Are we DEAD to sin?
Romans 6:1-14
6 What then shall we say? Shall we continue to sin so that grace may increase? 2 No way! We are the ones who have died to sin; How can we live in it longer? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism to death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might live a new life.
5 For if we are united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old man was crucified with him so that the sin-dominated body might be destroyed, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, 7 because whoever has died has been freed from sin. .
8 Now if we die with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. 9 For we know that Christ, having risen from the dead, cannot die again; death no longer has dominion over him. 10 The death that died, to sin he died once for all; but the life that lives, lives for God.
11 In the same way, you also consider yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument of iniquity, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer him every part of yourself as an instrument of justice. 14 For sin will no longer be your master, because you are no longer under law, but under grace.
We have been given so many great gifts from our Heavenly Father. we will never really be able to grasp the depth and breadth of his love for us…. That’s the truth.
I want to make it clear from the beginning this morning, that everything we claim we can do with God’s help…is because Jesus lives in us…is not that good, or how strong we are within ourselves…. Jesus through the Holy Spirit is the reason we can live in Victory.
This morning, I’m going to give you the Answer right away, then I’ll tell you why it’s true…
The answer is… Yes, we can be FREE from sin and live in victory, no longer be slaves to sin! Do you believe that? Are you experiencing that victory is the question?
So let’s see what Romans 6 says about the question: Can a person be free from sin… free from this sinful lifestyle?
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we continue to sin so that grace may increase? 2 No way! We are the ones who have died to sin; How can we live in it longer? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism to death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life.
Just for a brief background, we’ve been studying Romans Wednesday nights online, so let me quickly tell you how Paul came to this argument in chapter six.
Chap. 1-2 Paul explains how all humanity will be responsible before God, no one will be excused from the Judgment, because God has made himself known and has provided the way to be saved, through the Cross… Through Jesus and his death and resurrection, we have a way to salvation if we choose to accept it.
Chap 3-4 Paul reminds us that no one is righteous on their own merits… in other words, none of us is good enough to meet the requirement of Holiness that God demands, we can only meet this requirement when we accept Jesus… and He He becomes our Justice… Only He Justifies us and literally moves us from a place of Condemnation to a place of Forgiveness, in peace with God. Aren’t you happy about that?
Chap. 5 Paul tells us that before we accept Christ, while we live in sin… we are actually enemies of God because of our sin… but when we accept Christ, Christ living in us brings us to a place of Peace and Hope with our God Heavenly. Dad.
Throughout chapters 1-5 we are given a very important picture of who God is and what he thinks about sin.
He is Holy and Just. He hates sin and what it does to his creation; we were not created to live in rebellion against our creator.
He has provided a means for us to be free through Jesus and live as He intended us to live when He created us… Free to serve Him with all our hearts…
So this brings us back to our question and to Chapter 6. 6 What shall we say, then? Shall we continue to sin so that grace may increase? 2 No way! We are the ones who have died to sin; how can we live more in it?
God instituted marriage and has used this special relationship to illustrate the kind of relationship God has with his Church, the Bible calls the church… Christians… the Bride… in Ephesians and in Revelation.
When we enter into this Special Relationship with our Heavenly Father, we do so by accepting Jesus Christ, His Son, through Faith. What we are actually doing is dying to ourselves, our old way of living, our old way of thinking… just as Christ died on the Cross for our sins…we are nailing our old life to the Cross…letting it go.
Just as Christ rose from the dead, and won victory over sin and death for us, when we accept Jesus we rise with Him to a new life, to a new way of thinking… the Bible declares us a New Creation.
So Paul, with all of that in the background… brings us to this passage. Some argue that since God’s Grace covers our sins, we can continue to live in sin and God’s grace will continue to increase….
v.2 “No way? We are the ones who have died to sin; How can we live more in it?”
This relationship with God is special and God has taken you out of that destructive way of life…He does not expect us to return to it.
For those of you who are married, can you imagine allowing your spouse to bring back an old flame to live in your home with you?
Barb, how would that work in your house?
Don, do you think Eyvonne would be okay with that kind of arrangement?
Annette, we can all see that Pastor Rusty is a real catch… would any of your ex-girlfriends hang out at your house every week?
So far it’s unanimous, we don’t even need to ask Nola what the answer is…
Have you ever heard of the 10 commandments? Do you know what the 1st Commandment is?
Exodus 20:1-3
20 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of bondage. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me.
The first commandment tells us… nothing else goes in its place.
You know what sin is… you can name anything that is a sin, when you boil it down to the heart of it all, it is Selfishness. Sin is doing what you want, regardless of what you know is right, or what God has told you to do.
Sin is me over you. Me and my path on what I know God wants for me.
The biggest idol in our world today is the “Me, Me, Me” attitude.
You may have seen this play out in our world.
I’m offended, so you need to change.
I don’t like how God created me, so I’m going to change my gender.
I don’t accept God’s rules for sex… so I’ll do what makes me feel good.
I don’t like the rules, so he’s going to cheat.
Have you seen the riots? We do not believe that we are treated fairly, so we will destroy, kill and steal as a remedy…
Take it home… I don’t like that person, so I’m going to gossip about her.
I didn’t get what I wanted, so I’m going to have a seizure like a 2 year old, even though I’m 45….
Selfishness is at the core of all sin. God hates sin… Sin will separate us from God if it is not dealt with.
6 For we know that our old man was crucified with him so that the sin-dominated body might be destroyed, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, 7 because whoever has died has been freed from sin.
Now that we have all been slaves to sin, we know what it means to serve ourselves first…that’s why we knew we needed help to get out of that bondage where selfishness ruled our lives.
So what has changed? Christ came into our Hearts… He forgave us and cleansed us of our past, and has taken that Old Heart, full of selfish desires, and has given us a New Heart… One that beats for Him.
As a Christian who has this new heart that God has given us, can we continue to sin? Yes, we can, and from time to time we will fail because we are not perfect… but that will not be the normal lifestyle of a Christian, it will be the exception, not the normal lifestyle.
Again, going back to the marriage relationship…
I love my wife, I am committed to her 100% and I chose her and no one else for that relationship. Will I do dumb things from time to time that could damage or even end our relationship if not fixed quickly? Yes. But just as Christ forgave us, we learn to forgive each other, we deal with things as they come up, what was done, changed, and we continue to grow together.
So it is in our relationship. with God, we live for Him, if we sin, we face it quickly, ask for forgiveness, and then let God help us walk away from that choice again…it is a relationship that grows and matures.
But, we do not willingly invite sin into our relationship with God and then let it live there as a third party.
If you were diagnosed with deadly cancer, God healed you and delivered you from that cancer. …would you ever choose to invite that cancer back into your body to stay?
Of course not, sin is much more deadly than cancer could be. Cancer can only kill your body. Sin will kill you spiritually and cost you for all eternity.
So let’s see what Paul says about our past… look at verse 11
11 Likewise, consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourselves to sin as an instrument of iniquity, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer him every part of yourself as an instrument of justice. 14 For sin will no longer be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
Consider yourselves dead to sin….
Do not allow sin to reign in you. mortal body…
Do not offer any part of yourself to sin…. It all starts in our mind…
Great news… “Sin will no longer be yours…