Romans 6. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that
are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know you not that so
many of us as 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 up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now, if we be dead with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ
being raised from the dead doth no more, death hath no more dominion
over him. For in that he died, he died
unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon you also yourselves
to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in
your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield ye your members
as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves
unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members
as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have
dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under
grace. We all recognize tonight that
the Apostle Paul, to this point in the letter of Romans, had
declared that men are justified by faith, the imputed righteousness
of Christ unto them, and that is the only way of justification. And then the passage that preceded
the one I've just read, the last time we looked in Romans chapter
five, he showed how that Christ is a representative head of his
covenant people. Remember, as he said, Adam was
a representative head of his people, so Christ is a representative
head. of his people. As many as Adam
represented died. All men died because of the sin
of Adam. As many as Christ represented
live, have life because he is the head of his body, which is
the church. In that passage, Paul made this
very bold statement, where sin abounded, grace did much more
abound. I've mentioned before that verse
of scripture has certainly been a comfort to me. Where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. A scripture of assurance. Because
I see that, and I'm sure most every believer feels the same
way, that sin has abounded in us. But grace does much more
abound. Well, Paul had stated this fact,
and now he anticipates an objection. Well, if that's true, if grace
abounds where sin abounds, then let's continue in sin. The more
we sin, the more grace will abound. William Hendrickson, in his commentary
here, gave the example of a monk named Rasputin. You've seen that
name before, I'm sure, Rasputin. But evidently, he was a very
influential favorite of Emperor Nicholas II, the Emperor of Russia. But his doctrine, according to
Hendrickson, he said, seems to have been the more a person sins,
the more grace he will receive, so sin with gusto. That seems to have been the way
that man believed and gave advice to that leader, that emperor.
Well, the apostle Paul, shows his abhorrence, his abhorrence
of such reasoning with his words, God forbid. Perish the thought. But yet Paul realized, even though
he made such a statement, God forbid, he realized that men
are capable. Men are capable of doing that
very thing, of saying and believing and teaching that if grace abounds
where sin abounds, then let's just continue in sin. The more
sin, the more grace. But here's the thing, and this
is very important. Paul never said that sin magnified
God's grace. He never said that. But what
he said is that sin serves as a dark background to bring out
the glory of the grace of God. And I always like to think of
the The illustration, you know, when you go into a jewelry store
and maybe you're looking at a ring or something like that, and they
put that dark cloth out on the glass there, and then they put
the ring there, the jewel, and that dark cloth, it doesn't add
anything to the brilliance, to the sparkle of that ring, does
it? But it just brings it out. And
that's what was true, that's what the Apostle Paul meant,
that sin doesn't magnify the grace of God, but it does serve
as a dark background to magnify God's love, God's love, His grace
in saving sinners. And here's something important. It is not the commission of sin.
It's not the commission of sin, but the putting away of sin.
You see what I'm saying? It's not the commission of sin,
it's the putting away of sin at such a cost that magnifies
God's grace. What did it cost the Lord to
put away sin? It cost his only begotten son,
didn't it? It cost his blood and his death
upon the cross. So sin doesn't magnify God's
grace, it magnifies or brings out the brilliance of God's grace
in putting away sin. Now I want tonight to point out
three truths to us that Paul states about those who are justified
by faith in Christ. And he declares here that the
doctrine he taught does not, and it cannot, it should not,
it cannot result in God's children continuing to live in sin. First of all, those justified
by faith in Christ are dead to sin. Notice what he says in verse
two. How shall we that are dead to
sin live any longer therein? I want you to think about three
words in reference to sin. For, in, and to. For, in, and to. First of all, Jesus Christ was
put to death for sin. And we know that the sin for
which he was put to death, it wasn't his own sin, for he had
none of his own. Look with me in 1 Peter, just
a moment. 1 Peter 2. And verse number 18. Peter, in this passage that we're
reading here, 1 Peter 2, beginning with verse 18, he's exhorting
servants, slaves, and he's exhorting them to be in subjection to their
masters. That's the context here. Servants,
verse 18, it begins with that word servants. Be subject to
your masters with all fear, not only to the good and the gentle,
but also to the forward, for this is thankworthy, If a man
for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully,
for what glory is it? If you then be buffeted for your
faults, you shall take it patiently. But if when you do well and suffer
for it, you take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.
For even here unto where you called, Because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that we should follow his steps.
