Romans 6:1-11 DEAD TO SIN, ALIVE TO GOD
In our country, a major change is taking place. The wildfires in Colorado and Arizona are completely changing the landscape over there. Some of our WELS people living in those areas have been evacuated. A major change is taking place, and you have to get out of the way. When those fires have run their course, and everything has been destoyed, a totally different landscape will remain. Eventually, everything will grow back, the area will recover, but it won’t be the same. That’s what fires do - they change the way things are.
Do you realize that you also have been changed? You also are different from how you were before - not the same. Something has happened that has changed your soul - the landscape of your heart is different than it was before - a dramatic change has taken place inside of you. You can sum up that change with two phrases: dead to sin, and alive to God.
Today we are going to look at the change that has taken place inside of you and every other Christian in the world. According to the Bible, you are dead to sin, and alive to God, and today we’re going to find out what that means.
Imagine if part of you were to die. Your arm or your leg stops working. You go to the doctor, and the doctor says to you that your arm has died, but you’re going to have to live with it - we’re not taking it off. According to the Word of God, a part of you has died. Let’s see what Romans tells us: “We died to sin. How can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?”
Your sinful nature, what you were born with before you became a Christian, died to sin. Your sinful nature is that part of you that loves to sin, that loves to worship yourself, and pleasure yourself, and focus on me me me. Your sinful nature is that part of you that really doesn’t want to obey God - I’d rather do thins my way - that’s your sinful nature. And that part of you, according to this part of the Bible, has died. When did this happen? At your baptism: “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.” We always think of baptism as something that brings a person to life spiritually, and that’s true. But baptism is also something that a part of you, your sinful nature. Dead to sin means that your love for sin, your desire to sin, is now dead.
This past Monday, we recently closed on the property we were hoping to buy on Johnson Road. What is it that now links us to that property.? It’s a piece of paper. A contract with your signatures on it. Those pieces of paper are your connection to those 7 acres. What is it that links you to Jesus Christ, and his death? It’s not a piece of paper, it’s your baptism. The moment you were baptized, you were linked to Jesus Christ - an invisible rope was tied between you and Jesus, and now you are connected to everything he did.
That includes his death. That means that when Jesus was crucified, a part of you was crucified. Verse 6: “For we know that our old self was crucified with him, so that the body of sin might be done away with.” Your old self, that part of you that loves to sin, was crucifed when Jesus was crucified. Imagine if you could attend your own execution. Somehow, by some cosmic accident, you are able to travel into the future, and to your shock you see your very own execution. Actually, you can do that. But instead of traveling into the future, you travel into the past. Go to the cross of Jesus Christ, and there you not only see your Savior dying for your sins, you also see your sinful nature being crucified. Your old self, your old adam, crucifed on the cross with Jesus Christ. Now, you are dead to sin.
That means that when Jesus was buried, a part of you was buried. Verse 4: “We were buried with him, through baptism into death.” Just think of what happened the moment you were baptized - your old adam was buried with Christ. It’s strange to think about, but in some ways, a baptism service is a kind of funeral service. What happens at a funeral? Someone is buried. What happens at a baptism? Your Old Adam, that part of you that loves to sin, is buried. Now, you are now dead to sin. That’s the person that God has made you to be. Just as those wildfires out west are completely destroying everything in their path, so also God has completely destroyed your sinful nature. At your baptism, your sinful nature was tied to Jesus Christ. It was crucified and buried. Now, you are dead to sin.
But we do have a problem, don’t we. We go back to our old ways. We don’t want to be dead to sin. Instead, we want to flirt with sin. We want to play with sin. We want to do things that we know are wrong, and then we try to explain them away. Maybe we laugh about our sins, like they’re no big deal. God wants us to be 100% dead to sin - that’s the people God has made us to be at our baptisms. But that’s not how we are. We go back to our old ways, because we like to sin. And that’s not good. That’s why people who are Christians sometimes fall away from the faith and go to hell. And that’s exactly what will happen to you and me if we continue to rebel against God, if we continue to love and play with sin. Eternal punishment will be in our future.
