Have you ever been in a court of law to testify to the truth in a legal case? Well, the Judge says, “Place your left hand on the Bible and raise your right hand. Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you God?” Then you respond by saying, “I do.” Well, I intend to tell you the whole truth and nothing but the truth today so that you may live in victory over sin. David Kuykendall in his book “Here’s Life” printed by FBC Dallas, Texas says, “There are things that are true of us in the Christian life we will not experience until we believe they are true of us and choose to experience them.” Verses 3,6 and 9 all contain the word “know:” “don’t you know,” “For we know,” “For we know.”
Paul instructs us with the truth that there are some things we need to know if we are to live a sanctified, victorious Christian life free of sin. In fact, Romans 6 gives us the basis for victory over the power of sin in our lives. It’s one thing to know that you are forgiven for your deeds of sin. But it’s quite another thing to know how to resist the power of sin and stop sinning. Would you like to know how to stop sinning? Well, God’s power in you can enable you to live in victory over the reign of sin if you’ll believe the truth and nothing but the truth and bring it on line in your life.
A young woman went to see if a plastic surgeon could help her. She hated the way she looked! Everybody else in her family was quite attractive, but she had never liked herself because of her oversized nose. He promised that her “problem” could be corrected and proceeded to do surgery. When the bandages were removed, the surgeon was delighted to see how beautiful she was. He couldn’t wait to see her reaction. He held a mirror before her and immediately she began crying, “It didn’t work!” she sobbed. She was convinced she was still ugly. She didn’t accept the truth that she had changed. She believed she was still that unattractive girl with the big nose.
The doctor persuaded her to see a counselor. After months of counseling, she began to believe that she wasn’t ugly after all and began liking herself. She became more outgoing and confident because she was acting on the basis of the truth of what she had come to believe about herself. When you see and believe the truth of what is already true about you as a believer, a radical change will take place in you. You will begin to live out in everyday experience, who you really are “in Christ.” So let me explain the truth and nothing but the truth of what is already true for you. The first truth is:
I. You Were Baptized Into Christ Jesus verses 3-4a
Verse 3 reads, “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” You have a need to know and understand what it means to have been baptized into Christ Jesus. You were baptized into Christ by the Holy Spirit. “Baptized” is a transliteration of the Greek word baptize. It means literally “to place into,” “to change the identity of something or someone.” In classical Greek it was used of bathing or of dipping something repeatedly. In the NT it is used in two major ways: baptism in water and uniting believers with Christ by Holy Spirit baptism. You were dynamically, vitally, spiritually, powerfully and permanently placed into Christ. And when you were placed into Christ, your identity was changed, who you are was changed.
Now the last part of verse 3 says we, “were baptized into his death.” Then verse 4 carries this idea deeper as it reads, “We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death.” Why is that true? Because through the baptism of the Holy Spirit, spiritually, when Jesus died – you died with Him, and when Jesus was buried – you were buried with Him because of your union with Christ, your baptism into Him by the Holy Spirit. This is that Jewish idea of corporate personality or responsibility I shared last week. Paul’s Jewish readers would have had no problem with the concept of a big group of people corporately, that is, tribally, nationally or spiritually being “IN” one person.
The NT scholar, Kenneth Wuest notes the significance of baptism as: “The believing sinner is introduced or placed in Christ, thus coming into union with Him. By that action he is taken out of his old environment and condition in which he had lived, the First Adam and is placed into a new environment and condition, the Last Adam.” So baptism by the Spirit is the invisible, spiritual operation which unites you to your Savior, you are placed into Christ’s death. And to say you were buried, could be no more final. When you died in Christ your old spirit identity “in Adam” was buried. No one can raise it. You can’t go back. And who would want to. That’s the truth and nothing but the truth, believe it. The second truth is:
II. You Have Been United With Christ verse 5
Verse 5 literally reads, “If and it is assumed to be so, we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.” Here Paul uses a first class condition grammatical construction indicated by “For if” which actually means since we have been united to Christ. This is your spiritual bonding to Christ. You become one with Christ Life, His eternal life and He becomes one with you. 1 Corinthians 6:17 says, “He who has joined his spirit with the Lord is one spirit with Him.”
Paul also uses the word “for” to show a connection to the end of the previous verse where he speaks of us walking “in newness of life.” The way that you walk in newness of life is by your believing that you’re united with Christ in death and resurrection. Many believers speak of a Christian lifestyle, but don’t realize that this lifestyle can only take place as it’s derived from drawing upon Life, Jesus Christ’s life. The force of what Paul is saying here is “since we have had a part in dying with Christ, we certainly shall have a part in resurrection life with Him.”
The picture Paul used of our being united with Christ in verse 4 was baptism. Here, the word “united” literally means “to grow together.” It’s a picture of a branch grafted into a trunk of a tree or vine. By being joined, it grows together with it. If this grafting is successful, what does the main part and the grafted part have in common? They share life together. Jesus foreshadowed this idea when he taught about the vine and the branches in John 15. As we draw life from Him, we abide in Him and His life produces fruit. And how do you know that you abide in Him? 1 John 4:13 says it’s because of the Spirit He has given you.
In your natural state, you were born “in Adam” inheriting death, condemnation and a sinful identity. The moment you trusted Christ a transplantation took place. You were taken spiritually out of Adam and put, “in Christ,” into Christ’s life and lifeline. That life took you to the cross with Christ where you were crucified with Him. God declares that this has already taken place. You are simply to believe the truth that God says you have been vitally, completely and permanently transplanted into, united with Christ. This union and change of identity is the basis for your being free from slavery to sin’s power and for walking in newness of life. So the third truth is:
III. You Have Been Raised With Christ verses 4b, 5b
God’s purpose in arranging for your old life “in Adam” to be spiritually crucified with Christ and being buried with Christ is so that you might walk in newness of life and bring glory to the Father. You can’t walk in newness of life unless you have a new life “in Christ,” that is Christ’s life in you. But even if you have His eternal life as your life, you won’t be able to walk in it unless you know that His life is yours personally – and you depend upon Him rather than upon your own strength to live in it.
How frustrating it is to try to live the Christian life apart from the resurrection life of Christ as your functional source of life. I know – I tried it for 26 years! At that point I was convicted of my self-sufficiency and self-centeredness as my source of life. I renounced all dependence on my self, my flesh and personally embraced by faith my death and resurrection in Christ and trusted Him to live the Christian life from within me. And you can too, if you will believe the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
