Romans chapter 6. We'll be looking at verse 11
this morning. And the title of the message
is, Reckon by Faith. Reckon by Faith. The Scripture says in verse 11,
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves. to be dead indeed to sin, but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. The Apostle Paul here calls all
believers. This is a personal call to all
believers. Likewise, reckon ye yourselves. You who are believers in Jesus
Christ, this is a personal Exhortation. Likewise, reckon
ye yourselves to be dead indeed to sin. The apostle here is not
calling on us to consider our experience, but rather our state
and standing before God in Jesus Christ, which is dead to sin. You, believer, are dead to sin. Now the cause of this being dead
to sin has nothing and in no way has anything to do with our
works or our merit. It has nothing to do with our
obedience or our mortification Being dead to sin has everything
to do with our union in Jesus Christ. It has everything to
do with Jesus Christ. Now the cause of this was not
us. We were born not dead to sin,
we were born dead in sin. We know this in Ephesians 2.
The Scripture says, "...and you hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins." We were dead in sins, not dead to sins. We were born under the condemnation
and the sentence of death. Why? Because of sin. Sin is the reason death came
into this world. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men, for all have sinned. How did we sin? We sinned in
the representative. We sinned in Adam. As Adam sinned,
so did we sin. Thus we were in Adam as he was
our federal head and representative. If you look at the chapter before,
this is what the Apostle spends from verse 12 all the way down
to the end of the chapter telling us about our representative Adam. He says in verse 18, therefore
by the offense of one judgment came upon all the condemnation.
Even so, by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon
all men under justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners." Do you hear that? By the disobedience
of Adam, you and I were made sinners. Made sinners by a representative
man. In 1 Corinthians 15, 22, the
apostle again tells us this truth. In Adam all die. In Adam all
die. We were born by nature sinners,
so that there was none of us righteous, none good, none that
understand, none that seeketh after God. We were all together
become unprofitable. Why? Sin. Sin. We were worthy only of God's
judgment. Friends, God is holy. How holy
is God? Well, I can't begin to fathom
how holy God is. But I know this, that every sin
must receive a just recompense of reward. However, God, as the
judge of all men, views sin, He will judge sin accordingly. I was reading something this
week about a man. He was talking about a particular
sin that has been all over the news and people are all up in
arms about it. But he said this, It's not only
a sin, it's a crime. It's a crime. Do you realize
sin is a crime? It may not be a crime against
you or humanity, but I'll tell you, it is a crime against God. Sin, all sin is a crime, it is
treason. And all sin is worthy of eternal
death. Men mock at this. The natural
man scoffs at this thing. But it is so that God will punish
all sin by death. By death. You see in the end
of this that Paul the Apostle tells us for the wages of sin
is what? What is the wages of sin? What
do you get for your sin? Death. The wages of sin is death. So what, tell me, listen to me,
what have you to offer God? What have you to offer for your
crimes? Is not everything we touch sin? Is it not sinful? Everything
we put our hands to, it is wicked. It is mixed with the vilest of
sins. I am preaching to you the Word
of God and I tell you that from my own heart and conscience,
I must confess that everything I do is mixed with sin. What
have I to offer God? I tell you the same thing you
have to offer God. Nothing. You have nothing wherewith to
pay a holy God for your sins. This is why hell is eternal. This is why death continues forever. Because you cannot pay for one
sin. The God of heaven and earth cannot
be bought or bribed. We can, can't we? Someone offends us, surely they
come along and give us something or make us feel good, butter
us up. You know, that's basically all you really got to do is just
kind of tell us how good we are and how much you love us and
how much you care for us. And sure, we begin to melt like
butter. We can just kind of, oh, I forgive
you. God's not that way. God's not
that way. God cannot be bribed. He cannot
be bartered with. How many people today do you
suppose make their own covenants with God? How many people, you
suppose, maybe you've made your own covenant with God? I tell
you, your covenant is worthless. If you've made a covenant with
God for the peace of your soul, your covenant is empty, it's
vain because you have nothing that God wants. Go over to Isaiah. I want to show you this. Isaiah,
chapter 28. Look what God says about bartering
with Him concerning this matter of sin and death. Look in verse 14. It says, Wherefore,
hear the word of the Lord, you scornful men, that rule this
people which is in Jerusalem, because you have said, We have
made a covenant with death, and with hell we are at agreement. When the overflowing scourge
shall pass through, it shall not come unto us. For we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves. How many people think it's not
going to happen to me? You see, I'm special. Isn't that
