Dead to Sin, Alive to Christ
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Scripture Reading
Scripture Reading
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Introduction
Introduction
It is once again a great joy for us to gather together at a service in which we will witness the testimony of God’s saving grace through the picture of Baptism. This is one of the very simple, and yet most glorious pictures that we have as a church to celebrate the work that God does in the life and heart of a person that was once spiritually dead in transgression and sin, but has now been made spiritually alive in Christ.
As we come to consider the picture of Baptism, we will be learning from Paul’s letter to the Romans, and the grand implications that he draws from the picture of Baptism for the life of the believer. As we consider this passage briefly together, I want to call upon each person here today in Christ, to consider the fact that the implications and truths that Paul draws from the picture of Baptism are important truths applicable to us in our daily walk as His disciples.
In other words, there are daily implications to our declaration of faith, and our identification with Jesus Christ that takes place at Baptism.
In summary form, we need to be reminded that Baptism picture and requires of us death to sin, and consecration to a new way of life in righteousness, even as we follow our Lord.
As we begin this morning, I to remind us that sin always brings bondage—of the body, mind, soul and will. Sin takes us captive. Sin enslaves us to its problems and practices.
34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin.
Christ came to set us free from this slavery! Christ came to break the chains of sin that held us bound. In the words taken from that beautiful hymn by Charles Wesley…
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast-bound in sin and nature’s night.
Thine eye diffused a quickened ray,
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light.
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed thee.
Baptism is a public picture and proclamation that Christ has indeed performed this work in us, by His grace, and thus that there is a new pattern that marks our lives.
As we come then to this text, notice firstly that Baptism pictures...
1. Salvation from Sin (vv. 1–5)
1. Salvation from Sin (vv. 1–5)
Paul begins verse 1 here with the words...
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?
Immediatley we must ask, why is he posing this question? To see why, we must look back to that which precedes this text. Paul has been arguing for the fact that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone. There is no other basis for our salvation. But further to this, the grounds for our salvation is utterly sufficient for our salvation. Notice Romans 5:17-18...
17 For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
18 So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men.
Further on in verse 20 he says.
20 The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
That’s the phrasing that sets up the question in verse 1 of our passage.
Paul is presenting to the Romans this glorious Gospel message of salvation. A salvation that could never be earned, and a salvation that is given to those who are lost in their wickedness and sin. And he emphasis the glories of this Gospel message by emphasizing that even as sin increased, grace increased all the more.
And so what then, should the Christian, the one that has been born again through this glorious Gospel continue to sin in order that God’s grace might be all the more applied?
Paul’s answer follows in the next verse.
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Paul outright rejects the idea that a born again believer, having gone through the waters of baptism to declare the inward work of God in their heart, can continue to wilfully live in sin.
Dear friends, when God opens the eyes of the believer to the grievous nature of sin, and when he shows that believer the seriousness of His sin in light of God’s holiness, the cost of salvation on his behalf, it leads to a profound and deep transformation of that person’s perspective on life in general, and sin in particular.
It leads a Christian to hate that sin. It leads the person so transformed by the grace of Christ to perceive something of the vileness of their rebellion against God. It creates within them a sense of the extent of the opposition that his former manner of life placed him before God. A true work of regeneration by the Spirit of Christ, leads the Christian to reject ongoing sin as a pattern for their own lives.
I would like us to pause briefly on this phrase and question by Paul, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”
Sometimes we need to remind ourselves of the radical nature of the New Birth. When we are born again, there is a simultaneous death to the former manner of life. This is essential to what it means to be born again.
Think about Paul’s words to the Corinthian believers:
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
Think about that picture, dear friends. The Christian is referred to as a “NEW CREATION.” That which is brand new. The difference between the old and the new is a life that was once oriented towards sin, selfishness, an enjoyment of wickedness, as opposed to a life now lived in holiness and purity, for the purpose of bringing glory and honour to God.
Paul says to Timothy…
19 Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
As we read the New Testament which portrays the wonderful Gospel of Grace, while there truly is an emphasis on the grace of God to save the unrighteous, there is equally an emphasis on that grace’s ability to enable the believer to live in increasing conformity to the will of our Lord.
Consider the book of Galatians. In that book, Paul marvelously outlines that nothing can save a person apart from the Gospel message that was preached.