Who did no sin, neither was God found in his mouth, who when
he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously,
who his own self. bear our sins in his own body
on the tree. That we, being dead to sins,
should live unto righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Peter there shows how the Lord
Jesus Christ is our example when it comes to suffering. That it
was our sins that he bear in his body on the tree. And the second thing, that is
Jesus Christ was put to death for sin, for the sins of his
people. Now all of God's children before
the new birth are dead in sin. We're looking at three words,
for, in, and to. Christ died for our sins. Second, all of God's children
before being born of the Spirit of God, we were all dead in sin. That's what Paul says in Ephesians
2. For you hath a quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. We were dead in sins, and that's
the reason we live like we lived. That's the reason a lost person
lived like a lost person, because he's dead. He's spiritually dead
in sin. He loves sin. That's his element,
sin is, a lost person. The third word is the word to. all of God's children once made
alive in Christ are dead to sin, to sin. That passage there we
read in Peter, he said that we being dead to sins should live
unto righteousness. Well, that begs a question, doesn't
it? When we hear, when we hear that believers are dead to sin,
That certainly gets our attention, or it should. And we ask this
question, does being dead to sin mean then that believers
are sinless? Is that what it means to be dead
to sin? That believers now, once born
of the spirit of God, They live a sinless life. There is such
a thing, and I'm saying this, I don't believe it, you know
it's not true, but people have taught this of what they call
sinless perfection. Sinless perfection. The Lord
Jesus Christ was the only one who was sinless, perfectly sinless. The Bible doesn't teach that
a believer, once a person becomes saved, has no more sin. In fact,
John, the apostle John, he makes this ever so clear. And he's
writing to believers, isn't he? 1 John. We've enjoyed Brother
Streeter's teaching from 1 John. recently and continuing, but
he's writing to believers, and he said in that very first chapter,
if we, he didn't say if they, if those people out there in
the world, if they say they have no sin, no, he said if we, we
who have fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus
Christ, if we say That we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. And when I have spoken with people
who seemed at least to be inclined to believe in sinless perfection,
I have reminded them when our Lord gave the model prayer to
his disciples, and it is a model prayer, one of the lines in that
prayer is, forgive us our trespasses. Forgive us our debts, as it is
in one place, and that reminds us that sin is a debt. It's a
debt to God. But in the parallel passage,
it's forgive us our trespasses. That is what our Lord taught
his disciples, and that's what we profess to be, his followers,
his learners, to pray. Forgive us our trespasses. To be dead to sin means that
God's children are dead from the condemning power of sin. It's a penalty. And Paul, if
you look a few pages over in Romans chapter 8, remember how
he's going to lay this out in no uncertain terms. In Romans
8, verses 33 and 34. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Who would dare do that? Satan would. He will, for sure. But it is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. God's children are dead to sin
as a course of life. God's children look upon sin
as not a friend, not a way to magnify the grace of God, but
God's children look upon sin as an enemy, an enemy. Let me read you John Gill's comments
on this. Though sin may live in them,
that is in believers, and it does. Though sin may live in
them, they may fall into sin, and we often do. We fall into
sin. We have an enemy, don't we? A
real enemy, Satan. And he loves to entrap God's
children if he can. Though sin may live in them,
they may fall into sin and lie, this is, listen to this, what
Gil said, and lie in it sometime. What does he mean by that? A
person may be overtaken in a fault, in sin, and of course we think
of the example of David. We know from the time that he
committed sin, adultery, with Bathsheba, he seems to have lain
to lie in that sin until the prophet came, which was there
the birth, right, of his son. Nine months, yeah? And lie in it some time. Yet,
they cannot live in it. A believer, he cannot live in
it. Living in sin is not only unbecoming
the grace of God revealed in the gospel, but it is contrary
to it. It is detestable to gracious
minds, yea, it seems impossible they should live in it. So Christ
died for sin. We are dead, believers were dead
in sin. Now we are dead to sin. That's easy to remember if you
just remember those three words. Christ died for sin. We were
dead in sin. Now we are dead to sin. Here's
the second. God's children are in union with
Christ. And this is what we see in these
verses here. God's children are in union with
Christ. And Paul asked another question
here in verse three. Know you not that so many of
us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his
death? One of the writers points out
that the foundation of justification and sanctification is the union
that every child of God has with Christ. In other words, if a
person was not chosen in Christ and in union with Christ from
before the foundation of the world, that person will never
believe and they'll never be justified and they'll never be
sanctified. But every person who does believe,
who is justified, who is sanctified, has been in union with Christ. from before the foundation of
the world. We see here believers are baptized
into Jesus Christ. Now last week, or last time I
should say, in Romans chapter five, we saw how all men were
in Adam as their head. And he was our representative. We were all in Adam. Our head,
he was our representative. Which meant that what he did,
he did for us. And the consequences came to
us. And Adam all died. Now that speaks
of the believer's representative union. His union with Adam. His representative union. But
in the same way, Christ is a representative head also. And we, all of his
people, were in union with him as their representative. He's
the head and we're all members of his body in union with him. As we were in Adam, so we are
in Christ. But what does that mean? It means
that when he died, now this is the representative union. Something
I mentioned in the message this morning. This is the representative
union. He was our head. And this means
that when he died, we died. When he died, Paul said, I'm
crucified with Christ. When he was buried, we was buried. And when he arose, we arose,
that is every child of God. He is a representative head. We're in union with him in this
sense. And when he ascended, we ascended. And you know this, but look over
here to Ephesians 2. Let's just point this out from
the word of God. Ephesians chapter 2. Verse five, the apostle said,
even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with
Christ, by grace you're saved, and hath raised us up together. Together, that's that union,
right? That representative union with
Christ. He raised us up together and
made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. I remember
reading this illustration years ago. It just came to my mind. I like it. You know, when a person
drowns, a person can drown in a body of water that's not that
deep. But a person can never drown
if the head is above the water, right? Who is our head? Christ. Christ is our head. And no believer can ever perish. Why? Because our head and we
in him and union with him, we're seated in the heavenlies in Christ. Isn't that a blessing to be,
to know that as our representative head, we were in union. to be baptized. Now, Paul, here
in our text here, says, know you not that so many of us, as
we're baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? Well, this union is certainly
what we call a mystic union, a mystic union. And that word
mystic means mystery, doesn't it? I mean, we recognize it,
and it is a mystery. But this union, takes place when
Christ is formed in us. When God, the Holy Spirit, when
a person is saved, the Spirit of God comes to live in us. So
that's that union. And the Puritan said it like
this, this union is we are in Him by faith. and He is in us
by His Spirit. We're baptized into Him. 1 Corinthians
12 and verse 13 says, for by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body. Now there's a water baptism and
there's a spirit baptism. Remember that, remember that.
