Now, we're turning back to the
book of Romans, and we want to try to look at verse 6 down through
verse 11. And I hope we can enter into
what is being said here of our union with Christ. What's true
of Him? What's true of the head and husband?
Christ is our head, He's our husband. What's true of the head
and the husbands? True of the body. Where He is,
we are, because we're in Him. In Him. Now, if we've been planted
together, verse 5, in the likeness of his death, and this is a picture
of what the believer confesses in believer's baptism, We're
confessing that Christ crucified, His death, His burial, His resurrection
is all of our hope. We shall, we shall not maybe,
not could be, we shall also in the likeness of His resurrection
be planted together and raised up together with Him. Now verse
6, knowing this. Now how do we know this? How
do we know this? Is it just something we presume
to know? Something we suppose that we
know? We only know this because of
His Word that is written, because of the revelation of His Word
that is given unto us. The foundation of faith does
not rest upon feeling, does it? The foundation of faith rests
upon the Word of Truth. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing
by the Word of the Lord. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified. is crucified with Him. And I
love how it's always with Him, through Him, by Him, in Him,
together with Him. That, or therefore, that the
body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth, because of this,
we should not serve sin. Knowing this. What do we know? by His Word and by the revelation
of His Word, we know here that our old man is crucified with
Christ. Now what is this old man that
we are talking about? Well, a believer is called a
new man. We have a new man and a new nature. We are told to put off the old
man and put on the new. So a believer has a new nature
a new nature that cannot sin, but we also have this flesh,
we also have this old man, we also have this Adam nature, this
fallen sinful nature. Our old man, thank God, is also
crucified with Christ. This old man is what we are by
nature. What are we by nature? Sin, sinful,
sinful through and through. born in sin, shapen in iniquity. Our sinful flesh will never,
with emphasis upon the word never, not in this life, our sinful
flesh will never be holy flesh until it goes back to the dust
from which it came, And then it will be raised up a new body,
like unto his glorious body. That which is born of the flesh,
all that ever will be, until it is dead because of sin, put
in the ground, back to the dust, and then one day be raised up
again a glorious Body like unto our blessed Savior. I love that
1 Corinthians chapter 15. It tells us much about the resurrection
body that we will enjoy one day. When this corruptible shall put
on incorruption, never to sin again. And this mortal shall
put on immortality. One day soon the Lord will come,
one day soon He shall change our vile body and fashion it
like unto His glorious body." What a future, what a hope we
have as believers resting in Christ. Is there life beyond
the grave? Oh yes, abundantly so, everlastingly
so by His grace. John puts it this way, Beloved,
now are we sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear, now he shall appear,
he's coming back, when he shall appear, we shall know him, it
doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he
shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as
he is. Every man that hath this hope
in him purifies himself, even as he is pure." We have a good
hope through grace, and our hope is an everlasting hope. It's
an unchanging hope, because Christ is our hope. He's all our hope,
all our salvation. Now, this can only happen this
old man being crucified. This can only happen because
of the whole body of sin, that the body of sin might be destroyed. This can only happen because
the Lord Jesus Christ has been crucified for us, that sin might
forever be put away by the sacrifice of Christ. being crucified with
the Lord Jesus Christ, the whole body of our sin, that is, all
our sin, the sin of God's elect, as the Lord Jesus Christ bear
our sin in His own body on the tree, and by doing so, that sin
might be, I love this word, destroyed. Sin has been destroyed. The Apostle Paul put it this
way when he writes to the Hebrews, I believe Paul was the writer
of that epistle, when he said, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared
once in the end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself that he might destroy our sin. That is the good news
of the gospel. The Lord did not try to put away
our sin, He made an end of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. His atonement was not an attempt
to put away sin, was it? We don't say He made an attemptment.
