Turn back to Romans 6. Romans 6. I titled this message, Sin Shall
Not Have Dominion Over You. And when Paul speaks here of
sin, he's speaking of that sin nature that we were born with,
every one of us. We were born with a sin nature. And in this chapter, this chapter
is so important, if you and I can get a hold of it, the blessing
of assurance that we can have in the Lord Jesus Christ when
we really understand what our Lord accomplished at
Calvary. He not only died for our sins, but He dethroned sin,
that old man. That's what happens when God
saves a sinner. He dethrones that old man, that
old sin nature that controls us. It controls everything we
do. That sin nature does. And in this chapter here, Paul,
And we'll not look at all this this morning, but Paul is not
only dealing with our justification, which he has dealt with, but
we are now going to see our sanctification. Everyone whom God justifies,
he sanctifies. Justification is a legal term. We are cleared of all charges
before the law of God, the justice of God. We're clear, justified. And sanctified, we are made holy.
We are made holy in Christ, we are made righteous in Christ.
And in that new birth, that new man is created in righteousness
and true holiness. There's real sanctification as
well as real justification, and both of them are on the same
ground. And that's our union to the Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul in this chapter here,
He knew that there would be some objections to salvation by grace
alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, apart from any
works whatsoever on our part. He knew there would be objections
to that. And so he says there in verse
1, What shall we say then? Or, how shall we answer such
an objection, is what he's saying. What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Look back in chapter
5, in verse 20 and 21. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, as a monarch, as a king, as sin, that sin nature, that's
what he's talking about there, he's not talking about an act
of sin. Any act of sin that I'm doing, he's not talking about
my character, and he's not talking about my conduct. He's talking
about a nature. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ. And some are going to say, shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Shall we continue
to live after the flesh, after that sinful nature? Shall we
continue to follow the principles of the world since we are not
justified by our obedience to the law? Then why not live after
sin if that's what makes grace abound? That's human reasoning. And that's self-righteous reasoning.
And Paul knew that would come up. If God's grace is magnified
by my sin, well then let us sin more. That's human reasoning,
right? That's just human reasoning.
Let us sin more that grace may abound. God's grace has never
encouraged anyone to sin. It is a far more powerful, greater
motive not to sin than the law. God's grace is. Grace enables
us not to follow after sin, not to live in ungodliness. Grace teaches us to hate sin. Grace teaches us to turn from
sin. That's what grace teaches us.
Grace is glorified and put in a stop to the reign of sin. That's how grace is glorified.
It puts a stop to it. And Paul answers it like this,
God forbid, perish the thought. How shall we, now here from verse
2 to 14, this is, if God will enable us to get a hold of this.
How shall we that are dead to sin, how shall we that are dead
to that sin nature, There's been a separation made. Just like
when you die, or when I die, the soul is separated from this
body here. And he's saying here that those
who have died in Christ, they are crucified with Christ, they
are dead to that old nature. That doesn't mean that we are
dead to this presence or its influence. And listen, He's not
talking here about our character either. He's not talking about
our conduct. He's talking about a nature that
we're dead to. We're not under it no more. It's
not our master no more. You know, the Scripture speaks
of death and being dead to sin in three ways here. There's a
death for sin. I believe I got this out from
John Gill. And we see this at the cross.
We see this at the cross. There's three hanging on three
crosses there. And here's what we see. There's
a death for sin. That's Christ hanging on that
cross. He died for our sins. There's
a death in sin. That's that thief on the left
who perished in his sins. He died in his sins. And then
there's a death to sin. That's that thief on the right.
When he died, that sin nature was over with. It didn't control
him no more. It was gone. Gone. But what he's
saying here, God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin
live any longer therein? He's talking about our state
before God. He's not talking about a conduct
or an act. He's talking about our state before God. This is
how we are before God. We're dead to sin. Let me give
you an example here. If a person is under the mastery
of another, You're the slave to another. When that person
dies, when that master dies, you're not under its mastery
no more, are you? You're not under its mastery
no more. We are not under the mastery of sin no more. That's
why Paul says, how can you live any longer if you're dead to
sin and it's not your master? How can you live any longer after
it? You can't. What he's saying here, that's
an impossibility. It's an impossibility for a believer to live a life
like he lived before God saved him. You cannot live in a sinful
conduct of life. He said it's not possible. How
can you do it? Because you're dead to it. If
you're dead to it, you can't do it. You can't do it. How shall we that are dead to
the penalty of sin and the guilt of sin live after that old nature
any longer?" And He's going to show us here as we go along,
it's not possible. It's not possible. That old nature
was crucified with Christ. Christ reigns, not the old nature.