And not everybody that is baptized in water has been baptized by
the Spirit into the body of Christ. We know that. We have examples
of that in the book of Acts even. When a person is born of the
Spirit of God, he's baptized into the body of Christ by the
Spirit of God. And Paul said, whether we be
Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and we have
been all made to drink of one spirit. And it is a mystery,
isn't it? How that Christ lives in us,
the hope of glory. It's a mystery, it's a union,
a mystic union, yes. He is in every believer, that
is God the Holy Spirit. And when our Lord promised the
coming of the Comforter in John chapter 14, remember he said,
and we will come. We will come, that is God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, where one is,
So are the other persons in the Godhead. He is in every believer,
the Holy Spirit, and every believer is in him by faith. We're not only believers in Christ,
not only justified through his imputed righteousness, but we
are also members of his body, the church. And what we also know here, and
Paul brings this out, believers, we confess this union in baptism. And you know, many of the commentators
I have, they sprinkled, and they call that baptism. But I just
cannot, for the life of me, see how sprinkling pictures the death,
the burial, and the resurrection of Christ. Can you? But our baptism
does. And when we are brought into
union with Christ, when we come to believe in him, then we are
baptized in water, which is a picture. It's a confession, but it is
a picture of what we confess, our union with Christ, identified
with him in his death and in his resurrection. We're dead
to the old life. And a person shouldn't be baptized
if he cannot, if this is not his confession. I'm dead to that
old life. And I've been raised by the spirit
of God to walk in new life. A life I never walked in before.
Yes, we have a new life. We're given a new heart. We live
by new principles. We're new creatures in Christ
Jesus. Now, let me give you two truths
that grow out of the fact of our union with Christ in his
death. In verse six, Paul says, our
old man is crucified with him. That old man, and he's called
an old man, we call it that old nature, same, talking about the
same thing, that old man. And he's old because he's as
old as Adam. And he's the old man because
he's as old as we are. He's been with us from our conception,
yes. But the old man is crucified
at the cross and it cannot exert its damning power over believers. And by the spirit and grace of
Christ, it cannot reign over them. Remain, yes, but not reign. There's a new king on the throne.
And his name is King Jesus. He comes into the heart to reign
and to rule. And the second thing I'll point
out, not only is our old man crucified with Christ, but we
are freed from sin. Verse seven, for he that is dead
is freed from sin. Now, here are three very practical
exhortations here to every believer. when we read and we hear that
we are freed from sin. In verse 11, reckon, reckon,
and that's the same word that is translated in Romans 4 when
it speaks about Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him
for righteousness. Now just reckon this so. Believer,
just reckon this so. Reckon ye also yourselves to
be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God. Count it to be
so. Count it to be so. And second
exhortation in verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your
mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof.
Just don't let it do that. And number, the third exhortation
in verse 13, neither yield you your members as instruments of
unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as
those that are alive from the dead and your members. What does
he mean by members here? Well, the members of the body,
your eyes, your ears, your hands, your feet, yes. You yield yourselves unto God
as those that are alive from the dead, and your members, yield
them as instruments of righteousness unto God. And the last thing, the third
thing in verse 14, God's children are in a new kingdom. We're in
a new kingdom. Before we're saved, we'd like
to say we are in the kingdom of darkness, but the apostle
tells us that we are darkness. We are darkness. Lost men are
darkness. But when the spirit of God comes
to live in us, sin no longer has dominion over us because
we're in a new kingdom, and that kingdom is the kingdom of Christ. For sin shall not have dominion
over you. As I said, it does remain, but
it doesn't reign like it did do. It was upon the throne, but
there's a new ruler on the throne now of a believer's heart, and
that's Christ. We're not under the law, we're
under grace. May the Lord bless His word to
each one of us here this evening. David.