the word of our generation? Isn't that the vile thoughts
of man? I'm special. Now, God can send
everyone else to hell, but as for me, I'm special. He's not going to send me. I've
made up my peace with God. Your peace with God, if you've
made it, is worthless. Look what God says. He says in
verse 18, And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and
your agreement with hell shall not stand when the overflowing
scourge shall pass through. Then you shall be trodden down
by it. From the time that it goeth forth,
it shall take you. For morning by morning shall
it pass over, by day and by night, and it shall be a vexation only
to understand the report. You realize men in hell will
only understand the report after they're there, when it's too
late. when it's too late. What's the
report? Here it is. For the bed is shorter
than a man can stretch himself on it, and the covering too narrow
that he can wrap himself in it. How many foolish men suppose
that God is much like themselves, whose judgment is crooked and
perverted? All who come to God by works
will be taken by death, and their refuge of lies will be swept
away. One day, one day, you'll know
this for sure if your refuge is made up of lies. You can fool me, and I can fool you. We will never
fool God. You'll never fool God. All the sacrifices and self-righteous
of religious men will in a moment be gone. They'll stand as the
goats on the left hand of the side of Jesus Christ trying Striving
to boast in what they've done for Christ. Lord, did we not
preach for You? Lord, did we not get up on Sunday
and go to church for You? Oh, we sacrificed so much for
You, Lord. Oh, we fed the poor. We went
to foreign countries and we built houses for You, Lord. Depart
from me, You that work iniquity. I never knew You. Listen to me. All who trust in
their religious deeds, the scourge of God's justice will trod you
down because the bed of your works
is too short and the covering of your righteousness too narrow. Where then is hope for sinners?
How can sinners be saved if the wages of sin is death? Here it is, only by the death
of a substitute. That's how. Your death in hell
will not pay for one's sin, but I point you to one who's died
for sin once and paid for sin. His name is Jesus Christ. Behold
the stone that God has laid in Zion, a tried stone, a precious
stone, a cornerstone. God has sent His Son into the
world and He was made flesh for the purpose of dying for sin. Dying for sin. He was a man approved
of God by wonders and miracles. He healed the sick. He did right. He only did good. Raised the
dead. He was proven by His suffering
and temptation. Satan proved Him only to be the
Son of God. The Jews who tried Him only proved
Him to be who He said He was. And what did He say to them?
He said, Which of you convinces me of sin? Who convicts me of sin? Jesus
said, the prince of this world hath found nothing in me. Behold,
I'm showing you a spotless lamb. I'm showing you the only sacrifice
for sin is Jesus Christ. God sent His only begotten Son
into the world to be a precious cornerstone and the foundation,
the refuge for the souls of men. You who have a refuge of lies,
you who've made a covenant with death and hell, disregard that
and come to the refuge. I hope this morning that you're
not just admiring the refuge. I hope you come in. What good do you suppose it did
for everyone to admire the ark from the outside? Boy, look at
those planks. He's really doing a good job.
Look at that pitch. Oh, it's perfect. No. Don't just admire Christ. Believe
on Christ. Trust in Christ. Rest in Christ. The spotless Lamb of God has
died at the hands of sinners in order to fulfill the will
of God. Behold on the cross that Jesus
Christ, the sinless Son, was made sin for us. How is it that sinners who know
only sin could be made free from sin. I tell you it is only that
because God imputed our sins to His sinless Son. And there on the cross, Jesus
Christ died to sin. He died to sin. Sin demanded
God's judgment, God's justice. And when our sin was put in the
sinless Son of God, God's justice poured out unmixed with any mercy,
without mercy, poured out on His only begotten Son, and He
died. He died for sin once. Once. You see, the sinless Son
of God paid the full wages of our sins. Therefore, Paul says,
He died once. Look at that in your text. In,
for that, in verse 10. For in that He died. He died
unto sin once. But in that He liveth, He liveth
unto God. So perfect was His one offering
of blood, that the law and justice of God, when it could demand
no more, Jesus Christ said this. He said, It is finished. What did He mean? Sin had been
paid for. Justice had been satisfied. He died to sin. He paid the penalty
for sin, which was death. He put away sin for ever satisfying
the justice of God. And all who believe on Jesus
Christ, whose souls rest completely on Him, this is what the Apostle
is speaking to you and me. Likewise, just as Jesus Christ
died to sin once and now liveth unto God, likewise reckon you
also yourselves. to be dead to sin. Likewise,
as Jesus Christ has forever died to sin after He had suffered
once for it, was raised into glory without sin, even so, take
inventory of this, believer. Again, remember, I'm not talking
about your experience. Because our experience tells
us something totally different about sin, doesn't it? Experience
tells us that sin is here. We're not free from the presence
of sin as of yet. So what is Paul talking about?