We say that He made an atonement. He destroyed the body, the whole
of the sin of God's elect has been forever put away. One time
our sin separated us from God, now by His atonement our sin
has been forever separated from us as far as the east is from
the west, that the body of sin might be destroyed. When He had
by Himself purged our sin, He sat down at the right hand of
the throne of God. Now, the believer being dead
to the power and guilt of sin to condemn, and being made free
from sin by his blood atonement, believers do not live to serve
sin, that henceforth we should not serve sin. You see, believers are under
new management. Believers are under the total
dominion and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. We serve a new
master, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we should not serve sin. Being dead to sin, believers
do not live to serve that. By His grace, we walk in the
newness of life. We walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. Now, several verses in this chapter. Reinforce that point, look at
verse 18. Verse 18, Romans 6. Being then
made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness. servants of righteousness." Now,
this is talking about obeying the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ and being subservient to Christ and His righteousness,
being submitted unto that justifying righteousness in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look at verse 22 of Romans 6,
"...being now made free from sin." and become servants to God, you
have your fruit unto holiness. And in the end, everlasting life. Now, it's not talking about the
holiness of the flesh, but it's talking about the holiness of
the Spirit. What is the fruit of the Spirit?
You remember Galatians 5, 22? The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, temperance, and faith. These things are the fruit unto
holiness, because it's the fruit of God. Now, if you'll turn just
one page over to Romans 8, he makes this point very clear all
the way through chapter 6, 7, and chapter 8. But if you look
at Romans 8 verse 3, for what the law could not do, in that
it was weak through the flesh, Nothing wrong with the law, the
law is good and holy and just, but what's the problem? Our flesh.
God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh. but after the Spirit. Believers
who've been taught of God are no longer seeking salvation or
justification by the deeds of the flesh. All flesh is grass. Don't trust it at all. We look
to the Lord Jesus Christ alone. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation, a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things have become new. Now, let's look at one more verse, verse 7. For he that is dead,
He that is dead, how are we dead to sin? You remember back in
verse 2 of this same chapter, how shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? What then, verse 15, shall we
sin because we're not under the law but under grace? God forbid. Look at verse 14, for sin shall
not have dominion over you, Because you're not under the law, but
you're under grace. He that is dead is freed or justified
from all sin. Dead to the law, dead to the
law. What's the believer's position
on the law? Dead. Dead, graveyard dead, dead
to the law. If you look just across the page
at Romans 7 verse 4, Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become
dead to the law. How's that? Through the body
of Christ. The law of God's already executed
judgment against us, hadn't it? because Christ died for our sin
under the wrath of the law, and put away sin, that you should
be married to another, even to him who was raised from the dead."
You see, he's our head and husband. We're married to him who was
raised from the dead, that you should bring forth fruit unto
God. Now, let's look at one more verse
there in Romans 7. For when you win the flesh, That
is, seeking salvation by the flesh, the motions of sin which
are by the law did work in our members to bring forth fruit
unto death. Now that's what the law, all
it brings. By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified. Those who go about seeking salvation
by the deeds of the law, all they have is fruit unto death. not righteousness or life in
the Lord Jesus Christ. I love that verse over in Galatians
chapter 3 where Paul said, we are redeemed from the curse of
the law. That's good news, isn't it? The
law says the guilty must die. Well, I'm guilty. I've offended
God. I've broken the law. But the
Lord Jesus Christ redeemed us from the curse of that law, being
made a curse for us. As it is written, cursed is everyone
that hangeth upon the tree. And that's what happened to the
Lord Jesus Christ. He died under the weight of the law, being
guilty. of our sin, and He put away sin
by the sacrifice of Himself. He that is dead is freed, as
a marginal reference, has it justified, cleared of all guilt. Now think about this. It's not
just that we're justified before men. We're justified, and it's not
even in the court of our conscience. were justified before God. That's the blessedness of the
gospel. If you can believe this by faith,
justified before God, cleared of all guilt, and made righteous
in His sight. Oh, what peace and comfort that