Now we know, as I said earlier, we know that sin's not gone.
It's not eradicated. We feel its presence. We feel
its influence. Paul said, it's when I would
do good, evil is present with me. It's there. It's there. It's not a dominator,
but it's there. Sin's not my master now. It's
been dethroned. I'm dead to it as my master through
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is my master. He reigns in
my heart. If I'm His, it is. The love of
Christ constrains me. Not a commandment. The love of
Christ who sits enthroned in the heart. And what Paul was
saying here in answer to this objection, let us sin that grace
may abound, Paul is saying the believer is not only justified,
he's sanctified. There's a real, real change that
takes place when God saves a sinner. And that's sanctification. There's
a new heart. There's literally a new heart.
It's spiritual. But there's a new heart, there's a new nature,
new principles by which that sinner lives now. The pleasures
we used to find in sin, we don't find it there no more, do we?
I'm not saying it doesn't every now and then draw on us, and
that's because of this old nature still with us. But it doesn't
control us like it did. You know, before God saved you,
you didn't struggle with sin. You didn't struggle with that
sin nature. What you struggled with is how to perform what you
wanted to do. That's what you struggled with, trying to figure
out how to get it done, trying to figure out the way to make
it happen. But we never troubled us. Our thoughts never troubled
us. The sinful thoughts we had never troubled us. In fact, we
gave way to them. We let them ride, so to speak.
We didn't try to bring any thought into subjection to Christ. In
fact, we fed on those thoughts. But now, when a thought comes
into the mind of a believer, and you know it's not a good
thought, you know it's not right, what do you do? You stop it. You stop it. You say, no, you
stop it, that's not right. I don't want to think like that.
I don't want to think like that." And you go another direction.
You do. You go another direction. You don't let that sin nature
take over your mind. That's why the Scriptures talk
about being renewed where? In your mind. In the way you
think. You don't think like you used
to think. You don't turn your mind over to that kind of, that
nature of sin where it's just nothing but garbage going through
all the time. There's a new heart, a new nature,
new principles by which we live. Salvation by the blood and righteousness
of Christ never leads us to sin. Salvation by grace never leads
us to sin. And every believer here knows
it. I know that. I know that. I know you know
that. Grace teaches us to shun every appearance of evil. That's
what it says over in Titus chapter 2. Now he says here in verse 3,
"...know ye not," you know this, get a hold of this is what Paul
is saying, you get a hold of this, "...that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death."
He's not talking about water baptism right here. He's talking
about the Holy Spirit baptizing us, immersing us into the body
of Jesus Christ spiritually. We are really truly in Christ. He's talking here about our union,
just like the branch is to the tree. This is our union to Jesus
Christ. This is not water baptism here.
This is a real living union with the Son of God. We were baptized into Jesus Christ. There's a real living union between
Christ and the believer by the Spirit of God. Being a Christian is not just
a profession. It's not turning over a new leaf. It's not making resolutions that,
I'm going to be this, I'm going to do that. It is a real living
union to the Son of God. You have been baptized by the
Spirit of God. You didn't have nothing to do
with this. You and I had nothing to do with this. God loved you,
God chose you, and the Holy Spirit of God baptized you. He put you
into Jesus Christ. You're in Him. You and I are
in Him. We are members of His body. Someone said this, we are so
united to Him that when He obeyed the law, we obeyed the law. When
He died for our sins, we died for our sins. This is true. This really happened. I see myself
hanging on that cross. I see myself hanging on that
cross in Jesus Christ. I'm hanging there on that cross.
I was put into Him, baptized into Him. I am in union with
Him. And the death He died, I died.
I died. Now, to me, this is where assurance
comes from. Assurance doesn't come from the
fact you didn't do anything that you feel bad about today. or
you've done some things you feel good about. No, assurance comes
from the fact that I was baptized into Christ, union with Christ,
in His death. Now this is important because
in the same manner, I'm in union with Christ with His life that
He now lives. I really try to spend a lot of
time on this chapter. I spent very little time, I don't
want to say about very little, but on my Bible lesson this morning,
I wanted to give my time to this, this week. And I've really, last
week, the reason I didn't preach it last week, I really felt like
I hadn't really gotten a hold of it, like I knew I should get
a hold of it. And then I spent last week and
this week just going over this and over this and over this.
And it's so necessary for us to really enjoy what it is to
be a believer, to really enjoy assurance. And your assurance
has nothing to do with, I'm feeling good today, I'm feeling bad.
How do I feel today? Do I feel lost or do I feel safe?
