Living a New Life - Dead to Sin, Alive to God

So we'll be Looking at Romans 6:1 14 as you heard discussed today. And I thought I would start back at the first of my journey in Germany. There's something here in Germany that I have come to embrace as an American. I first thought it was very obsessive compulsive and frankly just weird. What is this thing?

You must use a chip, a eurocoin or a 50 cent deposit to get a shopping buggy at the grocery store.

This causes us to return the buggy in order to get the coin or the chip back. I carry two of them in my wallet.

The result is order the buggies not being scattered all over the parking lot like I don't know every Walmart I've ever been in in usa. How crazy is the idea of this? To many of my American friends, this seems to many of them to be very controlling and odd. My first encounter with the concept was at a now defunct grocery store called Mini Mall. Now some of you know how long I've been in Germany.

This store reinforced how crazy I thought the idea was. When I first arrived in Germany, there was a row of red handle buggies, blue and green and white and yellow handle buggies, and you had to put each buggy back in the row with the light colored handle to keep the buggies from being too long into the parking lot.

This example seems very obsessive compulsive to an American. And as I stated, at first this was odd. But the longer I'm in Germany, the more I appreciate this practice. No dings in my car, no parking spots taken up by a buggy. It makes the chaos of Levil a little less chaotic, especially on Friday's payday.

So why did I use this illustration about what seemed to me odd the first time I saw it and grew on me with time? This is the process of sanctification, brothers and sisters. This is the process of becoming holy. There are things at first that seem odd, and the longer you walk with Jesus, the more sane they become.

So our text may have something that seems odd to you. The idea of living a life where we are commanded to not let sin be master is also odd, especially in a hedonistic society. And yes, I just said that about Berlin and I stand by it. Mostly because if we're honest, we will all confess that as followers of Christ, we fight with our fleshly desires daily. And this is ongoing.

And some days, if we're honest, we would say we're losing.

Some Christians, I think, give up or they try to ignore the struggle as we'll see in a little bit. They like Galatians 2:20, but struggle with 5, 25 and 26.

And the struggle is real. And here's the other thing. There's not anybody in this room that's not struggling with this Myself at the head of the line.

One thing that can cause us to struggle is forgetting that power of sin no longer controls us. May I read that again? I want this to resonate. One thing that can cause us to struggle is forgetting that the power of sin no longer controls us.

Romans 6 starts this great how then do we live out the holy life passage of Romans? And this is exactly where Paul starts Believers, sin no longer controls you. Through Jesus and his blood and death on the cross, the power is broken. Let that resonate through your hearts. Let it ring through your hearts.

Even as now you all are probably fighting some thought that needs to be taken captive. That's not said as a condemnation, that's said as a the struggle is real and it's ongoing every minute.

Paul will remind us in Romans 6 that the power of sin is broken for the born again believer and tells us that what we are to do about it. So we're going to take a look at Romans 6, how the power of sin is broken and how we can live in that reality. I will tell you in Paul's thinking, we're really starting this journey. There's much more to come. Real practical things are coming in this in seven and in eight things that get rocky, in nine things we all like in 10, 11, 12.

Yay. Most of us tried to memorize that at some point, but it's all helpful.

And I have to be honest about something else. Truthfully today, the message, because of the text and the way the text is constructed, is for the believers among us primarily.

If you do not know Christ, I hope that you find something that helps you to know how to find him and how to be saved from your sin and yourself. And I did not stutter from your sin and yourself. The biggest barrier to you coming to faith in Christ tends to be yourself, your desires, your pride, your will. That's what has to be conquered. This is how then shall we this is then and how then?

This is a how then shall we live passage of Scripture. It is not the whole teaching, as I've already said, but this is a good one. So buckle up, we're diving in. Before we dive into that, though, we do have to go back two verses into chapter five in this summary section which says the law has been brought in that trespasses may increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that just as sin reigned in death, it so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Grace is so enormous.

The grace that covers your sins, brothers and sisters, is so enormous. And then Paul says, What shall we say then?