But then he says things such as this…
24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Brothers and Sisters, we must seek to fully appreciate the Gospel message that both saves us and transforms our hearts and minds. As those will go through the waters of baptism this morning, they are declaring that their lives have been transformed. Salvation has come to them. And this salvation will lead them to a new manner of life.
Later on in this same passage, Paul emphasizes this point further…
In verse 7, we read…
7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
The truth of the Gospel is that we live our lives as if dead to sin. We are freed; no longer a servant of sin.
At this point, Paul makes the direct reference to Baptism.
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We should see from this that as Christians, our identity is no longer primarily according to relations with those in the world, but our identity is first and foremost with Christ. The very picture of baptism requires that we live as those sharing in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Our identity is found in Christ. Our unity is with Christ, and there are implications to that.
The most important thing about us (and this is what baptism partly symbolises) is that we belong to Jesus Christ. This is our identity. And Paul says here, that as those who were baptized in Christ, we were baptised into His death, meaning that we are those who share in the death of Christ.
Now, we certainly don’t share in the death of Christ in the sense that we are physically put to death (although that may exist as a possibility). But the fact is, the death that Christ died, in addition to all that it achieves for us, also serves as an example for us in the manner that we are to die to a former manner of life. This speaks of our self-denial.
Jesus spoke very clearly about the importance of self-denial.
23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.
A Christian life is surrendered to God, not patterned after this world.
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
As a person goes through the water of baptism, they are declaring a death to self. they are declaring before all the witnesses gathered that they have surrendered their selfish lives to the grave, and will no longer live their lives pursuing selfish desires and ungodliness.
The results of this are seen in Romans 6:4-5...
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
Now, there are two things that we should understand regarding this “resurrection”. The first is that there will be a resurrection in eternity. That’s the long view. That’s the view for when we pass on from this life and are united with Christ, or when Christ returns… depending on which is first.
But there is the more immediate reality, and that is a new resurrected spiritual life, wherein we are no longer dead in trespasses and sin, but now have awareness of God, Christ, His desires, and are filled with HIs power as He dwells within us. We can no longer continue to willingly and happily walk after the sinful patterns of life, but rather are to be submitted to the will of our Lord, as He enables us to live in this manner.
This is a life, as Paul says, that is lived by the Spirit.
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.
Furthermore, this is a life that is lived by faith.
7 for we walk by faith, not by sight—
Secondly, we must recognise that this salvation leads to, and thus this baptism pictures…
2. Separation from Sin (vv. 6–11)
2. Separation from Sin (vv. 6–11)
This separation means that we have a freedom that we never previously enjoyed. While the old man is indeed a slave to the passions and lusts of the flesh, the same is not to be said of the one that has been born from above.
Friends, the picture of Baptism, as it speaks to our own salvation, should lead us to live a life of separation from sin.
Notice what Paul says in verse 6-7…
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
Death to sin means that there is freedom from sin. This is what I mean when I talk about separation from sin. The Old Man has been cricified, and thus separation takes place.
The Gospel teaches us that because we have died to sin, and are now alive to Christ, separation can now take place because sin no longer has a hold over our lives.
If we are in Christ, then this dominion has been broken.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him.
In a similar manner, since we have died to sin, this sin no longer has mastery over us as Christians. Christ both calls us and enables us to live lives that are now separated from that which once dominated us.
1 Therefore, since Christ has suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same purpose, because he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,
2 so as to live the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.
3 For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.
4 In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you;
So, Paul goes on in our passage in Romans to say...
10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Dear friends, in light of this profound miracle, in light of that which we are testifying to through baptism, we are now to count ourselves, to consider ourselves, to be dead to sin.
Verse 11 essentially tells us that we are to be what we are. We are to live out the reality of our new identity. One commentator writes…
The Epistle to the Romans A. Shall We Continue to Sin that Grace May Abound? 6:1–14
Since Christ died to sin and since the believer is dead with Christ, the believer is dead to sin and is to recognize the fact of that death. This does not mean that he is immune to sinning. Paul does not say that sin is dead but that the believer is to count himself as dead to it. He feels temptation and sometimes he sins. But the sin of the unbeliever is the natural consequence of the fact that he is a slave to sin, whereas the sin of the believer is quite out of character. He has been set free. Paul tells him that he is to recognize that where sin is concerned he is among the dead.
