the life of the believer.

In our day there are many who promote what might be called “Hyper-grace”. They say it doesn’t matter if you sin because you are saved by grace, God is a God of love they say.

Even we have the danger in conservative evangelical churches to think a similar thing. If its true I’m saved by God’s grace and its true he will keep me and preserve me to the end, then it doesn’t matter if I sin because God will forgive me.

I wonder if you ever think like this?

Well Paul shows us in our passage that a great change has taken place in the believer and that they should not, they cannot continue in sin that grace may abound.

In v. 1-10 we see that Paul explains the change that took place in us when we were united to Christ by faith.

firstly- we died to sin

Secondly- we were made alive with Christ

and then at the end of our passage Paul gives some practical application, he tells the reader what all of this means for them.

He does this in two ways

i) How they are to think. ii) how they are to live.

I. Dead to sin

Firstly, we see that the Christian is now dead to sin.

Paul starts this section with a hypothetical question. He knows that some will throw this accusation at him and so he tackles it before they do. Maybe he has heard this objection before and so he knows whats coming.

v.1 he says “ Whats shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

To this his reply is very strong. V.2 “Certainly not!” Some translations say by no means, the AV says God forbid.

In Pauls mind this is unthinkable.

He explains why.

v.2 How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

If you like Paul is saying its impossible to continue in sin that grace may abound because those who are Christians have died to sin and so can no longer continue in it.

He then goes on to explain when this took place in the life of the believer.

He does this by asking another rhetorical question.

V.3-4 “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

Here Paul says that the Christian died to sin at their conversion. He says that those who were baptized into Christ were baptized into his death.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

The word baptism here is probably short hand for conversion in general. In the early church repentance and baptism went hand in hand, the moment a person trusted Christ for themselves they were baptized.

Paul here is saying that when you became a Christian you were united to Christ in his death and resurrection. You died with him.

V.5 says “We were united together in the likeness of his death.”

V.6 explains this further. What does this mean? “knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with.”

What this passage is saying is that the moment you were united to Christ by faith at conversion, which was pictured in your baptism, your old man, the sinful nature you had from Adam, your old way of life, the old self. He was crucifed with Christ. So that the body of sin, might be done away with.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

The old man was crucified with Christ. When Christ died, you died, your old man died. The sinful you died with Christ the moment you were united to him by faith at your conversion. This is pictured in baptism, you were buried with him.

Whats the outcome of this truth?

The end of v.6 and v.7 tells us what the reason of all this is.

“that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.”

The outcome of us dying with Christ is that we are now freed from the tyranny of sin. The Bible presents the power of sin in the unbeliever as a slave master.

Jesus said “He who commits sin is a slave of sin.”

He also said “If the Son shall make you free you shall be free indeed.”

Here Paul is saying thats exactly what happened.

You were once under the bondage and dictatorship of the sin that ruled over you. You were a slave to sin and you obeyed its every desire and command.

But the moment you died with Christ when you were converted, you were freed from the tyranny of sin. You are no longer a slave of sin.

Sin no longer has unwavering power over you in your life. Now you can say no to sin, you no longer have to obey it, sin no longer rules over you. You have a new matser which is Christ.

Illustration

I heard a helpful illustration of this once. Its as though you were a slave and your master controlled you. One day you were set free, someone paid the ransom for you and you were freed from your master. Now that your free if your old master sees you in the street and says come and do this or do that, you can say no, no I’m not going to come and do that, you do it yourself. You no longer have to obey them because they are not your master any more. You are free.

This is what has happened to every believer.

We have been freed from the bondage and power of sin, we are no longer slaves of sin. We can say no.

This does not mean that we dont still have to battle with sin, it doesn’t mean that we wont still fall into temptation, this is not saying that it is impossible to sin. But what we learn here is that as Christians we don’t have to sin.

If we fall into sin we cannot turn around to God and say I couldn’t help it. I had no power to resist sin.

We do have power to resist sin because we have been freed from sins power in our lives because when we were converted we were united with Christ in his death and the old man died so that they body of sin might be done away.

Now going back to the illustration.

If you were a slave but have been freed. If you see your old master in the street and he commands you to do this or do that. If you obey him then it isn’t because you didn’t have a choice. The law is on your side, he no longer owns you, you don’t have to obey him and if you do then its because you chose to do it.

When we were converted we died with Christ, we died to sin.

But the dying is only one half of the truth.

Next Paul goes on to explain that we were also raised with Christ.

II. Alive with Christ

The Chrsitian died to sin and is now alive with Christ.

Look with me again at v.4

“Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”

v.5 says “For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,”

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

We have just thought about the negative side of dying with Christ. But Paul also touches upon the positive side.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

We did not just die with Christ but we were raised with him.

We are not just united with him in his death but also in his resurrection.

The old life has not only gone but the new life has now come.

Not only has the power of sin been removed from us but now we have a new power given by God to live righteously.

We were raised with Christ that we should walk in newness of live.

The old life of sin is done away with but thats not the end, the Christian is not left in a nuetral state, instead now they have a new life of righteousness.

v.9-10 say “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion 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.”

We died with Christ, so that we have died to the mastery of sin in our lives, but we have also been raised with Christ so that now we can live to God.

The Christian has not only been given to ability to say no to sin because we have been freed from its unwavering power in our lives but we have also been given the ability to live righteously.

We died with Christ and we have been raise with him, we are united with him in his death and his resurrection.

App- This means that as believers we have the ability by God’s power at work in us, to keep his commandments.

When Christ says love your enemy, we can do so. Before we were converted and united with Christ this was impossible, now we can do this because we are made alive with Christ that we should walk in newness of life.

Before we were converted the law condemned us, it was unattainable but now in Christ the law can be kept.