Have you ever considered how many religions and thought systems are oriented towards good works? The goal of most of them is to become righteous, good, or even moral.

There is also a goal of being sure that the one you are worshiping is not angry with you. That's also very interesting. We know we deserve wrath. How do I placate this God that wants to destroy me?

And we know, brothers and sisters, that God placated that wrath for us on his son.

Everyone knows that they do not measure up. We have an internal drive, though, that tells us to be and do good. I believe this is a mark that Yahweh, in whose image we are made, that's put on us. We see that Yahweh does good in the world. We know that Yahweh is good.

We're made in his image. People want to believe that they are good as their core and untouched by sin. They want to know that they are good at their core and untouched by sin.

Have you ever had a gospel conversation with somebody that tells you that they're good no matter what sin they might be involved in at the moment of that conversation?

See, our hearts are deceitful, but there's also something put inside of us that longs to be good. We were made to be good. And Paul has overwhelmingly proved that we're not in the first five chapters.

So biblically, what does good mean? It means not breaking any of the laws established by the Creator. As we have seen in Romans already, the law of God is written on men's hearts so that they can perceive what good and bad is. We also see in Romans that all of us are trapped by sin, as we've said. So what is good?

It is the perfect sinless, never making a mistake. Yikes. Read it again. Perfect, sinless, never making mistakes.

Every husband in here has someone that's helped them know that they make mistakes.

I don't know if the message goes the other way, but I know it comes this way.

Not only is good, that is sinless. The focus upon what is done. A person must be sinless in their thought life. Now I'm speaking to my Muslim friends. If I didn't do it, I didn't sin.

What? That's not what The Scripture teaches us, if you thought it, you've already sinned. If you do it, you just add to the sin.

That's how corrupt we are.

And this is one of the reasons that we as believers are to renew our minds and to have transformed thinking. Now I'm jumping over to Romans 12. I'll come back in. Romans 6 starts us towards the journey from being declared righteous to how then do we live as a follower of Christ? Being declared righteous for the sinner has its grounding in the perfect life, death and resurrection of Christ.

How we live is also to be grounded in the perfect life, death and resurrection of Christ. Did you hear that?

Basically, the question from our text today is how do we have the power to reject sin?

We've already said that in chapters one through five, we dealt with the power of sin over human beings and over all of humanity. And the key to breaking that power of faith in Christ is. And now we come to unpacking the holy life.

And because of some of the things that are in this text. Thank you to whichever one of you assigned this to me.

That's there's some fun things in here.

I think we can all agree with the Apostle Peter when He said in 2nd Peter chapter 3, verse 15 and 16, bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation. Just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him, he writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand.

So one of the ones that walked with Jesus was part of the special three went that brother said some hard things.

Which ignorant and unstable people distort. So they distort the other Scriptures to their own destruction. So I hope to illumine some things today that are hard to understand.

And I hope that it will be helpful. And I hope that I do what Paul intended. Right?

So one more side note and then we're going to dive into the text. A phrase that's helpful in understanding Paul's theology in Romans is in general already, but not yet. Already, but not yet. You'll see how that impacts in a little bit, but keep this phrase in mind.

So we have four things that we're going to look at. Four points. First one's up there. I'll read the four. We're going to be freed from the power of sin through the death of Christ.

We are freed from the power of sin through the resurrection of Christ. We are freed from the power of sin to live with Christ. We are freed from the power of sin because we belong to Christ.

So let's dive into the first one.

And as we dive into it, there's one more thing I want to say, and that is in each of these four points, the way I divided them up by the text, the first three give us statements of fact. The last one gives us commands. I don't want you to misread it or misunderstand it. I want you to understand the reality in these first three points in this first three groupings of text. And then I want you to hear clearly what the command is based on the statements of fact, so that that's clear in your mind to know how to apply this to your own heart.

So we are freed from the power of sin through the death of Christ. How does it start here? What should we say then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? This is a critique statement about the marvelous grace God has bestowed on us through Christ.

