Romans chapter 6. And the title of the message
this morning is, Liberty From Sin, Not To Sin. Liberty From Sin, Not To Sin. The Scripture says in verse 1,
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound God forbid. God forbid. The apostle, having
now clearly shown that all men by nature are sold under sin,
completely and absolutely depraved by nature, which is shown by
the complete absence of righteousness, understanding, and willingness
to seek after God. You saw that in Romans 3. He
had concluded what he had started in Romans 1 and 2. He had concluded
this. He says, as it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. There's none that understandeth,
there's none that seeketh after God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. The apostle had clearly stated
that man by nature is depraved. and thus makes it impossible
for men to be justified by the law. By the deeds of the law
shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Therefore, the only
way is by grace, by the grace of God through Jesus Christ,
that a man may be justified before God. This is the sum and substance
of the gospel. The gospel message is not due,
the gospel message is done. This is the message of Christ,
that He has done all. And if any man is to be justified,
it must be by grace. It was God who in mercy sent
Christ Jesus into the world to obtain righteousness, and that
that righteousness by which He obtained, that He should impute
and impart that righteousness to everyone that believeth. Everyone that believes on Christ
has the righteousness of Christ imputed to him. Not that our
faith has any merit or part in this, but rather faith, even
faith that is necessary, is a grace of God. Look back in chapter
4, he tells us this. In chapter 4, verse 16, he said,
therefore, of faith. He said, this imputation of righteousness. He says, therefore, it's of faith.
That by grace." Now, if you'll notice, it, might be, those are
in italics. They're better translated if
you take them away. He says, therefore, faith, that,
faith, by grace. How does faith come? By grace.
For by grace you are saved through faith, and that faith is not
of yourselves. It, faith, is a gift of God,
not of works. Why? Lest any man should boast.
Have you heard people boasting of their faith? Well, I made
my decision. What are they doing? They're boasting in their faith.
Well, their faith is not the faith of God, because faith is
a gift of grace. We have no boasting in our faith.
But I tell you, it is necessary, you must believe on Christ, and
it's by this gift of faith that we believe. And we who believe
on God, who raised up Jesus from the dead, in that He died for
our offenses, we believe on Him the righteous Son of God who
was made sin for us and who had suffered once to put away sin
forever. He pleased God. We who believe
on Jesus Christ have His righteousness and are justified from all our
sins because He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. This is substitution.
This is the message of the gospel. It's a message of substitution.
Jesus Christ, by His death, has justified us. Therefore, faith
is only the realization of this. You believe on Jesus Christ?
Well, that's by grace. You didn't merit that. You didn't
earn faith. Faith is something God gave you
to believe on Christ. And faith is only the realization
of something already done. Isn't that amazing? Our salvation
was accomplished long before we were born. While we were yet
enemies, Christ died, the Apostle said. And so, when we receive
this justification, we receive what's already been done. And
what are the benefits of this? What are the benefits, Paul says,
of justification? He said we have peace with God.
What a benefit. We who are enemies of God have
peace with God through the blood of Jesus Christ. We have access
to God. I tell you, if you don't have
faith in Christ, you don't have access to God. We who believe
in Christ alone have access unto God by Jesus Christ. And we not
only have faith and access, but we have a good hope. When you
say, I hope, you're saying you wish. Isn't that right? Gee,
I hope this happens. That's not what God means by
hope. He means that we have a solid rock, solid assurance that we
have a hope. And our hope, our confidence
is in receiving the promise of eternal glory. And this too,
believer, you have a promise of troubles. Don't we have a
promise of that? We have a promise of tribulation.
He said, tribulation worketh patience. Not only with glory
in this, but in tribulation also. Knowing that tribulation worketh
patience, and patience experience hope. You see where the apostle
is going? He's building this argument. He comes down from
the bottom where we were. He tells us how it is that God
saves sinners. He tells us what God has done
for us. And now then, he comes to this.
He comes to this part here in the 6th chapter. And he's going
to answer the question of the legalist. The legalist. Well, you're telling me that
salvation is completely of grace, salvation is completely of God,
it's nothing to do with us, it's nothing to do whereby we merit
God's favor, Well, if it's all by grace, then doesn't that promote
sin? That's what they're asking. He
said, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? If salvation is by the sovereign
free grace of God without the law, if God justifies and forgives
sin by grace alone and requires nothing of man, will that not
promote sin? This is always the objection
of works religion. Works religion. Those who reject
the gospel of grace suppose that they that have some work to add
to Christ's righteousness. These who object to the grace
of God are men who profess salvation by grace, but yet they must add
something. They say, well, Jesus' grace
is good. You're telling me salvation by
grace, that's good. But I've got to add something
to it. I tell you, if you add anything
to the work of Christ, you've defiled it. You've defiled it. Well, they say that if that's
so, then men are just going to go out and sin like crazy. If
God just forgives you freely, then you can go out and sin and
do what you want to. The Word of God is clear. Salvation is
by the free unmerited favor of God through the perfect accomplished
work of Christ, so that all who believe on Christ alone are free
from the law, free from sin and death. In Romans 8, verse 2,
it says, For the law of the Spirit of the life in Christ Jesus hath
made me free. Free from the law of sin and
death. In Romans 10, Paul is going to tell us, For Christ
is the end of the law. Well, if you're saved by grace,
that's good, but you've got to keep the law now. No. Christ is the end of the law.