My feelings has nothing to do with it. I take the Word of God. I take what God says. And this
is my foundation, our foundation. He's saying here that the power
of our sin nature has been dethroned when Christ died for our sins
and when we are born again. When we are born again, that
nature is dethroned in us. But now in verse 4, we identify
with Him when we follow Him in water baptism. See, the first
baptism, we're baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ. Here we, you know, it says, therefore
we are buried with him by baptism into death. That like as Christ
was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, by the
power of the Father, even so we also walk in newness of life. When a believer confesses Christ
in believer's baptism, The first thing we're doing, first of all,
we confess Him that we believe. He's Lord, He's our Lord and
our Savior. But when we go down under the
water, that is a symbol of being buried. You don't bury a live
man. We're saying that we're dead.
We're dead to that old life, that old nature, that old man,
and dead to this world. This world has nothing for me
no more. I'm dead to it. We're buried under that water.
Then when we come back up, it is a symbol that we walk in newness
of life. We're not the same person. Now,
the water didn't change me. The water didn't change me. The
Spirit of God did in that new creation. And we walk, the tenor
of our life is after godliness. It's after godliness. We don't
walk the same no more. Look over in 2 Timothy 2.11. In 2 Timothy 2.11 it reads, it
is a faithful saying, for if we be dead with Him, we shall
also live with Him. Now that's more than just saying
that when we die we're going to go be with the Lord. That
is true. We live with Him now. Paul said
this, I am crucified with Christ. I'm crucified with Christ. I've
died with Christ. Yet, nevertheless, I live. But
it's Christ who lives in me. I live, but it's Christ who lives
in me. Look over in 2 Corinthians 13. In 2 Corinthians 13, verse 4. For though he was crucified through
weakness that is in the flesh, yet he liveth by the power of
God. For we also are weak in him,
but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you."
We died with him and we live with him. And we live with him
by the same power he lived, by the power of God. We live by
the power of God. We are not living this life in
the energy of the flesh no more. We live it by the power of God,
Christ in you, the hope of glory. If God the Father has made us
partakers in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, He
will also... Now listen, this is important.
He will also make us partakers of that same divine power that
raised Christ from the dead. I want to show you something
in Philippians 3. I have to find the verse. Philippians 3. Let me find the verse here. Okay. In verse 10, Paul says
this in Philippians 3. that I may know Him and the power
of His resurrection and fellowship of His sufferings be made conformable
unto His death. But I may know Him, and listen,
the power of His resurrection. Paul is saying this, that I might
know right now the power of His resurrected life in me as I live
out my life. That I would know the power of
His resurrected life in me. as I live out my life. In verse 5, For if we have been
planted together in the likeness of his death, this here turns
out to be the result of it. If we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be in the likeness of
his resurrection. He's saying this is the logical
outcome. If I have died with Him, then
the logical outcome is I will live with Him. Seeing that God has so united
us to the Lord Jesus Christ that being one with Him, we shall
be like Him. Not later on, but now. Right
now we're being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ. It
is Christ who's living through you and in you. Now he uses this word planted
together. This is the closest union that
we can have. It's like, it's like Siamese
twins. I don't know if this would be
a good example, but you take Siamese twins that are connected.
There's one blood that flows right through their whole body.
Both of them, their whole body's connected and they're joined
together. and we are joined together with
Christ, and His life flows through us. We are made alive in Him. Here's the meaning planted together.
As in baptism, we are exhibited as one with Christ and His death,
so in due time we shall be conformed to Him in the likeness of His
resurrection, now and hereafter. We are raised with Christ to
walk with Him right now in newness of life. In newness of life. You're not the same. You can't
walk after the flesh. Listen. We sin. We may fall into
sin, but sin's not our master and it's not our way of life.
It's not our way of life like it was. Before it was our way
of life, it defined us. It says, when God looked down
from heaven in Genesis, He saw that the imagination of man was
evil and that continually. There was never a break in it.
There was never a good thought without sin. We live a resurrected life right
now in Christ, we do, by the power of God Almighty. Knowing
this, verse 6, knowing this, that our old man, that old man
is crucified with Him, is, present tense, is, is crucified with
Him. that the body of sin, that body
of sinful nature might be destroyed that henceforth we should not
serve it, serve sin, serve that sinful nature as a master. We
don't. Because it's been crucified.
It's been crucified. It's not the king. Here's something we know, knowing
this. that we were crucified with Christ. We were baptized
into Christ, and our old nature was crucified with Him, and we
are not going to be the servants of sin. We can't live any longer
after that nature. Can't do it. It's not possible. Listen, it's not possible to
live after something you're dead to. You can't live after something
that you're dead to. And that's what we got to get
a hold of. You're dead to that sin nature as your master. The purpose of Christ crucified
was to destroy the power of the old man and bring to an end this
body of sin. To bring it to an end. That we
should not serve sin as we once did, but we would serve God. We are no more slaves to sin.
