“Don’t Let Sin Reign”
(Romans 6:1-14)
Series: Not Guilty!
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Henderson, KY
(6-28-09) (AM)
- Take your Bibles and open to Romans, chapter 6.
We’re preaching our way through the book of Romans and I am excited about our study in chapter 6 this morning because I hope it will help free us from the power of sin and temptation. The first few words begin, “What shall we say then?” And we can’t just begin there without remembering what precedes it. If a friend wrote you a 12-page letter, you wouldn’t just begin reading at page 6. You’d read what went before.
In chapter 5 Paul has been stressing that our salvation lasts forever. Once we place our faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, God justifies us. He declares us righteous and that righteousness lasts forever and ever. He says at the end of chapter 5 that this is true no matter how much we have sinned. He writes, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” So that leads to the question Paul raises at the beginning of chapter 6.
- Stand for the reading of the Word of God.
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
- Pray.
Introduction:
I really want to “give you the goods” of this text as quickly as I can because it is so helpful to us in battling sin and temptation, but I can’t just jump right into it without our appreciating the tension that is here between chapter 5 and chapter 6.
The overarching context of chapters 5 through 8 is the assurance of our salvation. Paul tells us at the beginning of chapter 5 that if we have placed our faith in Christ alone as our Savior we have “peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” and he goes on to tell us other benefits of this justification. Then, in the second half of chapter 5—our text from last week—we read about the basis of this assurance or why we can be so confident our salvation lasts forever. And Paul teaches that Jesus Christ has completely overcome all the negative effects of Adam’s sin.
He wraps up the chapter by reminding us that the Law has no power to save. We’re not saved by keeping the moral commands of the Old Testament. Rather, our failure to live up to the perfect standards of the law points us to Christ. And no matter how many sins we have committed, Paul says, “Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more.” You can never have so much sin in your life as to exhaust the grace available to cover your sin. Grace is limitless!
So Paul anticipates a person may misunderstand this teaching and say, “Well, if my sin leads to more grace then I’ll just continue in sin so that God will continue in grace.” In other words, “God, this is a great partnership! No matter how much I sin, You will always have more grace to cover my sin. So I’ll just ‘live it up’ and sin all the time!”
Paul’s answer to that statement in verse 2 is what? “Certainly not!” You see that? Get real! That’s crazy. No way! God forbid! So what we read in chapter 6 is Paul’s addressing this faulty notion of continuing in sin, living in sin, and in so doing he provides us with some help in battling sin and temptation. Much of this comes at the end of the passage in verses 11-14, but we can’t really take the necessary steps of verses 11-14 until we rightly understand verses 1-10. So let’s do that now. Here’s number one:
I. Remember our new Identity in Christ (1-4)
Last week we read how chapter 5 teaches that all persons everywhere are either “in Adam” or “in Christ.” We have union with one or the other, identified with one or the other. If we have trusted Christ as our Lord and Savior then we have moved from Adam to Christ. Our location has changed. We have moved our residence and changed our address. So we have a new identity, a new union, in Christ.
So at the beginning of chapter 6 Paul reminds us of our new identity in Christ. He tells us that a person who has been born again, and justified by faith, declared righteous by God, is a person who will no longer live as he once did. He will never ask the question of verse 1, “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” That’s a ludicrous question. That’s why Paul replies with, “Certainly not,” the strongest way to say “no” in the New Testament. And look again at why Paul says, “Certainly not.” He asks, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
Well, maybe we hear that in verse 2 and then we think, “But I still struggle with sin. How can I say I have died to sin if I still battle sin and temptation?”
When Paul speaks of our having “died to sin,” he has in mind our old identity, our old union, in Adam. We know that from the context. Look at the last verse of chapter 5. There in verse 21 Paul writes about the reign of sin. That’s a reference to where we used to be in Adam. We used to live in the realm of Adam, a reign dominated by sin. That’s where we used to live, but we have had a radical change of address. We have moved from the realm of Adam to the realm of Christ. We have a new identity in Christ.
I was driving home yesterday evening from Evansville and I was coming from the West side of Evansville and somehow I got on the wrong side of the railroad tracks. I kept looking for a way across the tracks, but I couldn’t find my way across the tracks. You might think of our identity in Christ like this. We were once identified with Adam, once on one side of the tracks, living in the realm of Adam, or the neighborhood of Adam. On the other side of the tracks is the realm of Christ. Oh, if we could only move from the neighborhood of Adam to the neighborhood of Christ! Well, that’s what justification does. By our faith in Christ, God declares us righteous. It is as though he picks us up from the realm of Adam and places us “across the tracks” into the new realm of Christ.
