Romans 6:1-4 "Manifesting the Father's Glory"

Introduction

We are saved by God’s grace initiated by Him through the finished work of Christ in conquering sin and death. Christ is the second Adam but He did not fail to carry out the will of God in perfect and complete obedience.

Romans 5 and I Corinthians 15 is why theologians refer to Christ as the last Adam or the second Adam. Adam’s disobedience brought death but Christ’s obedience brought eternal life.

This is worked in us by God’s sovereign grace to bring about our transformation from death into life. We are regenerated by the Holy Spirit and empowered to believe the gospel. And the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us.

Grace reigns through righteousness leading to eternal life through Christ. This is the glory of God seen in His grace to us as we saw last Sunday at the end of Romans 5.

So what does this mean for us when it comes to living the Christian life and the biblical expectations that go along with it?

Paul gets at the heart of this by asking some questions in a rhetorical fashion. Look at verses 1-2a:

I. The Questions Answered (1-2a):

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means!

The first question is obviously being asked due to the content of Romans 5. How are we to live in light of the glory of grace being manifested in our justification in Christ.

The second question is addressing a potential fallacy that could possibly be deduced from what has already been said, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may abound?”

You see Paul realizes that someone may reason that if our sin in the end results in grace abounding all the more then why not just keep sinning in order to manifest the glory of grace all the more.

So the question gets at the heart of manifesting the Father’s glory in the life of the Christian.

Some in our day may use such an argument in order to justify their continual pursuit of sin in our day as well.

They are confident of their salvation and and they reason that they are secure in Christ so nothing that they do can separate them from Christ.

So they give themselves a license to sin in their mind and they absolve themselves from any obligation to be obedient to Christ or to follow His example.

This mentality was present in the early church too. Not just in Rome but in other places as well due in some cases to gnosticism infiltrating the Church.

The ancient heretical idea is referred to as anti-nomianism which means simply, “against the law.”

The Apostle Paul waste no time in responding to these questions and he even finds it repulsive that someone would even make such an argument from their position in grace.

“By no means!” (2a) denotes the idea that may it never be the case that anyone should reason in such a way.

This would be like a spouse believing that the love and grace that their husband or wife has towards them could justify their adultery.

Thinking that their adultery would just show how loving and forgiving their husband or wife is. And we all know that such an idea would be ridiculous in a marriage relationship.

And even more so with God in our relationship with Him. Because God knows the true intent of the heart. He knows at the end of the day where our human passions really lie. And whether we are true Christians or just playing one on Sunday morning.

Paul continues to use more questions to extrapolate the implications of authenticity in our transformation in verses 2b -4. Look back at your text:

II. The Questions Applied (2b-4).

How can we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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 Paul it is irrational to think that our identity in Christ and the applied transformation of the gospel of grace would justify a licensed pursuit of ongoing sin.

His rationale is tied to our identity to Christ. In Christ we have died to our sin, so how can we justify living in it any longer.

God’s elect where identified by God in Christ when He died so that the elect would be identified in Christ in His resurrection. Read Ephesians 1-2:10 when you get home. Paul doesn’t mention elect here but he will get to it in chapter 8 and 9.

Just as Christ was raised to life by the glory of the Father, so are we raised to new life by the glory of the Father. It is all because of our being identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection.

God knew all along exactly what He was going to be working in us long before we even had a clue or even before we even existed. He knew He would initiate that work in us and bring about that transformation for His glory by His sovereign grace.

Grace reminds us that that transformation was not something we deserved or that we initiated in and by ourselves. Nor will it be something that our hearers will initiate in themselves when we preach the gospel to them.

This is why we are to pray for the lost and ask God to work in them, that He would be so merciful as to open their eyes to see Christ as the means of their salvation. Just as He has opened our own eyes to salvation in Christ.

We don’t convert people, that’s God’s doing not ours. Why is this so critical for us to understand? The Psalmist tells us why:

Psalm 18:1-3 “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

Christian this theological truth translates into our assurance in times of trouble because of the unshakable security that we have in Christ.

This is due to the fact that God has initiated it and what God does is irrevocable. You are in good hands far better than Allstate Insurance could ever offer. In a similar way Psalm 62: 1-2 says

Psalm 62: 5-8 “For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.”

Christian this theological truth also calls us to allegiance even in despairing times because our hope is from Him. Because of the covenant fidelity that He demonstrates and security that we have because of His faithfulness.

We could read all of Psalm 3 and see the same idea being communicated that the Lord is our salvation in the face of our enemies.

Our we could go to Psalm 27 and see how this theological truth dispels fear from our lives even when we are surrounded by our enemies. Fear is not dispelled because of our ability and faithfulness but because of our faith in God’s ability and faithfulness.

Statements like this are all through the Psalms. And they call us to live by faith in the sovereign provisions of the unmerited favor of God as He manifest Hist glory right before our eyes.

The world will direct your attention to the cheap substitutes of the world. Things like government, bank accounts, material possessions, other people, human abilities and achievements, religious performance and the list goes on and on and on.

Paul was well aware that grace brings about true transformation that actually creates in the true believer a desire to be obedient to Christ. We see in I Cor. 15:10 “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

Conclusion

True Christianity is initiated by effectual grace from God by the Holy Spirit. That happens prior to faith being exercised by the believer because one has to see truth before they can believe it. One has to understand something to be true before he can believe it to be true.

I Corinthians 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

Unbeliever the only way you will believe today is if God grants you the mercy and grace to believe the gospel.

If He has opened your eyes do not harden your heart to Him. For His yoke is easy and His burden is light come to Him. He is here today to manifest His glory in your life through faith in Jesus Christ. Believe the gospel!

Believer is you are truly in Christ it should show in your pursuit of obedience. Not in perfection but in your disposition towards sin.

You should hate it, even when you fall into it. Your ambition should be to turn from it and cling to the Cross and rest secure in His grace as a refuge for your soul.

True believers are being sanctified in truth because grace is effectual. Grace changes us for the glory of God.

Confess your sins and rest in Christ. Let’s Pray!