The previous chapters have outlined this wonderful marvelous grace of Christ that He purchased for us on the cross. Every believer's response to this grace is thankfulness and longing to obey Christ. But have you ever asked a question like the one, or have you ever been asked a question like the one that Paul to which Paul is responding? Has a non believer ever quizzed you with, oh, you believe in Jesus? You must just think, you can keep on sinning.

It doesn't matter, you're covered in grace. Have you heard it?

What about your Muslim friend? Heard a lot from them, which makes sense. They have an angel on the left and an angel on the right, and one's writing down their good and one's writing down their bad, and they're just hoping at the end of time that the good outweighs the bad. The problem with the equation is one drop of bad and we're done for.

So what are we saying? The free grace of God given to you through Christ is a license to sin. I think Paul has had to defend this argument before and probably against Jews for sure. And so what does he say? By no means.

So I'm going to translate that into Louisiana English. No, absolutely not.

And that's the emphaticness with which he said it. No, absolutely not. By no means.

Paul's answer is used to my account in the book of Romans nine times. This by no means phrase in the original nine times. It's like he's arguing with whoever his mythical Jew is as he's writing Romans, like, I know I'm going to face y' all when I get to Rome. So just let me go on ahead and tell you ahead of time. You can hold these questions back because they don't aren't relevant.

And in verse two, where he starts this, by no means he gives us the reason we are those who have died to sin. How then can we live in it any longer? And this is a good question. This is one of the places where the already but not yet understanding of Paul's theology comes into focus. This question points to the fact that the power of sin is broken.

Yet we know that we still sin until we come into glory. However, brothers and sisters, do you have a desire to not live in sin?

If so, that's good. But now Paul wants us to understand why the power of sin is broken. But this opens up another hard question in this text. Again, see my thanks to the guys who assigned this to me. Baptism.

Baptism is easy, but in this text it can be confusing. Verse 3 Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? What then is baptism? Does this verse say that we have to be baptized to be saved?

I encountered that thought as a junior or senior in high school with a guy that I was arguing with who told me that you must be baptized to be saved. And I said, as any logical person who knows their New Testament, what about the thief on the cross Who Jesus said, what? You'll be with me today in paradise? And he said, yeah, he didn't make it.

So this is one of my. This is one of my little mantras. I'm now going off text of the passage.

Don't ever let your theology outrun your Bible.

So if baptism could save us, this seemed to be something that would add to the work of grace. It would be a work. This is not what's in focus here. We know that one is saved by confessing and repenting of sin and trusting Christ as Lord and Savior. At this point, new birth has occurred.

The new believer is a new creation. One who has made this profession of faith in Christ is then baptized into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, as Jesus commanded. So baptism is a symbol that the old man has died in Christ and has been raised. But why then does baptism appear to save us in this text? What could be the disconnect between us and Paul?

Most of us who were baptized were baptized several weeks or longer after we were saved. I'm going to guess we may have gone through a baptismal class before being baptized. The New Testament points out that folks were baptized at the time of their confession. And that's the disconnect. Paul's going by the model that he's seen.

When somebody professed faith, they followed in baptism on the spot. So it's very easy to talk about baptism as being conversion because it happened together.

So I'll give you two illustrations to the point. The Ethiopian eunuch, as we see in Acts 28, 26, 46, it says, and as they traveled along the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, look, here's water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?

There was no 13 week discipleship course.

And I went through one and I remembered this passage in particular and didn't understand it at the time.

And the course was good. I have nothing against the course whatsoever, and I don't mean to imply that at all with anything I'm saying. That's not my point. My point is Paul's reality is not our reality. That's all my point is.

But I'm going to give you another illustration anyway, And that is the Philippian jailer.

What we see with the pattern of him is that he was baptized in his whole household immediately after coming to faith. So now we'll move into verses three and four. Don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Jesus was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. The old man is buried, the new man is raised.

