Romans #7
Romans: The Just Shall live by faith • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Hey guys glad to see everyone this evening, please turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Romans chapter 6.
Romans chapter 6
We are continuing on in our study of the book of Romans, Where Paul is describing for those he is writing to that salvation is found by grace alone, through biblical faith alone, in Christ alone.
We have learned that we cannot earn God’s grace, we cannot attain salvation by keeping with the religious traditions of men, and we must acknowledge Jesus Christ and accept His righteousness on our behalf in order to receive salvation.
The other thing we have seen that once we have believed in faith on Jesus as our Lord that that belief should drive us forward into action, it should drive us toward obedience.
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life. For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God. So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.
(Let’s pray)
We live in a time where people are more and more hostile to Christians. There are more and more church members in our world today who stand against leadership if they preach the whole counsel of the Word of God.
Many do not want to hear the truth in our day and time, and many pastors in fear shy away from teaching like they should.
So it is crucial that we nail down some specifics on this book and several other doctrines of the faith, to ensure there is no confusion as to what the gospel is.
Paul wrote this letter to the church in Rome during a time when the church was intensely persecuted.
Paul wrote this to followers of Jesus Christ living in Rome, when a guy named Nero was king. He was insane, and he enjoyed killing Christians, Nero would hang Christians on poles and stand them up all around the city and use them to light his garden and the city.
Nero is the guy who will eventually call for the beheading of Paul himself.
But when Paul wrote to the church in Rome he talked about our salvation, he talked about how were saved. He also talked about all the blessings and benefits that come from our salvation, and thats what were getting into tonight.
Even when times are tough, we are called to keep going and keep learning about the faith we have in Christ Jesus our Lord. Paul is right in the middle of a thought that he began in chapter 5 and at the end of that chapter he said something that has catapulted him into what he is saying here.
The law came along to multiply the trespass. But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more
When sin was increasing in the world and in culture that there is a work of God happening, grace that doesn’t just meet that sin, but it goes past that sin, it abounds all the more.
That is what Paul is saying and he is using it as a springboard for romans chapter 6 and what he is talking about here OUR RELATIONSHIP TO SIN
Now after you have been saved after you have been blood bought and washed in the crimson love of Jesus what now is the Christians relationship to sin?
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins in which you previously walked according to the ways of this world, according to the ruler who exercises authority over the lower heavens, the spirit now working in the disobedient.
Before we came to faith in Jesus we were totally spiritually dead and were not able to overcome the temptations of the flesh, the flesh wanted what it wanted and so you obeyed it. All of us did, we did what felt right, however since we were dead spiritually there was nothing we did in God’s eyes that was not considered sin, since we were a slave to sin and the flesh.
But in Jesus He has changed all that, but this was our previous relationship to our sinful nature, and then we came to Christ and put our faith in His work on the cross. It changed a whole lot of things about our lives. But changed some other things and that is what Paul is going to talk about here tonight.
Jesus not only changed our relationship with Him, He changed our relationship to sin.
What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply?
What Paul is doing here is he is addressing the question that he assumes someone has formed in their head, “well Paul you said where sin abounds grace much more abounds, so should we just kind of give in, so that Gods grace becomes greater?”
there were actually people who believed it was God’s job to forgive sins and we dont have to worry about holiness.
There are those today who feel that once saved always saved and god’s mercies are new every morning so I’ll just go out and do whatever I want to because I knowgod will forgive me.
I know it sounds odd but I have spoke with people who have looked me right in the eye and say this.
so your saying that the more people sin, the more God’s grace comes through, so why dont we just sin like crazy so everyone will know how gracious God is?
But here is how the relationship between you and sin has changed since you came to Christ, in fact he is gonna show here how believers cannot anymore give in to a life of sin.
Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
Paul is asking how it is possible to live in sin, when in fact we have died to sin. And our response is when did we die?
Paul is making a statement here without explaining where it came from. He is just talking and stating a fact, he says by the way don’t your know He hasn’t told anyone this yet He is just saying this is a fact based upon the teachings of the Holy Spirit of the Lord when you came to faith in Jesus your died to the flesh!
Paul tells us that we died concerning sin. The human race said when?
So Paul tells them when
Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
So he starts off with that question but the question is did you not know that?
This is why when I baptize people I says BURIED WITH CHRIST IN BAPTISM RAISED TO WALK IN NEWNESS OF LIFE
When we come to Christ we join Him in His death, the old me died!
Now that I am saved I am giving testimony that I am changing something is different inside of me!
you know there was a time I thought when I came to Jesus I was just forgiven, well He does but it is so much more than that!
Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.
Before we can understand what Paul is saying here we have to understand a good definition of the word Baptism.
Have you been baptized into Christ, now when people hear that question what they think I am talking about is when were you baptized in water?
But thats not what Paul is referring to specifically here.
The reason we think that is because we have taken water baptism and and we have exalted the act over the meaning behind the act. That is why many people have mentioned to me that they want to be baptized because they want their sins washed away.
But dunking people in dirty water does not wash any sins away.