We are not perfect, we will not be sinless until the day we see Christ face to face, the Bible says we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Then as the hymn says “ we shall be saved to sin no more.”

So Paul has made it very clear that the Christian can no longer continue in sin because by their union with Christ their old man died with him on the cross, the bondage of sin has been broken in their lives and they have been raised with Christ and now have new life and a new ability to live righteously.

A great change has taken place in the Christian.

But there is still something the believer must do. Just because we have been freed from sins power in our lives it doesn’t mean that sin is going to leave us alone. Until the day we die we will battle against sin, the good news of this verse is that it is a winning battle for the Christian and not a losing one.

In the final four verses of our passage Paul tells the Christians what they must do in light of these truths.

The first has to do with how we are to think and the second is to do with how we are to live.

III. What we must do

i) We are to think in a certain way;

look with me at v.11 “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Here we have Paul saying this is the truth now you have to believe it and know that its true and live in light of these facts.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

The believer must reckon himself to be dead to sin and alive to God.

The believer needs to remember these truths so that when sin starts to demand our obedience we know that we do not have to obey it because we have been freed from its bondage.

Illustration

Going back to the illustration of the slave masteer, if you were a slave for years and your mind was conditioned to unquestionable obedience to your slave master, then even after being freed from him if he comes to you and makes demands of you the danger is to comply as you always had and forget that you are free from this bondage.

An illustration from history is the American emancipation.

On January 1st 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

But even after the proclomation was declared it took a while for it to be fully enforced and there were people who were slaves who did not know that they had been freed by the law. The law was on their side but they did not know it, ofcourse they continued in their obedience to their slave owners even though they did not have to.

Here Paul is saying that to prevent this in the life of the Christian we must reckon ourselves to be indeed dead unto sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We must think like a person freed from the bondage of sin and live in light of these truths.

This leads us to the second thing that believers must do. This touches upon how we should live.

ii) how we should live

Look with me at v. 12-13 “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

In these verses Paul tells the Romans what they must not do and what they must do.

i) Firstly, they must not let sin reign in their mortal body.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Here Paul is reminding them that although they have been freed from sins unwavering power in their lives there is still a battle, there is indwelling sin still in the believer, the difference is now they are not under its unhindered power but are free from its bondage.

That being said Paul knows there will still be a battle.

Sin doesn’t like losing its power and it will try and reign once again in the life of the believer. So Paul says do not let it.

Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies, do not obey it in its lusts.

App-

This means when sin entices us, when we are tempted to sin. We must not obey its lusts. We must not let sin reign in our mortal bodies.

The good news is the truths we have already learned means that we can do this. We can resist sin. So, we must resist sin. There will be a battle, but we can win the battle and we must.

ii) The second thing the believer must not do is very similar to the first just stated differently.

The believer must not present their members, as instruments of unrighteousness to sin.

The word members refers to every faculty of their being. Not just their body which is the primary meaning but also thier mind.

Paul is telling the Romans to not obey sin at all. They must present themselves to sin as a willing participant.

App-

The same is for us. We must not allow sin to have any say in our lives.

Thats what we must not do.

iii) Paul goes on and tells the Christians what they must do.

He says “But but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”

Here Paul reminds the believers at Rome that the battle is not just a defensive one where we are always on the back foot but one that we must attack sin as well.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

The way the church at Rome was to do this was by presenting themselves to God and their members as instruments of righteousness.

They are not only to disobey sin but there are to obey God.

They are to use the means of grace to grow in righteousness and holyness and keep God’s commandments.

App-

The same is for us the only way we will win the battle against sin is by being active in obeying God.

We must use the means of grace he has given us. His word, prayer, communal worship, fellowship with other believers.

we must seek to present ourselves to God’s service, obey his commands.

The more we give God our obedience the easier it will be to resist sin.

So the believer is to think in a certain way- reckon yourselves to be dead to sin and alive to Christ and the believer is to live a certain way. Do not present yourselves to be used by sin, but present yourselves to be used by God.

The in v.14 Paul gives another encouraging reminder that the battle is one that we can win and will win.

v.14 “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Shall shall not have rule and dominion over you, because you are not under law, but under grace.

Paul here does not mean that Christians do not have to obey God’s commandments but rather the believer is not under the regime of the OT law but instead under the new covenant of grace.

This means that where the law was a schoolmaster that drove people to Christ because it condemned them, now the believer is in Christ and by God’s grace they can live holy lives.

Conclusion

Paul started with the question.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

He responds with “Certainly not!” By no means.

To Paul this is unthinkable and after looking at this passage it is easy to see why.

A great change has taken place in the life of the Christian.

The Christian when they were converted, they were united to Christ in his death and ressurection.

The died to sin, and they became alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Sin no longer has unhindered power in our lives, but we have a new power to live righteously before God.

Sin is no longer our slave master, but Christ is our master and we are to obey him.

We must rememeber these truths and live in light of them. We are to resist sin and live to God, making use of the means of grace he has given us in order to strengthen us as Christians.

Maybe you have been struggling with sin in your life as a Christian. The good news here is that you don’t have to give in to it, you can resist sins temptation and you can live a holy life before God.

Maybe you are here this morning and you have been continuing in sin that grace may abound, well in our reading we see that this mind set should be impossible for the Christian and if this is the case then you must repent and present your selves to God, live for him. As Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery go and sin no more.

Maybe you are here this morning and you are not a Christian but you know that sin has power over you. You look at your life and you can see you are a slave to sin.

Sin dominates your life. The word of God says that same sin that is ruining your life now will ruin your soul for eternity. That sin that has you in bondage will take you to hell.

But the good news is that Jesus Christ can save you from your sin, he can forgive you and set you free from the bomdage of sin, because of his death on the cross and his resurrection.

The Bible says believer on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

Lets pray