That is, we too live a new life. Live in our text is one of my favorite Greek words. So I'm going to say the Greek word because it's one of my favorites. It's peripateo. It means to walk.

So if you're reading the esv, and I heard the ESV when it was read, it says walk here. When that word comes up to walk as peripeteo, it means your conduct in this world, how you live your life in this world changes. That's what that is. There's going to be some other words in a little bit later that'll say live the same way that the NIV does here that I'm talking about. And it's a different word that means to have life in you, but this is how you're conducting yourselves.

So this is an internal change that works its way out in our lives as we imitate Christ. Our life conduct is to be a new life, a new walk.

Let's remember that that helpful phrase of Paul's theology again here already, but not yet. The already part is that Christ died for us and through faith our old man has died. We are freed from the power of sin. Now to point to and I'm sorry, we are freed from the power of sin through the resurrection of Christ, but not yet is seen now in the resurrection hope for if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. This if is important and will be connected to the next point with another if.

The if is conditional, but with the expectation is that it will be true for you, O believer. Consider the second half of verse 5. We have been united with him in a death like his.

Believer, you died.

What Jesus said is recorded in Matthew. Not Matthew, but Luke 9:23. Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. This is part and parcel of trust in Christ as Lord and Savior. He did not remain on the cross.

He was resurrected. We worship a crucified, resurrected Savior. Let's remember he rose. Therefore our hope is found in the last part of verse five. We will certainly be with united with him in a resurrection like his.

This is the but not yet. Why do I say that? You all just took a breath and let one out. You're still on earth.

The resurrection for each of us is still to come.

Contemplate with me for a moment that one who has been resurrected. Contemplate me with me, the one who was resurrected for you and created you in Colossians 1:16. For in him that is Christ, all things were created. Things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities. All things have been created through him.

And for him the grave could not hold the Creator.

And by the power of the Father, Jesus was resurrected. But also think of the other side of that. Those for whom he came, and for those who argued with him during the life of his ministry, and for those who argue with him through you as you share your faith.

He created them. He created us.

He came to get what he made. He came for those he crafted and shaped in his image.

What is the death to which our old man died? Let's listen again to verse six. For we know that our old man was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. The slavery to sin is broken. How?

Through the crucifixion. Your old self was crucified with him.

I use this as an illustration just a little bit, but I'm going to say this here as well. Remember how crucifixion happened. Slow, long. How did they die if they're left hanging? Their lungs filled with the fluids of their body.

They drowned trying to catch a breath. Brothers and sisters, that's how your old man is supposed to die. The longer you're a believer, the less air he should be able to get.

Let that visual rest, because that visual gives you a concrete way to have hope as you're growing in holiness.

The old man is surely to die.

Death happens at your physical death, though that's the bad part.

That also means, though, that the body right now is not ruled by sin any longer.

Romans 6:22 A little bit later be next week's sermon tells us that we are slaves to God rather than slaves to sin. And I just couldn't help but bring this up because one master wants to destroy me. Sin. But one master loved me and came for me. Jesus.

Now consider verse seven because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. We know that the old man is dead. We know that we fight with sin. So what is the deal? I think Galatians 2:20 has insight for us here.

He said, I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I have been crucified. Passive.

Jesus paid it all. That's how we're declared righteous. My path into the kingdom is guaranteed. But Galatians 5:24 states, those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. Did you catch it?

Did you catch that subtle change?

Have crucified the flesh. Have actively done it. That's how sanctification works. It doesn't happen in a vacuum.

But this is active. We don't want it to get air. But how does it happen? 5:16 Galatians 5:16 says that we're to walk by the Spirit. This is that Peripateo word again.

Conduct your life in the world by the Spirit. That's what getting up and talking to Jesus first thing in the morning before you go, face whatever heathens you got to talk to at work, whether they're customers or co workers.

You need to walk by the Spirit and you need that time in Galatians 5:18 says that we're led by the Spirit. Well, the Spirit's going to lead you by what he gave you. That's why we read the Word and then in 5, 25, it says that we keep in step with the spirit. If you sense in your conscience, sense in your spirit, something's not right, don't go that way. Keep in step with the spirit.

