August 22, 2004
Morning Worship
Text: Romans 6:1-14
Subject: Grace and Sin
Title: Wanted - Dead and Alive
We welcome all of you on this special day. This is a day when we celebrate with six believers in Christ as they profess through baptism what Christ has done in their lives.
Baptism has been the subject of many disagreements over the last 2000 years. Who can be baptized? What is its significance? Is it OK to baptize infants? And not only who, but how much water – sprinkled, poured, or immersed?
A group of kids were playing church, and decided to have a baptism. The
problem was that the only candidate for baptism they could find was a cat. Needless to say, the cat didn’t take kindly to being dunked under the
water. Finally, after wrestling with the cat for over an hour, one of the kids
took a handful of water, poured it on the cat’s head and said, "OK, fine, be a
Methodist then."
Since baptism is a natural step in the life of a true Christian it is only right that I speak to you today about what it is that makes you different from people in the world. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
There is something different about you. What are you going to do about it?
I. THE BENEFITS OF GRACE. (1-4)
A. More Sin – More Grace. Paul begins this part of his letter with a question concerning his statement in 5:20, “But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” 6:1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound.”? My goodness. That sounds like the perfect answer. If grace abounds where sin is abundant, then let’s please ourselves with our sin and God by giving Him opportunity to give more grace. I mean, if God loves us so much why worry about sin. His grace will cover it. Right? In the early part of the 20th century Russian monk Gregory Rasputin taught and lived out the idea of salvation through repeated experiences of sin and repentance. According to his philosophy, those who sin more require more of God’s forgiveness and therefore receive more grace. But Paul is adamant about that line of thinking. In verse 2 he emphatically states, “Certainly not!” “NO WAY! It doesn’t work that way! Don’t even think about it!” Because you have died to sin! Paul establishes an important principle here. You have been born again. You have new life. That means that you have died to sin. When you trusted Christ as your Savior your relationship with sin changed. You have died to sin. Your inner man no longer lives under the oppression of sin but is freed from it. Death to sin came through eternal life. You once were dead in your sin, now you are dead to sin.
B. Baptism into Death or Baptism into Life? Yes! Look in verse 3. “or do you not know…?” Paul is dealing with the basics of the faith that he believes everyone should understand. “As many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death.” “Baptized into Christ Jesus” does not necessarily mean water baptism. It more likely refers to salvation. The Greek word translated baptized literally means to be immersed or covered over or overwhelmed by something. When we are baptized in water we are covered over. When we are baptized in the Holy Spirit we are completely overwhelmed by the Spirit. When we are baptized into Christ we are completely covered with Christ. We are baptized into His death and we are dead to the old man but we are also baptized in Him to eternal life.
C. Buried With Him – Raised With Him. “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life.” Water baptism is the believer’s outward expression of their identification with Jesus in dying to the old self and rising to new life. The emphasis here is not on the burial but on Christ’s death. It is in His death that we are saved from our sins. It is through the shedding of His blood that we gain eternal life. If Christ is still in the grave then we have no hope. And, as Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:19, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” But if He has risen from the dead (He has) and is declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection, then we to shall walk in newness of life… If we are buried with Him we will be raised with Him too for He is the first fruits of the resurrection.
II. A COMMON BOND. (5-10)
A. United. (Call Cindy up.) Do we look alike? Look closer. Don’t you see the resemblance? Because verse 5 says, “ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection.” Just as in our dying to the old self in salvation we are declared not guilty by the righteous judge, so shall we be raised to eternal life in the image of the One who died and rose on the third day. We’re going to look like Jesus. Verse 6 tells us that the old man was crucified so that our body of sin might be done away with, and we are no longer slaves to sin. We belong to Him. I was just teasing about looking like Cindy but I want you to look at this. Have you ever known a married couple that has been together so long that they start looking alike? If you look over at Romans 7:4 it says that we become dead to the law through the body of Christ that you may be married to another – to Him who was raised from the dead…” When we are married to Christ long enough we should start looking like Him and then like one another. We are united with Him and with one another through Him.
B. Set Free. So far we have spoken about sin and grace and life and death and burial and resurrection. All of that leads us up to another point. “He who has died has been freed from sin.” Now this is talking about the Christian. You have died to the old self. You are no longer bound by sin. The Greek word that is translated freed means to render (to show or regard as) just or innocent. You are no longer guilty. All your sin is washed away. I was born in Missouri but my folks are from Arkansas. When I was a child growing up the part of Arkansas where my grandparents lived was very depressed. A fellow we knew also was from Arkansas and he used to tell the story that if he had a brother in prison and a brother in Arkansas, he would help his brother break out of Arkansas first. We don’t have to break out. We couldn’t if we tried. But Jesus came and released us from prison. All we have to do is ask Him and trust Him.