So when Paul says in verse 2 that we “died to sin” and we “no longer live in it,” he is not saying Christians no longer battle sin and temptation. He is saying that we have died to our old address across the tracks. We don’t live there anymore. We have moved. We are no longer identified with Adam. We are now identified with Christ. Now this change of address is pictured in baptism.
3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4 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 also should walk in newness of life.
We have some baptisms scheduled this evening. Baptism is a beautiful ordinance, something ordained by our Lord. Baptism is not an option. Paul assumes that every Christian has been baptized. That’s why he uses baptism here to illustrate our new identity in Christ. Baptism pictures this new identity. Baptism by immersion is the physical outward symbol of a spiritual, inward change. Just as Christ died, was buried, and rose from the dead, so every Christian died, was buried, and rose again. We died to sin, died to the old life, and we have been raised with Christ, raised in the power of His resurrection that we may “walk in newness of life.”
In the New Testament baptism occurs almost immediately after faith in Christ. A person first believed in Jesus Christ alone for salvation and then was baptized into water, completely submerged as a picture of their new identity in Christ—death, burial, and resurrection. That picture is so meaningful that Paul writes of baptism here almost as if it occurs at the same time as faith in Christ. But it pictures our new identity in Christ. Remember your new identity. Next:
II. Rejoice in our new Liberty in Christ (5-10)
Beginning in verse 5, Paul writes of our new liberty, our newfound freedom, in Christ. This all comes to us as a result of our union with Christ.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Baptism pictures our having died to the power of sin and our having been raised in the power of Christ’s resurrection. That’s verse 5. Then he says, verse 6, we know that “our old man was crucified with Him.” Our “old man” is who we were in Adam. Our old residence, the old neighborhood.
We died to the old realm so that, again verse 6, “the body of sin might be done away with.” That phrase is better translated, “that sin is rendered powerless.” Sin is no longer rules or reigns in our lives. Sin is no longer our master and we are no longer its slaves. We have died to sin, verse 7, so we are now freed from sin. We are free.
Now you may say, “Well, I don’t feel free! I don’t know what you’re talking about here. I mean, I know I am forgiven and everything, but I don’t feel like I am free from sin. These verses have caused people to feel defeated rather than victorious.
Remember what Paul has in mind here. He is talking about our having changed addresses. We were once living in the realm of Adam and now we’re living in the realm of Christ. We have moved. We have been picked up by God and moved to the new neighborhood across the tracks. So we don’t live over there in the old reign—but—and get this here!—but, the old neighborhood is still there. We have moved, but if we look across the tracks we can still see the old haunt, okay? It’s influence is still there, too. The prince of that old kingdom is still there, too. He lives there. His name is Satan. And he sees you in your new kingdom. He sees you in the new neighborhood across the tracks and he can shout over to you. He tries to influence you. He tries to get you to come back over across the tracks. He will try for the rest of his days to convince you that your move was unnecessary. He’ll shout over to you and do all he can to get you to come back over to the old neighborhood. “Let Adam represent you again! Remember how much fun it was to be in Adam?! Forget about that new Man. The old is better. Come back to the old reign and rule of Adam!” But we have died to that old reign.
Paul tells us that our union with Christ is not only the basis of our forgiveness, but also the basis of our freedom. He writes:
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
Paul is teaching that we may defeat sin and temptation by drawing upon the resurrection power that is available to us. Christians are not only united together in Christ’s death, but we are also united in Christ’s resurrection. We may live in the power that raised Christ from the dead. And so Paul takes us from this point to tells us specifically how we may we do this, how we may successfully battle sin and temptation. Number three:
III. Reign with a new Victory in Christ (11-14)
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Remember that you died to sin. You died to the old realm and you are now living in a new realm. You were once in the realm of Adam and you are now in the realm of Christ. So “reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
To “reckon” means to “consider,” to really think through this truth and apply it in your life. You must do this regularly. Every time you face sin and temptation, you must regularly say, “I am dead to that. That’s the old life. That’s the old realm. That’s the old man. That’s the old neighborhood. I’ve moved. I live somewhere else now. I’m dead to that. And I’m alive in Christ Jesus.” I’ve got to do that over and over and over throughout the day as many times as necessary. Reckon yourself dead indeed to sin. “I’m dead to that.” Verse 12:
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
Don’t let sin reign in your mortal body. You see, there’s a choice involved, Christian. Don’t “let.” You have the freedom to say no. You can choose to not sin. When you were in the old realm, the old neighborhood, you didn’t really have a choice. You were under the rule and reign of Satan. You were hopelessly bound “in Adam.” But God has delivered you and placed you in a new realm, the realm of Christ. You have a new Master now. You are free from the rule and reign of sin so “do not let sin reign (for even a moment!) in your mortal body.”
