Sermon Tone Analysis

Common attitude of Christians: I can’t stop sinning or God’s grace is grater than my sin so I’ll keep on sinning.

In vv.

3-5 Paul teaches that our water baptism identified us with Jesus Christ.

We are untied to Christ through our salvation, and we share in the benefits of his death, burial, and resurrection.

Our water baptism identifies us as followers of Christ who share in these benefits.

How can such a person, who identifies as one who is untied to Christ and all of the benefits of such a union, even consider the idea of continuing in sin?

The very idea is ludicrous!

That is the point of vv.

1-5.

Now Paul, continuing to address the issue of believers continuing in sin that grace may abound, explains to us how our identification with Christ and all its glorious truths works itself out practically in our lives to kill sin.

Paul wanted the Roman Christians to stop living under the domination of sin.

We must stop living in sin because sin no longer dominates our lives.

How do we stop living under the domination of sin?

I want us to look at three steps that will enable us to stop living under sin’s domination.

Step #1

I.

We must KNOW the full implications of our death with Christ (vv.

6-10)

And what is it that Paul wants us to know?

A. Our old man was crucified with Christ (vv.

6-7)

Transition: Not only does Paul want us to know that our old man was crucified with Christ, but Paul also wants us to know:

B. The finality and power of the death of Christ (vv.

8-10)

Transition: Knowing the full implications of your death with Christ is only the first step of being free from the domination of sin.

We must now turn our attention to step #2.

Step #2

II.

We must CONSIDER the full implications of our death with Christ (v.

11)

Simply knowing the truth of our union with Christ and the full implications of our dying with Christ is not enough.

We must move on from merely knowing to considering the truth of our death with Christ as significant to me personally.

Romans 6:11 (ESV)

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

So you MUST (imperative) constantly ( present) CONSIDER / RECKON the truth of your union with Christ to be true of you personally.

Consider- To determine by mathematical process to reckon or to calculate— In other words you must do the math.

This is logical, it is mathematical.

Work out Paul’s argument.

Look to Jesus! Look to His death (its finality and its power).

Look to His resurrection (how he lives unto God- how he lives unto the glory of God!).

Do the math and calculate all of that truth as applicable to your every day life.

What must you consider?

SO, lit.

“In the same way”!

That is an astonishing conjunction.

IN THE SAME WAY, YOU TOO must consider.

What is Paul saying?

In the same way or manner as Christ.

Why did Paul want us in the previous verses to take our eyes off ourselves and instead look at Jesus?

Why did Paul want us to know deeply the finality and power of Jesus’ death and the glory of His resurrection?

Because IN THE SAME WAY we must also consider / Reckon / Calculate what?

Consider yourselves to be dead sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Do you know what that means?

In the same way that Jesus is dead to sin, you are dead to sin!

The finality and the power of Jesus’ death to sin is your death to sin.

You have been united to Christ, you have been united with His death and His burial.

You now participate in the same benefits of His death as He does!

Wow! Consider this to be true in your life Christian.

No longer tell yourself the lie that you can’t stop sinning.

No longer tell yourself the lie that sin will always get the better of you.

It is false.

It is a lie.

It is not true whatsoever.

Why?

Because you are so special and great?

NO, because you are united to Christ and his death, his once and forever death to sin, is YOUR DEATH!

Consider that to be true!

You are now alive to God! How alive are you?

You share the same life that Jesus has!

You are united to Him.

Just as Jesus now lives to the advantage of God- that is to the glory of God because of his resurrection- in the same way you too can walk in newness of life.

You have the potential to glorify God with your life, free from the domination of sin because of your union with Jesus’ life!

Reckon it to be true- do the math and consider it true of you personally!

Illustration: MBA beat Coleman for the first time in 4 years this past weekend in the WACS tournament.

MBA was the better team, they had the talent and the ability, but a key factor to the game was believing they could actually win.

If they would have gone on the field thinking, “we have never beaten them before, we will never beat them now.”

What would have happened?

They had to consider, reckon, calculate the facts as true to themselves personally.

And they won 8-0!

Refutation: So all you have to do to defeat the domination of sin is to believe you can do it?

Do I just need to believe in myself?

NO!

That is the mumbojumbo of the world.

Paul is not saying belief in yourself- he is saying believe in Christ!

You can defeat the domination of sin when you by faith reckon that Christ’s death to sin is your death, that Christ life to God is your life!

Romans 6:11 (ESV)

11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God IN CHRIST JESUS.

Application: How do you do that?

How do you consider these great truths true of yourself personally?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones:

The most essential step is constantly to read the Scriptures.

“If you look at any saint who has ever adorned the life of the Christian church, you will find that they have always done that.

They have always been men and women who have spent a great deal of their time in reading the Bible, studying it and familiarizing themselves with it.

How you read it matters so much!

It is not something that you do mechanically, as a chore that must be completed every day.

You must read it so see God!

You must read it to come to a deeper knowledge of the greatness and holiness of God.

At times your Bible reading must humble you so that you bend your knees to God and weep on the floor.

When is the last time your read your Bibles like that?

2.

You must not only read the Scriptures, you must also meditate upon them.

“There is a line of a hymn which says, ‘Take time to be holy.’

I am not sure but that it is not something which we all ought to have pasted upon the walls of our homes in this foolish, ridiculous, hectic age in which we are living.”

Meditation is the lost art of talking to ourselves.

Not like a crazy person, and not even out-loud.

I mean that you all become preachers to yourselves using God’s word.