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. So then, will this promote sin
unto those who are saved by the free grace of God? The answer
is clear. Paul says, God forbid. We who
have liberty from sin are in no way saying we have liberty
to sin. No one who believes the gospel
of God's grace believes that. All who profess to believe on
Christ and confess Him to be their Savior and yet say in their
hearts, well, now I'm free. I'm forgiven. I can go do what
I want to. I can sin like I want to now. God's freely forgiven
me. Anybody who thinks like that has no idea what the grace of
God is. They've not been saved. Anyone
who thinks that. The Apostle answers this question
with another question. He says, how shall we, we who
are saved by grace, how shall we that are dead to sin live
any longer therein? What does the Apostle mean by
dead to sin? We who are dead to sin. Clearly,
he's not saying that a believer is free from sinning. He's not
saying that. Nor does he mean that we are
free from the influence, the attraction, or the ability to
sin. If you'll look over just one
chapter, look over and see what Paul says about his own experience
in chapter 7, verse 20. The apostle says, now, if I do that,
I would not. It is no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, a principle,
that when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight
in the law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in
my members, warring against the law of my mind and bringing me
into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O
wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the
body, this body of death? You see, the Apostle Paul says
that being dead to sin is not that we are free from sin. It's not we're free from the
presence of sin. We're not free from the influence
of sin. Why? Because we're still in this
body. We're still in this mortal flesh.
He said, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. If we're saved
by the grace of God through faith, the gift of grace in Jesus Christ,
We are dead to sin. The apostle means the same thing
he's been talking about in the last two chapters. Justified. He's talking about justification.
If we, being dead to sin, how shall we, who are justified from
the guilt of sin, live any longer in sin? Believer, consider then the grace
of God. Consider the love of God. The love of God that freed us
from the guilt of our sins. What did it take for God to free
you from the guilt of your sin? Consider what it took God and
what it cost Him. He sent His only begotten Son
into the world, His most beloved. He sent Him into the world to
suffer and die in our stead. so that you and I might be freed
from the guilt of sin." The Lord Jesus Christ, having loved His
own, He loved them unto the end. He gave Himself freely as an
offering for sin. The Lord Jesus Christ took our
sins in His own body who knew no sin. And God punished Him in our stead. May God ever keep us from thinking
so lightly of that because we know it. May God pierce our souls
with this truth that it cost the Son of God His life so that
you and I might be justified from all our sins. Consider His
bleeding, dying, being despised and rejected by God and men.
Now, do any of us who believe on Christ suppose for one minute
that He did that so we could be able to sin more? Do we suppose
that for one minute that God would kill His Son to allow you
to continue in sin? God forbid! That's a foolish
notion. A foolish notion. perish the thought. Look at verse
3. He says, Know you not that so
many of us were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into
His death? Therefore, we are buried with
Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk
in newness of life. There are some, at this time
the Apostle was writing this, who were baptized, who didn't
fully understand what baptism was about. I don't know, you
may have been baptized and you don't really understand what
baptism is all about. The apostle here is explaining
this very clearly and using this to show us how we are freed from
the guilt of sin. Baptism is meant as a physical
picture of a spiritual thing. It is a physical picture of a
spiritual thing. When we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, we are given a spiritual life, a new nature that is created
by God the Holy Spirit. Thus, we see our sin and our
unrighteousness and need of a Savior. Have you seen that? Do you know
that? And so then, we seeing this,
confess. We confess to all men that all
our salvation rests in Jesus Christ alone. We confess we have
no righteousness. We confess He is all are righteous. We confess that by no offering
of ourselves can we satisfy God. We confess that by His one offering
He has forever satisfied God. And so then, we who believe on
Jesus Christ are commanded. This is not an option. Baptism
is never an option. Baptism is a command of our Lord
Jesus Christ so that men know that we are identifying with
Christ. When people say, in our day,
they say, if you want to confess Christ, then come up to the front.