When the sun goes down in your new neighborhood, when you’re alone and feeling vulnerable, you look over at that old neighborhood, you look across the tracks. There’s your old friend over there. Do you hear the voice of someone shouting over to you? “Come over here,” he pleads. “You don’t need to come for very long. Come on, you deserve it! Just indulge the flesh a little. It’s okay. Come on, everybody does it. You’re only human.”
And you slink across the tracks and you visit the old haunt. You visit the old neighborhood. And all the while, there’s another voice within you, the voice of your new Master. He’s saying, “Don’t do it. You’re dead to this, remember?” But you tune Him out and you cross the tracks—and you sin. That journey can take an hour as you plot out your sin or it can all happen in a moment with the hateful curse of your tongue, but it is still a journey across the tracks. Stay out of that old neighborhood. You don’t belong there anymore.
13 And do not present your members (that is, the parts of your body—eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, sexual organs) as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
So offer the parts of your body not to sin, but to God. That’s what he’s saying and he tells us that we are to do this by continually reckoning ourselves dead to sin.
I want to tell you that there is incredible power in simply saying this, “I’m dead to that.” When you face temptation, respond with, “I’m dead to that.” That’s what it means, “to reckon yourselves dead to sin” and “alive to God.” That’s a very practical way to offer the parts of your body not as instruments of unrighteousness to sin,” but, “as instruments of righteousness to God.” When tempted say, “I’m dead to that” and feel the strength of God to overcome.
It’s not like some magical fix, the power of verbal suggestion, or anything like that. It is, rather, God’s honoring His Word and giving you the same power that raised Christ from the dead, giving you that power to overcome sin and temptation so that you may walk in newness of life. God gives you the grace necessary to overcome sin. He meets you there at the point of your greatest need if you will turn to Him.
I want to challenge you to live that way this week. When you’re faced with temptation of any kind, reply with, “I’m dead to that.” Reckon yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God.
When someone says something hurtful to you, rather than returning evil for evil, say to yourself, “I’m dead to that” and walk away.
When the conversation at the workplace turns worldly and carnal, say to yourself, “I’m dead to that.”
When the TV catches your eye and lures you to cross the tracks and spend a little time indulging your flesh with impure programming say, “I’m dead to that.”
When tempted to pick up that old habit—smoking, drinking, overeating—say, “I’m dead to that.”
When the old feelings of yesterday’s hurts resurface, rather than re-feeling the hurt and becoming bitter and resentful say, “I’m dead to that.”
Guys, when the inappropriately dressed girl saunters by you in her short skirt say, “I’m dead to that.” And when you’re faced with the urge to click on that computer link—knowing full well where it will take you—say, “I’m dead to that.”
Can it really help, just saying the words, “I’m dead to that?” James MacDonald talks about this truth and illustrates it by reminding us how they built a bridge across the gorge at Niagara Falls.
Someone had the great idea of building a bridge across the gorge, but the obvious question was, “How?” The water rushed so violently that architects were at a loss to try to figure out how to begin building. Then someone got a kite and flew it across the gorge. They took that kite and tied a string to it and flew it across the gorge. They got the string across and then attached a cord to it. Then they pulled the cord across. Then they attached a rope and pulled the rope across. Then they attached a chain and pulled the chain across. Then they attached a cable and pulled the cable across. And they built the entire bridge on those mighty cables that started with a flimsy little string.
You may feel that those words “I’m dead to that” are like a flimsy, little string, but if you’ll say those words this week when faced with temptation, you will change. You’ll pull that string across, and you’ll pull that cord across, and you’ll pull that rope across, and you’ll pull that chain across—and you’ll build a life that will be strong and sure for the glory of God.
- Stand for prayer.
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