The meaning of water baptism is greater than the act of being baptized. The word means to BE IMMERSED
The Bible talks about several baptisms, water baptism, baptism in the Spirit, baptism into suffering, I dont hear many people praying to baptized with suffering.
IMMERSED IN SUFFERING
When Paul is tlaking here about baptism he is talking about the spiritual reality that we portray when we are baptized in water.
WATER BAPTISM it is an outward picture of an inward truth.
Water baptism does not save people
It is the reality behind the baptism that saves you being immersed into Christ,we immerse people in water to declare to people that they have been immersed into Christ.
water baptism is a beautiful story that you act out to show people the reality of what has happened to you on the inside!
The spiritual reality of being immersed into Christ, is what saves you, if someone asks Jesus to forgive them of their sins and they de before they get baptized they still enter into Heaven, because the water baptism only shows a picture of a reality that in most cases has already happened.
When you are immersed into Christ you are immersed into Him in various things. One of the things you are joined with Christ in when you are immersed or baptized into Christ, is you are joined with Him in His death.
But there has to be a heart bowing that must take place a surrender if you will to Christ as Lord and committment to follow Him with your new life since now you and I have become new creations.
Once that heart has been changed now then they want to tell others and so they tell their story by standing publicly and declaring that they have chosen to follow Jesus with their heart and soul as Lord.
IMMERSED INTO JESUS
Now when Paul speak about resurrection He is not talking about the future resurrection bodily that will come one day when Christ returns but he is talking about the reality that we were dead in our sins and trespasses and now through our following of Christ He has raised us from the dead spiritually and now we have life in Christ.
Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.
He is talking about your new relationship to sin.
You used to be dead in sin, and now your dead to it.
Now you have a new relationship that enables you to walk in a new way.
Now we can walk by the Spirit and not gratify or obey the flesh, this is the beauty of what has happened when we were redeemed.
the old man had to die because only a death could set us free, from the old life of the flesh.
For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection.
What was Jesus’ resurrection like?
He was raised in power and glory over the powers of sin, so he conquered sin, by His death burial and resurrection. By joining Him in His death burial and resurrection, we too are victorious over sin.
For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin,
since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims.
Before we came to know Jesus as Lord our relationship to sin was that we were slaves to it.
A slave doesn’t have any choice.
They live how their master determines they are going to live. We were in slavery to our sin. We had no choice in that. We simply obeyed our flesh, but now by joining in Christ and His death, that relationship with slavery has been broken.
WHY?
Cause the slave is dead, when you are a slave, there is one way to get set free for sure. To die
That master has no more control over a dead slave.
Romans
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him,
because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him.
For in light of the fact that He died, He died to sin once for all; but in light of the fact that He lives, He lives to God.
Death cannot die again because death has been defeated!
You and I when we enter into His death we also enter into that victory and His life, now we dont have to worry anymore about death because we no longer have to go through death totally but only have to pass through the shadow of it.
We now stand in the ability to overcome sin and temptation, yet because we live in the flesh sin will always tempt us, we will have to walk in the spirit so to not fall victim again to the yoke of bondage, because now we are free.
So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
In other words exercize your faith and believe that you have entered into Christ and death no longer has any hold over you, neither does sin. You and I have the power through the Holy Spirit to live sinless lives in Christ Jesus.
There is only one problem we still live in the flesh, and because we are we are naturally bent toward sin, this is why we have to renew our minds with the washing of the water by the word because we have the tendency to be short sighted. To not look at the big picture every single day.
What happens we get short sighted and emotions take over felt needs take over and we fall.
But if we devoted our lives and could train ourselves to walk in the spirit of God we could live holy and blameless before the Lord. Which Paul will say later should be our goal.
This is why Paul was criticized so much for his gospel, they would say Paul your crazy man you are telling people that the path to holy living, comes without rules.
How are then saved?
By faith, but faith true genuine faith does not obey rules without relationship.
It is our relationship with Him and the freedom He has provided us that makes us love Jesus and seek to obey Him not because we have to but because we want to!
Yet there are some people who sadly approach the Christian life thinking they have to keep the rules in order to be forgiven and let into the kingdom of Heaven.
Believe that it is done That He did it, that its real true and that He hhas set you free with His blood, turn your life over to Him to submit to His word and act on his precepts out of your love relationship with Him
Paul says reckon yourselves dead to those old ways!
dont go back to the grave!
dont go back to the the things which held you back, dont go back to the things that hindered you!
Christ has broken the chains of those things off of you!
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires.
Here again we see that true faith true belief acts upon the spiritual relaity of the gospel.
you have been set free from this bondage so walk it out!
Now listen you say well now wait a minute if we are free then why do I still sin. Well listen you cannot be truly free unless you have a choice He has set you free from the penalty of sin, and the power of sin. But He does not force you to be sinless, He asks you to be sinless because you are free.
If you had no choice you cannot be truly free the only time you had no choice was when you were a slave before Christ.
Christ has liberated us to be free. Stand firm then and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery.
What is Paul saying here to us?
It is possible to go back and take on a position as a slave.
you are free but if you walk back into the prison cell thats your own fault. But you are free now to choose.
And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness.
For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.