Before this, listen now, before God saved us, we were slaves
to sin. Our nature, that sin nature that
reigned as king, it controlled everything we did. It controlled
the way we think, the things we go after. It controlled us. It controlled us. But we're not slaves to it no
more. We are bondservants of Jesus Christ. Willing bondservants. The goal of Christ crucified
is to deliver us from the mastery of that old nature. As Paul said, I tried to quote
it. Let me quote it right now. In Galatians 2.20, I am crucified
with Christ, Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me." And that could be said of every believer here. I was crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless, I do live. I do live, yet not I. It's Christ living in me. Christ
living in me. In verse 7, for he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now, in the Greek language, there
are two meanings for the word free. One means to be justified, and
that's exactly what that word right here in verse 7 means.
It means, he that is dead is justified from sin. You're justified. The other ones in verse 18, 20,
and 22 means you've been set free, liberated. You've been liberated from that
old nature that controlled you. The person who has died with
Christ is justified from what he was. Sin. I'm not that way no more. In
God, I'm holy. I mean, in Christ, I'm holy and
righteous. Unblameable. Unreprovable. That's
us in Christ. Paul wrote in Acts 13.39, "...By
Him all that believe are justified or freed from all things from
which you could not be justified or freed by the law of Moses."
You're free. But now here in verse 8, Paul's
going to set forth our life in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's been
talking about we are dead to sin, that sin nature, it's not
our master, it doesn't control us no more. But now he's going
to talk about our life in Christ. Now if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him. As a result of
our union to Christ, we live with Him right now. Right now. We live with Him. This is so
important here to get a hold of. If we are partakers of His
death, we have a sure hope of His life and having life in Him. The reference here is to our
life after the Lord has saved us. We've been raised to life
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is our life now. We live
after Him and He's our life hereafter. And the law has no claim on us,
as it says in Romans, who can lay anything to the charge of
God's elect. It's Christ that what? Died. But He didn't just die, but He
also lives. He was raised from the dead and
He lives. Christ died to sin once, listen,
and right now, Right now, he lives in unbroken fellowship
to God in that human nature as a man, the God-man. But he lives
in unbroken fellowship with God Almighty, not only as a Son of
God, but as a man, a man the Son of God. And we live unto
God through that man. Through that man, we live unto
God. Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no
more, death has no more dominion over him. And if that's so, it
has no dominion over me. Right? Whatever applies to Christ,
applies to us in Christ. Death has no dominion over us. We are not going to experience
death. We are going to experience a change. We are going to experience
going from this place to be in God's presence, but we will not
experience what the Scripture speaks here of death. That second
death, that eternal death, we won't know that. Because death
has no more dominion over Him, it has no more dominion over
us. He satisfied God's law, and our sin has nothing to back it
up. There's nothing there to back it up. Sin's law is satisfied. It's satisfied. Because of our union to the Lord
Jesus Christ, we are sure that we will live with him now and
hereafter. And verse 10 shows us the sufficiency
of his death. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once. One time is all. But in that
he liveth, he liveth unto God. The death He died, He died to
sin, ending its power and paying the sinner's debt. Now He lives
to glorify God in that nature which He died. The God-man. And our Lord so thoroughly got
the job done. It will not have to be redone.
My sins are so thoroughly gone. Gone. All of them. But this matter
will never come up again. They're gone. Now, verse 11 is a very important
verse. Verse 10, for in that he died,
he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto
God, right now, at the throne of God, at the right hand of
God, likewise. Likewise, in the same manner,
reckon, that word means count, count, yourselves to be dead,
to be discharged, to be discharged from that sinful nature, to be
discharged from all the sins that you and I have ever committed
or ever will commit. Reckon your, count yourself,
don't go on your feelings. If you go on your feelings, it's
just one day you're good and one day you're bad. One day you're
saved, one day you're lost. No, he says, count yourselves
in the same manner to be dead indeed unto sin, unto that sin
nature, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. We are
alive unto God. We can come before the throne
of God. We can come into His presence. through the Lord Jesus Christ.
We are alive to God before we were dead to God, spiritually
dead. But you're alive now. You're
alive to God through Jesus Christ. You are as alive to God right
now as Jesus Christ is sitting at the right hand of God. We know that we are not dead
to the influence of it, the presence of it, but we are dead to the
guilt of it and the penalty of it. Now count that to be so. Live in the reality of that,
that's why he's saying. Maintain a firm conviction of
this truth. Maintain. To really live out
the life of a believer, you and I have to maintain a real conviction
of this truth. We died in Christ, that's over.