gives a man who knows what he is in himself, a sinner. And
we have, because Christ put away our sin, We've been liberated
in Christ, we've been set free. Believers are not legalists going
about to establish a righteousness by the deeds of the law, but
rather we are encouraged, as Paul said in that letter to the
Galatians, and they were, you remember those Galatians were
so badgered by those Judaizers, those legalizers, were trying
to bring them back under the law. Remember they said, except
you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you know, you
really can't be saved. In other words, they were trying
to, instead of having complete liberty and justification in
Christ, they were trying to bring them back and put them back under
the law. And Paul makes this statement
in Galatians chapter 5, Stand fast therefore in the liberty
wherewith Christ hath made us free. He set us free. He said, it's free. And be not
entangled again with the yoke of bondage. We're free. Free from the law. We sing that
song sometimes. Free from the law, O happy condition. The Lord Jesus has died and there
is no condemnation. That's not the exact quote, but
it gets the point across anyway. We're free in Christ. And then
Romans chapter 10, Let's turn there and read that, Romans 10
verse 4. Romans 10 verse 4. We're not going about to establish
a righteousness of our own, verse 3, but have submitted themselves
unto the righteousness of God. That's what's revealed in the
gospel. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness. Everyone that believes the gospel. I'm not under the law. Thank
God we're under grace, grace, grace. Now, look back to Romans
6 verse 8. Now, if we'd be dead with Christ,
And this is what happened when he died, by identification, and
by union with him, and by representation, and by substitution, and by satisfaction. Now, if we be dead with Christ,
remember Paul said, I'm crucified with Christ. We believe, we believe
through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved
even as others. Acts 15.11, we believe that we
shall also live with Him. We live with Him. In Him we live
and move and have our being. What the Apostle said in the
book of Acts. Every believer has this testimony. dead to sin, dead to the law,
and alive with Christ because of our union with Christ. A vital
union we have with Christ. We are eternally with Him. Think about this, never to be
separated. You look at Romans chapter 8,
and he asks that question, who shall separate us from the love
of God which is in the Lord Jesus Christ? And you remember that
exhaustive list? Height, depth, bond, free, whatever. He said nothing can separate
us from the love of God which is in our Lord Jesus Christ.
Nothing. Name it. Nothing. What about my unbelief? Nothing. What about my sin? Don't have
any. Nothing. He put away our sin. Nothing
can separate us from the love of God that is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And you remember even Jude, the
Apostle Jude goes one step further. He said, He is able to keep us
from falling and to present us faultless before His presence
and do so with exceeding joy. That's the blessedness that we
enjoy as believers resting in Christ. Nothing can pluck us
out of His hand. You remember John chapter 10,
our Lord declares, I give them eternal life and they'll never
perish. And no one can pluck them out
of My hand. My Father which gave them Me, He's greater than all.
No one can pluck them out of His hand. Our life is hidden
with Christ in God. are hid with Christ in God. Nothing
can separate us, nothing can pluck us or remove us from His
hand. We are one with Him. Knowing, verse 9 now, knowing
that Christ be raised from the dead, He dies no more. Does death have any dominion
and power over Him? Does death have any dominion
and power over us? Does sin have any more dominion
over him? No. He put away sin. Does death and
sin have any more dominion over us? No. Death hath no more. No more. No longer. Death hath
no more dominion over him nor us. No more dominion. No longer.
no longer, knowing that Christ is raised from the dead, sin
and death has no more dominion over Him, and sin and death has
no more dominion over those that are in Him. Upon His resurrection
depends the whole of our salvation. Because He lives, our Lord said,
John 14, 19, He said, because I live, you live also. And in that promise in Revelation
1.18, he said, I am he that liveth, or I was dead, but I'm alive
forevermore. I have the power of death and
hell. I have the keys of death and
hell. So sin has no longer dominion over him. And upon his resurrection
depends the whole of our salvation. Think about it. If Christ be
not raised from the dead, what does that mean? That means everything
he said was a lie. That means everything he did
was a failure. That means he's an imposter and his soul is in
hell. Is that too strong? If there be no resurrection,
if the Lord Jesus Christ was not delivered from our offenses
and raised again to justify us, even more than raised again from
the dead, he went higher ascended to heaven and is seated in the
heavenly. If that's not so, we have no
hope. If that's not so, we better get
in the livestock business and getting us some bulls and goats
and sheep and go back to approaching God with the blood animal sacrifice.