Where do you find that in Scripture? Nowhere. How is it that men confess
the Lord Jesus Christ before other men? Baptism is the only
way. Baptism is the only way. And
this is a picture. When a man stands in the baptismal
pool, he is identifying with Christ. When he is immersed under
the water, what he is confessing is that he has died with Christ. He is confessing his union with
Jesus Christ. His union. When a man is put under the water,
can you see him? No, you can't. You can't see
him. Why? Because he's immersed. And
when we are immersed in Christ, we become nothing and He becomes
everything. When we are immersed in Christ,
we confess our union with him in his death. He said, no, you
not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus were baptized
into his death. So that get this when he died,
you died. The law demanded your death.
OK. So when Jesus Christ died as
my representative man, I actually died with Him. In Him. The same way it was with
Adam. When Adam sinned, his sin was
imputed to you. It really became your sin. Because
he was your representative man. Even so, when Jesus Christ died
as your representative man, you died in Him. And knowing this truth, that
we have been justified by our union with Jesus Christ, seeing
that we are dead to the guilt of sin by our union with Christ,
how then is it possible for us to desire to continue to live
in sin? It's impossible. It's not possible for us even
to be charged with sin. Do you realize that? Flip over
one chapter, Romans 8, and read 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's 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. In Jeremiah chapter 50 and verse
20, the Lord says that in that day, the sins of Judah shall
be sought for and shall not be found. Who's seeking? God. The Lord
Himself shall search for our sins and they shall not be found. Why? We have died to sin. We have died to sin in our Savior. Therefore, you who believe, know
this, you are free from the guilt of sin forever. Man, if that doesn't lift the
burden off your shoulders, nothing will. If that don't cause you
to have a sigh of relief, nothing will. And so that when we died with
Christ, we were also buried with Christ, along with all of our
sins. And so as He rose from the dead
righteous, even so we rose righteous in Him. He died once unto sin,
but after that He was risen in righteousness. There was no more
sin. He bore our sins on the cross.
But when He was in the tomb and He rose from the dead, He arose
without sin. And where is He now? He is seated
on the right hand of God the Father, waiting for the time
to come and get us and bring us to Himself. Where are you? You're in Him. You're safe. Safe. What can the law demand
from you? Nothing. Nothing. In this sense, we are free from
the law. The law can demand nothing of
us because Christ our Savior. Now,
the old man of sin, as was related to Adam, was crucified. Back
in our text, The Apostle says, For if you have been planted
together in the likeness of a death, you shall also be in the likeness
of his resurrection, knowing that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin. You know what happened to that
contract with Adam? It was tore up at the cross. You were born in union with Adam. But I tell you, the Lord Jesus
Christ has tore that up, and you have another representative,
which is Jesus Christ. That old man has been crucified.
On the cross, the contract with Adam was ripped up because of
my union with Christ. So this, salvation by grace,
is not for the purpose of continuing in sin, but that we should know
our freedom from it. Our freedom from it. And he said,
knowing, he said, and if you be dead with Christ, we believe
that we shall also live with him. Knowing that Christ being
raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
once unto sin, but now liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise,
listen, likewise reckon ye yourselves. Reckon ye yourselves to be dead
indeed to sin. but alive unto God through Jesus."
He said, take inventory of this. Now, when you take inventory
of something, you already have it, right? Well, if there was
nothing here, if we were taking inventory of the furniture and
there was nothing in here, there'd be nothing to take inventory
of. But because the furniture's here, we can say we've got 1,
2, 3, 4, 20 pews, okay? Well, we have to take inventory
of this constantly, don't we? I always have to consider this. Why? Because I still live in
this old man. There is a struggle that was
not here before. I have a new man that is created
after God, and I have an old man, and these two are contrary
one to another, so that there's always a warfare, always a struggle
within my own breast. So therefore, I should always
consider what Christ has done for me. For what purpose? So that I might live for Him.
Doesn't that move you to serve? When you consider and take inventory
of what He's done, does that not move us to love? Does that not move us and cause
us to hate our sin? You bet it does. You bet it does. And therefore, we need encouragement
in this struggle. Do you need encouragement in
your struggle? Do you need someone to come alongside you and say,
you need to take inventory of what Christ has done for you.
You need to take inventory and recognize this, that you're dead
to sin. You're free from the guilt of
sin. And therefore, let not sin therefore
reign in your mortal body, that you should obey the lusts. Neither
yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from
the dead, and your members instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. You don't have to tell a living
man to breathe, do you? Does it? And if you're alive. I tell you to believe. Yes, I
do. If I tell a living man to breathe,
he said, I am. I tell a believer to believe. He said, I do. I
do. I believe. Therefore, if you believe, use
all that you have, all that you are in service to God. Isn't it just reasonable? Isn't liberty not an occasion
for us to go and sin, but grace is an occasion for us, a moving
of us to life and service to God? I pray that God would bless
this to your hearts. dismay.