Thirdly and finally, we must see that this inward work that is being proclaimed through Baptism will lead to...
3. Sanctification from Sin (vv. 12–14)
3. Sanctification from Sin (vv. 12–14)
Salvation and Regeneration leads to separation from sin, which results also to a sanctification from sin.
When I refer to sanctification here, I refer both to living a holy life in the present moment (present sanctification), and also in a steady growth in holiness (future / progressive sanctification). Notice Paul’s words in verses 12-13...
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
Paul speaks here about the offering up of ones life, and presenting yourself to God as an instrument of righteousness. We are called as Christians to denounce our former manner of life, but not only to denounce this former manner of life, but to now clothe ourselves in a new manner of life.
It is so important that every Christian recognises that the Christian life is never merely a putting off of the old, doing away with the old sinful patterns. Rather, it is a positive putting on of a new manner of life.
Essentially, the righteousness in the life of a born-again believer should be plain to see. It should be evident.
We see something of this in the life of Daniel when he was taken into exile in Babylon.
8 But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.
That was obviously applicable to the Jewish people in terms of their regulations by which they lived according to God’s word to them.
In the New Testament, we find similar requirements for the Christian to live a life that is separate and distinct from the world.
We see this very clearly, for example, in Ephesians 4.
17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18 They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.
A little bit further down, in verse 22, Paul outlines that which is to now mark the life of the believer.
22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
As we witness today these individuals being baptised, we are witnessing them testify to the fact that they, having been raised with Christ from the grave, are now living their lives in this distinct manner.
They have recognised that they have been born again, they have been made new in the attitudes of their mind, and will now be striving in all of their conduct to be like God in true righteousness and holiness, as they surrender their will to Jesus Christ, and seek to do His will.
What a high calling this is. What a profound declaration this is!
But that is what every one of us here have declared through our baptism.
Let us be sure that this kind of new life is only possible by the grace of God through Christ. It is not done through our own strength or self-will. It is only achieved through humble submission to God, and an increasing delight in Him and dependence upon Him.
9 How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
11 I have hidden your word in my heart
that I might not sin against you.
This is the manner that the Christian will be able to walk in the ways that God calls him to. As Christians, we are creatures of the Word. We are those who must be filled with a knowledge of God through His word, as His Spirit applies this truth of God to our hearts.
But what must be of encouragement to the Christian is the great hope that we have by the grace of God to live differently in this world. Notice what Paul writes in verse 14…
14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
This is a profound truth!!
Back in verse 9, Paul said that death no longer had mastery over Christ. Once Christ had been raised from the dead, death could not hold him!
The same is applied here to the Christian. As we are raised to spiritual life, that spiritual death that once held us, and dominated us, looses its grip on our hearts, and we are freed. Sin is not our master.
In this case, we must see that Paul is not giving a command. He’s not telling Christians to not allow sin to be their master. Rather, he is stating the reality for those who are in Christ. Sin is not your master precisely because the Gospel sets you free.
Sin doesn’t have to control you. And by the grace of God, sin will not control you.
The Gospel is the good news of the saving and empowering grace of God.
17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
Do we have responsiblity in this? Yes! Paul spoke about putting his own body in subjection. He spoke about beating his body… But he knew that it was the work of God’s grace even to do this, and it was the work of God’s grace to keep him.
Charles Simeon writes:
Horae Homileticae Vol. 15: Romans Discourse 1847: A Promise of Victory over Sin (Rom. 6:14)
If Paul, that chosen vessel, was obliged to keep his body under, and to bring it into subjection, lest he himself should be a cast-away, surely the same care and diligence are necessary on our part. It is our comfort however, that, while we run, “we do not run as uncertainly;” and while “we fight, it is not as one who only beats the air:” for victory is secured for us, and God himself “will bruise Satan under our feet,” and preserve us blameless to his heavenly kingdom.]
Conclusion
Conclusion
Dear friends, today we will witness the testimony of God’s saving grace in the lives of those being baptised.
I would like to urge those being baptised to keep these truths in mind. And I want to urge all of those already baptised, members of this church, to keep these truths in mind.
1 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
The Gospel of the grace of God through JEsus Christ sets us free from sin. We are delivered. It is all by the grace of God.
Now, therefore, live in light of the work that God has done in you, and will continue to do in you.
All praise and glory to God for His mercy, grace and kindness.