If Christ is not the Messiah, the Redeemer, the Promised One
who is to come, we're in big trouble, aren't we? Thank God
He is. He did come forth from the grave
that third day, seen of many, many witnesses. Luke says in
the book of Acts, by many infallible proofs, 500 men at one time were
eyewitnesses to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He
ever lives, my friend, to intercede for us right now. If Christ be not raised from
the dead, we are yet in our sin. Now look at verse 10. For in
that He died, He died unto sin one time. One time. But in that He liveth, He liveth
unto God by His one sacrifice, by His one offering. We know
those priests under the law, they were many priests who brought
many sacrifices, but we know that the blood of bulls and goats
did not put away sin. There are many sacrifices, thousands
and thousands, How many thousands of sacrifices were given just
upon the dedication of the temple? I mean, there were thousands
and thousands, but never one sin was put away. It pictured
the way of substitution and satisfaction in Christ. The blood of bulls
and goats cannot take away sin, but by one offering, the Lord
Jesus Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified, says
in Hebrews chapter 10. In that He died once, one offering,
that's all it took, one offering for sin forever. In that He liveth,
He lives unto God. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him, seeing that He ever lives. He
ever lives. Right now. Right now. He makes our worship acceptable
to the Father through His blood atonement. We have an advocate
with the Father. We have an intercessor. We have
a mediator. And this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And He mediates for us, and He advocates for us, and He's the
intercessor for us, not saying, well, you know, they're okay,
they're going to be alright, they've done the best they can.
No, He advocates for us, He intercedes for us, and He's the intercessor
for us based upon His blood atonement. My little children, these things
I write unto you that you sin not, But when you do, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He
doesn't plead our merits. He pleads His blood. He pleads
His sacrifice. Aren't you glad you have a mediator
like that? Whoever lives to intercede for
us. Now, verse 11. Verse 11. Now, likewise reckon. Likewise reckon. you also yourselves
to be dead in deed unto sin." Now, that's as clear as language
can put it. Dead in deed to sin. That word reckoned means count
on it. Count on it to be true. Likewise,
count on it yourselves also to be dead in deed unto sin but
alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord." And I love
how that's always added, what we have in Christ. Likewise reckon
two things given here that comforts every believer. Number one, dead
to sin. Not dead to the presence of sin,
not yet, we will be one day soon. Or dead to the influence of sin,
not yet, but one day soon. Not dead to the effects of sin,
but certainly dead to the power and guilt of sin to condemn. Dead to sin. Dead to the law. Dead to the curse of the law
to condemn us. You remember Romans 8.1? There
is therefore now No condemnation to those who are in Christ. Why?
They're dead to sin, dead to the law, dead to the guilt and
power of sin to condemn us because the Lord Jesus Christ died to
put away our sin. But, he says, we're alive unto
God. Now, how did the Lord find us?
He found us dead in sin, didn't He? He raised us up from the dead,
and now He's given us life in Christ. We're alive unto God. We have eternal life. That's
what He gives His sheep. He says, I give my sheep eternal
life, but alive unto God through your good behavior, through your morality, through,
I'm trying to keep the law the best that I can, but I mess up
once in a while. And that's what most people think.
But alive unto God through, underscore that word through, through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Now it only works. This thing
of salvation only works upon His obedience, upon His righteousness,
upon His sacrifice, not ours. upon His intercession, upon His
resurrection, upon His enthronement, seated in the heavenlies, in
Christ. Now that's good news. That's
good news.