He's talking about how you appear before God now. How you appear
before God is that you are dead to sin. The price has been paid. Reckon. Take inventory of this. Count it to be so, because it
is so. You who believe. Count it to
be so because it is so. I don't feel. I don't care how
you feel. That's one thing about feelings,
isn't it? They come and they go. Feelings
are deceptive. But this is the truth. Likewise,
reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, who believe on
Him because you were in union with Christ when He died. Just
as you were in union with Adam. Listen. Do you have any experience
of being an Adam? Do you have any memory of it? Absolutely not. Were you an Adam? Absolutely. Absolutely. I tell you this, I did not feel
the nails. I did not feel the spear. But
I know this, when Christ died once unto sin, I was in union
with Him. I was in union with Him. So when
He died, I died. And when He rose again being
freed from the guilt of sin, I too am free from the guilt
of sin. This is the gospel. This is the
good news that we are free from the guilt of sin. If the wages of sin is death,
and Christ died once unto sin, what then do we owe? What do
you owe? Nothing. You owe nothing to justice. Justice is satisfied. Flip over one passage and see
it. Romans 8 and verse 31. What shall we say then to these
things? If God be for us, who can be against us? He that spared
not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall
He not with Him freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is He that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yea, rather is risen again who
is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Believer, reckon this to be so. How often? Continually. Continually reckon this to be
so. How? When I say reckon, how do
we reckon this to be so? How do we count this to be so?
By faith. That's how. By faith. You won't
ever find any cause or reason in you for this. This is completely
by faith. Because we still have the presence
of sin. We live in this body of death.
He said, we are not free from the presence of sin, we are not
free from the influence of sin, and we are not free from the
effects of sin. But I tell you, reckon this to
be so, you are free from the guilt of sin. By the union you have with Jesus
Christ, by His death. Therefore, if He lives and is
free from sin, even so do you live and are free from sin. free
from its penalty. Isn't that a great blessing?
The penalty of sin, death, you're free from that. So then believer,
if we are dead from the guilt of sin, how then do believers react to
this? This is the whole point of the
matter. Paul is talking about salvation being of grace, and
he's asking the question, if it's of grace, then people, if
they say, well, let's sin that grace may abound. Is that how
you feel about that? Absolutely not. We who believe in Christ and
are dead to sin, we are also alive unto God. We who believe have become the
servants not of sin, but of God. If we do not keep this in mind,
if we do not keep this in mind that we are dead to sin, free
from the guilt of sin, and raised up together with Christ, I tell
you, we cannot serve God. Why? If you don't keep this at
the forefront of your mind and your heart, that you are free
from the guilt of sin, you will then turn to look at legalism. You will turn to law. And how can we serve God by the
letter? We can't. We serve God in newness
of life. Believer, we must cultivate this
spirit of adoption, that we have been chosen by the sovereign
will and decree of the Father, and we have been redeemed by
the Son, and we must continue to trust in Jesus Christ as all
our salvation. And by this, if you cultivate
this, if you meditate on this, if you think on these things,
how that Christ died for your sins, how that He loved you in
service to God, He glorified God, then it moves us to obedience. I'm not moved to obedience by
legalist checklist. I'm moved to obedience by love. Love. by His love. Remember, it is
the love of Christ that constraineth us, not the letter. And so then the
apostle says, let us not, let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body that you should obey the lust thereof. Neither yield
yourselves, members, as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God as those who are alive from the
dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness." One thing
about a person who is dead to sin. They have a new whereas once they only had one
heart to sin. Now then, there's a new nature
that loves the things of God. Are His commands grievous to
you? Is His burden not light? His burden is light. We're free. Free to serve God. not only in
our spirits but with our bodies, with our souls, and with our
minds. May God ever help us to reckon
that we are dead to sin. How? By faith. May God bless
this to your hearts.