So in other words, the helper that the Father and the Son sent us to enable us to slowly kill the old man that is dead. Remember the already, but not yet. This instrument is used by the Holy Spirit in the death of our old man. And the way that we use that instrument, what I'm trying to get at is what do we do to do that is what I said with the quiet time. It's the prayer and the Word and the worship, whether it's corporate or private.

Did you notice that you get something out of corporate worship? You don't get out of private worship. And you get something out of private worship, you don't get out of corporate worship.

Have you noticed that the more of the Word you read and the more of the words you memorize, the better you do and feel and fight. The problems all come. Life's hard. The hard stuff's coming. How prepared are you for the hard stuff?

How close are you to your Lord to walk with him?

Life together, the community together, all of the New Testament one another's. So I had somebody recently asked me, what do you think is more important, reading your Bible or going to church? My answer was yes, but it's real hard for you to love one another, serve one another, be kind to one another if you're never with one another.

The people in this room have a variety of gifts as the Holy Spirit has equipped them. From the youngest believer to the oldest believer. You cannot exercise the gift God gave you sitting at your house or under a tree, or if you're in my part of the world in a fishing boat or a golf course, to the expense of being with God's people. But the result of all of this is happiness and joy, even when all of life is against us. When you find out you have cancer, when you find out that loved one is taking their last breath, when you find out you just got fired, when you found out your kid did that again, and now I have to go talk to the teacher again or the police or whoever else it's going to be.

But remember, Jesus never leaves us or forsakes us.

And he seems, the Master seems to delight in forging some of the most precious parts of our holiness through whatever that hard stuff is. Which feels a lot to me, like I'm a stone and he's got a hammer and a chisel and he's whacking away.

So, so far we have seen that we are freed from the power of sin through the death of Christ, and we are freed from the power of sin through the resurrection of Christ. These are realities for every Christian here today. The power of sin is dealt with in your life. Now let's look at the third reality. We are freed from the power of sin to live with Christ.

Paul says in verse eight, now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we also will live with him. Now we have our second if. This if is going to show us a truth, a statement of fact. The fact is, if we live together, that light with Christ, we know that we will be raised from the dead spirituality, but we also are to live with Christ daily. We're not only raised from the dead spirituality, but we're to live with Christ daily.

The life, this life is bound to Christ in totality. As a follower, remember that Christ conquered death. I know. That's all over this passage. It keeps coming, doesn't it?

Like we might need to be reminded.

For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again. Death no longer has mastery over him. We serve a Savior who lives forever. Physically, we will all die in our flesh. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us.

That's John 14:2.

Remember that Jesus lives his life to God. In verse 10, it says, the death. He died. He died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God.

And in Psalm 110, Daniel 7, 13, 14 and Mark 12:64, Jesus declares, While he was on earth, he said this was going to happen. And the reality is, now he's sitting at the right hand of the Father and he's ruling and reigning.

And that declaration he made in Mark is the reason the Pharisees tore their robes, said blasphemy, and said, kill him. Because they knew. He just quoted Daniel 7 where he said, I'm God.

And everything about his life was about glorifying the Father. Our entire hope for this life and the life to come rest on the finished work of Christ. And this is why we worship him. So to summarize these three statements of fact concerning the power of sin in our lives, this is those statements of fact. We have seen that we have been freed from the power of sin through the death and resurrection of Christ, as well as living with Christ.

So now we're going to look at where the imperatives lie. We are freed from the power of sin because we belong To Christ. Now, the command verbs start in this passage. These commands are built upon and dependent upon those promises that were given. The commands start with seeing yourself dead to sin.

Look at how Paul says it in verse 11. In the very same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. The word count is an imperative. If it's not clear in English, it's clear in Greek. This is an imperative.

It also means to reckon, to take an account of, to keep in that kind of an order. This is done. And he says, count yourselves dead to sin. The command is based on the reality versus the previous verses. As I said, the command informs how we as followers of Christ are to be thinking about ourselves.