C. Released From Death. Do you know that what we deserve is death? Because of our sin nature we cannot stand before the righteous judge and give a convincing defense of our lives. For many the defense would be I was a good person; I went to church; I was baptized; I lived by the golden rule; I did more good than bad. As long as the defense argument includes the things you have done, it will not stand up in God’s courtroom. The prosecutor, who is satan, the accuser, will show your sin for what it is. I get this picture of a prosecutor just hammering away on the defendant and the more evidence he discloses the more confident he gets. “I’ve go another one,” he thinks. But if your defense goes something like this, “Your honor, I had a personal relationship with the defender, Jesus.”, he goes into a rage and objects on every turn because you are not getting what you deserve, you have moved from death row, to the throne of grace. It is because death no longer has dominion over Jesus and if that is so, then no longer over you.
III. REPRESENTING CHRIST. (10-14)
A. Stop Living to Please Yourself. Verse 10 tells us that Christ died to sin. That means that even though HE was sinless, He took our sin upon Himself so that He died under the influence of sin – our sin. But the life He lives, He lives to God. In His resurrection He was raised victorious over sin. Because you have been united with Him in death, you are now freed from sin’s power over you and can walk in newness of life. So you don’t have to give in to the destructive behaviors that once control your nature. Your flesh wants a cigarette. You don’t have to give in. Your stomach wants more food. You have power over it. Your tongue wants to gossip. Don’t let it start. When you give in do you know what you are doing? You are telling God, “I know better than You what is OK for me.” You ignore what He wants in order to do what you want and that is sin. Some of you may say, “I’ve been saved for a long time and have been doing those things. What do I do?” Listen, it is never too late to begin to walk in newness of life. Verse 11 says that we are to consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Be an overcomer. Don’t give in. Get hold of God’s word and live it to the best of your ability. You will find that pleasing God will bring fulfillment that feeding the flesh cannot. For the flesh is never satisfied. Maybe some of you older folks remember a Ricky Nelson song that said, “You can’t please everyone, so you have to please yourself.” It will never happen.
B. Stop Letting Sin Reign. If you live to please yourself sin becomes like a cancer in your life. Self-gratification through sin will lead to more sin and continued sin and more destructive sin. The wages of sin is death. Once sin has established itself as a pattern in your life, it once again begins to reign. It takes priority over serving God. Verse 12, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.” If the word of God says that we should not let sin reign, don’t you think that He will give us a way to do it? Look what John the apostle Jesus loved wrote in 1 John. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness…And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” Jesus takes care of the problem on His end. What are you expected to do? Make every effort to show Him how much you love Him by striving to live for Him and fellowship with Him. You can say in victory that Jesus is Lord. Sin has no place in me.
C. Stop Listening to satan. Verse 13, “do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness…” You know the scenario in the cartoons. The angel sits on one shoulder and the devil on the other. “Don’t do it,” the angel says. The devil answers, “Aw, go ahead. What will it hurt? It will feel good.” “Don’t do it” “Do it” “No!” “Yes!” The battle continues. It’s not just in the cartoons. It is the actual spiritual battle that takes place in the minds of believers every day. Your spirit has been made alive by God’s Spirit so you know right from wrong in a very real and personal way. But the enemy, satan, presents himself as an angel of light. He is very beautiful and seductive and his words seem so right. He is like the crafty fisherman who turns the barb of the hook back into the bait so the fish cannot see it. The bait looks so appealing that it can’t be wrong, but once you have pursued it and tasted of sin, it’s too late. He sets the hook and he has you right where he wants you. To try to tear away from it is painful and will leave a scar, but while satan is saying to you “just stay right where you are and it won’t hurt” God is telling you, “tear away and I will heal your wounds.” Verse 14 returns us to the original thought of the passage. “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” Law equates to works. Remember, you cannot be good enough to earn your way to heaven. “It is by grace that you are saved through faith and this not of yourselves – it is the gift of God – not of works lest anyone should boast.” God’s word is true. satan is a liar. End of discussion.
Those who are to be baptized today are making a bold statement before the rest of you. They are really putting their lives on the line to be seen by all. They are saying, “I have chosen to live for Christ. I want you all to know it. Now watch me and see if I do.” Some of these are new believers. Some trusted Christ some time ago. Regardless of the time frame what they are doing now is important to them. But church, the pressure is also on you. You know the commands of scripture. Older women, admonish the younger women to love their husbands, love their children, to be discreet… older men be examples to the younger men as to be servants of God. In other words, makes disciples out of these who are making a public confession today. Help them to understand what is expected of them.
This is what the Word of God is saying today. I want you dead, but alive. Dead to sin and alive in Christ.