But that’s why Jesus came. Jesus came to be what we could not be. Jesus was completely and totally dead to sin. He didn’t flirt with it. He didn’t play with it. Jesus had nothing to do with sin, as he led the perfect life. And he led that perfect life for you, as your substitute. And then Jesus did something even more amazing - he took your sins and mine, and made them his own. All of your sins, times infinity - Jesus took those upon himself, and became utterly covered in sin. Then he died on the cross, suffering the punishments we deserve. And when he died, our sins died with him. When he died, our sinful natures died with him.
That’s why, right after the sermon, I can proclaim to you the forgiveness of sins. After the sermon, we will confess our sins to God, and after we do so, I, as a called servant of God will announce to you that all of your sins have been forgiven, that God completely forgives you for all the sins you have committed in your life. The reason we can do that is because of what Jesus has done for us - he lived the perfect life for us. He died on the cross for us. And then he rose from the dead, completely free from sin and alive to God. That good news is what makes you alive to God.
Remember how we said that at your baptism, you were linked to Jesus’ death? You were also linked to Jesus’ resurrection at your baptism. Verse 4 says: “Just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” When Jesus rose from the dead, he began to live a completely new life. No longer did Jesus have anything to do with sin. He had been covered with the sins of the world at the cross, but that was done. Now, risen from the dead, he was alive to God, free to live a completely new life.
That’s what happens to you. At your baptism, you Old Adam is crucified and buried. But a new life rises up inside you, a life that is completely dedicated to God. Let me ask you this? When were you born? I’m almost positively that you will answer that question incorrectly. When I asked you when were you born, you immediately thought about your physical birthday, the day you were delivered. But when did you come to life spiritually? When were you spiritually born? On what day did the old adam inside of you die, and the new person inside of you come to life? On what day did you become alive to God? That day was the day you were baptized.
How many of you know your baptismal birthday? It wouldn’t be a bad idea to remember that day. According to the Bible, that’s your real birthday - that’s the day you were linked to Christ’s resurrection. That’s the day that you started being alive to God.
Verse 8 tells us: “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.” What does that mean, to be alive to God? That’s what God has made you to be - what does that mean?
There’s a commercial for the Marines - I don’t know if you’ve seen it or not. They show a man climbing straight up a rock cliff. He runs into all kinds of obstacles - he even loses his grip for a moment but hangs by one hand from the cliff. Then he gets to the top, and stands and looks out over the world. The point of the commercial, is that we, the Marines, will turn you into this person. If you join the Marines, we will make you strong, and courageous. We will turn you into a person of honor and intergrity. Join the Marines, and we will turn you into the new person that you want to be.
Spiritually, this is what God does to you at your baptism. Through water and the word, God kills the Old Adam inside of you. Now you are dead to sin, and alive to God. To be alive to God means that you love him and serve him, above all other things. You honor his name in the presence of others. You honor his Word, by hearing it faithfully, by reading it, by applying it to yourself. You run into all kinds of obstacles - sometimes you even lose your grip spiritually. But God is there to rescue you. You trust in him, and honor him by loving other people - never being selfish, but always being generous. This is the person God has made you to be. You are now alive to God.
You know that you have been forgiven, in Jesus Christ. You know, without a doubt, that you are going to heaven someday. You know that God is watching over you right now. And so you live for him, you live to obey him, to honor him, to carry out his will, not because you have to, but because you want to. This is what it means to be dead to sin, but alive to God. This is the person God has made you to be.
There’s an old saying, that’s part true and part not true. Here it is: “God loves me just the way I am.” The first part is true. God does love you. But not just the way you are. If that were true, then God wouldn’t have sent his Son to rescue you. Then God wouldn’t have sent people into your life to baptize you and teach you. God does love you, but he loves you so much that he changes you into a better person. He destroys the part of you that loves to sin. And he raises up in you a new person who loves to serve God. Verse 11: “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” That’s who you are now. God has changed your personality. May God be with you and bless you. Be the person that God has made you to be. Amen.