Renewing our minds with the Word through the reading, study and memorization helps us to count ourselves, that is to change our thinking. How many of you have had a verse that you memorized as a child, hadn't thought about in years, come to your mind in a very difficult situation, and you go, I hadn't thought about that verse that way in a long time. And it just comes because when you pack it in, it's there to come out. The second command is in verse 12. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you may obey its evil desires.

We are commanded to do what we can do by the Spirit so you are able to resist sin. Now, as believers, Jesus is to reign over our bodies, not sin. This often means on the spot praying, and on the spot remembering that verse I was talking about in the face of temptation. Notice the use of the phrase in our mortal body so that we might not allow this body that's dying to rule us.

I believe that this is one of the purposes of fasting. It teaches us that if the basic desire to eat can be conquered, then it's showing us that other desires can be conquered too.

I didn't always think about fasting as a way to help me defeat sin.

I always thought about fasting is this person's ill. I want to pray for them, let me fast, which is okay. But think about that. If you've not fasted in a while, and if you're struggling with some sin, fast, take away the food and plead with God to take away the sin.

I think you may be amazed what happens. You'll just have to do it long enough for the breakthrough to happen. 40 days is kind of the record. I don't think you'll have to wait that long.

But we do need to depend on the Spirit to do this, and we need to be aware that he will speak to our conscience most often through Scripture. The third command is do not offer. Now this is interesting, kind of, you see that moving from thinking and kind of moving out. So do not offer any part of yourself as an instrument or a weapon or a tool. This is what that word could be for wickedness.

Our bodies belong to Christ, not to wickedness. The word wickedness could also be translated as unrighteousness, that which is opposite of what Jesus is righteous.

We are to use our bodies in ways that glorify Christ. The fourth command is positive and active, but rather offer yourselves to God, to those who have been brought from death to life. See that? Don't avoid the sin. Go to God, the fifth command, and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.

The fifth command is also that positive and active command. First offer yourself to God. Then offer every part of yourself as an instrument to righteousness. And we are to daily offer ourselves then to God in this way. So we have a new master, Jesus Christ.

Verse 14 says, Sin shall no longer be your master because you are not under the law, but under grace. Being under grace puts us under Jesus Christ. Notice this is not a command, but this verse ends with a statement of fact. Sin will no longer be your master, Christian. You are not enslaved to sin anymore.

You are free.

And next week you'll see this unpacked further. So here's my conclusion. So let's come back to the buggies.

The longer one is in the society where the buggy is returned to get the chip back, the more you crave the order, the more you remember that you were delivered from the power of sin. The more you want to be present to present yourself to righteousness. Temptations are always there. The Holy Spirit can help you resist the temptations and avoid them. You will never be perfect on earth, but Christian, you should be progressively getting closer to perfection.

Even with the ups and downs, you should be getting progressively better. Lean into the Lord who loves you, died for you and is interceding for you right now. Find your joy and satisfaction in Christ alone.

Well, may that be our heart's desire this week that he would reign in us. And you know, we heard today how we're to present our lives as a living sacrifice. May that be our hearts this week, that each day when we wake up, we would simply present ourselves before our great God and desire to live set apart for his glory. Thank you brother, for reminding us of that today. You know, I always love hearing from a brother.

That's a little further down the path than me. I can say that, right? We know each other well enough. But.

But thank you for the wisdom you shared with us today. The reminder. You know, I preached this message this morning and it's such a reminder that we have this power living inside of us by the Spirit to put sin away. So may we do that this week. I want to leave you with these verses as we end today from Galatians 5, 24 and 25.

It says, and those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with his passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.

Uns auch un geist vanden. So let us do that this week. Just a reminder, we have our coffee fellowship. We encourage you to stick around. Hey, if you don't know someone, then get to know them.

We encourage you to build one another up. Stick around with us. We hope that you have a great week and thank you for joining us today. Have a great day.