And we live in Christ, we live unto God in Christ. Without this
understanding, we'll never serve the Lord Jesus Christ as we ought
to. We are truly alive unto God in
Christ. And because of this truth, and
I'm gonna wind this up, I feel like I've said a lot, and I hope
I haven't, I haven't said too much that we can't grasp it. But there's so much here for
us to get a hold of. Because of this truth, therefore,
let not sin, that sin nature, reign as a king in your body. It's taking a little different
subject now. Now he's talking about our conduct. and living in this body, because
that sin nature controlled your conduct. And I'll tell you what
it did, it used your body, this body that God has given us, that
nature of sin has used the body to fulfill its desires. It used
this body. Now he's saying this, we have
a new nature, but we still live in this body, don't we? We still
live in this body that we were born with. that sin nature used
to fulfill its lust. This being so, of all that's
been said here, let not sin reign as a king in your mortal bodies
that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Don't you turn
your bodies back over to it again. That's what he said. You remember
in Corinthians how that one man was committing incest? And Paul
had to straighten them out over that, and they turned him over
to Satan, and he came back, he came back, he repented, he came
back. Here's where this is, I can't
express the importance of getting a hold of this. Don't turn your
body back over to that old nature of sin. Don't let it happen. He's speaking here of the believer's
body, not yielding it to the service of sin, as you once did. Seeing that the power of sin
has been dethroned, don't obey it. Paul said this in one place,
don't make provisions for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.
Don't put yourself in a position. And don't make provisions to
get yourself in trouble. As Paul said to Timothy, shun
every appearance of evil. Because that old nature's still
there. Now if you notice the word here, obey, you obey something
when you make provisions for it without struggling over it.
That you obey. Therefore let not sin reign as
a, and I put this in as a king because that's what he's talking
about. In your mortal bodies that you should obey it. You
bow to it. You give over to it. like David
did when he stood on that balcony and watched Bathsheba. He gave
his eyes, and we'll see this here in a second. Well, let's
go on to the next verse and we can see it. Neither yield ye
yourselves as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Your
body, your body. Neither yield ye yourselves as
instruments of unrighteousness unto that sinful nature, but
yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." Don't
give any part of your body to sin. Don't use your eyes to lust,
as David did when he stood on that balcony. You know, it's
one thing to recognize beauty. There's nothing wrong to say,
she's beautiful or he's handsome. You know, there's nothing wrong
with the recognized beauty. But when you go past that, when
you go past that and it turns into lust, you're giving your
eyes, the members of your body, you're giving your eyes to do
something that that old sinful nature is going to use it for
a bad purpose. Don't use your eyes to lust.
Your hands to steal, your tongue to slander. Yield the members
of your body, your eyes, your tongue, your hands, your feet,
to righteousness. To righteousness, that's what
he's talking about. Yield them to things that are right, things
that glorify God. For remember this, he says in
verse 14, remember this, for sin, that nature of sin shall
not have dominion over you. It's not your Lord, it's not
your master. You don't have to obey it like you did in the past. You don't have to obey it. Christ
is your master. And we need to realize this and
recognize it when that old nature raises its ugly head. That sin nature will not have
dominion over you, for you are not under the law, you're under
grace. Grace is far more powerful than
any commandment. Grace is much more powerful. Grace does not allow sin, no
more than the law allows sin. In fact, I think the grace of
God teaches us to deny ungodliness, and I think grace is far stronger
than any commandment. And I like what Paul says there
in verse 14. That sin, that sin nature, will
not dominate you. If it does, it's because God's
never saved you. That's why He said, if that nature
of sin is the dominant force, God has never saved you or saved
me, that that's my life. But where God has saved, God
has dethroned sin, and it's not your Master, Jesus Christ is. Now He says, yield your body,
your bodily members, to righteousness, not to sin. And then the rest
of that chapter, Paul tells us that whoever we yield ourselves
to, that's who our Master is. That's your Master, whoever you
yield yourself to. If you're yielding your tongue
to slander, guess who's your Master? Well, it's not the one that grace
poured from his lips? It's that old man that hates
God. The tenor of a believer's life will always be after godliness.
I'm telling you, that's the scripture. It will be after godliness because
God will not allow that nature to take over again. He has made
a separation. He has severed it. It's like
cutting something in half. He has severed it. It's there,
but it doesn't dominate. I hope he is able to get something
out of that this morning. It was a blessing to me to study
it. All right.