Set Free From Sin - Romans 6:1-11

1:00But just as often as this heresy appears, it also has a bad cousin that appears along with it. And this is the rejection of the true gospel because of a fear that it would lead to antinomianism. Do you catch that? The rejection of the true gospel for the fear that It would lead to antinomianism. So, yes, we should avoid this heresy, but we should not avoid the true gospel message that we're saved by grace. Luther dealt with this in his day as he's rediscovering the gospel, as he's teaching about it. He has so many opponents, and one of the things that his opponents would say is: if people really believe that gospel message that you're preaching, Luther, if people really believe that they're saved by faith and not by works, well, they're just going to do whatever they want.

2:05You cannot teach that, is what they would tell him. And for many of you, if you have shared the gospel before, maybe you got the same kind of pushback. You know, oh, how convenient for you that you're saved by faith and not by works. How convenient for you that it's all by grace, that there's nothing you need to do to earn salvation. Well, that fear has been around for the whole history of the church and even all the way back to Paul. And in our text today, the Apostle Paul is going to deal with this very pushback against the gospel. He's just said in chapter 5, he said, Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded. All the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So he said, where sin increased, grace abounds all the more. And so that begs the question: well, why not increase sin that grace could just keep abounding to the glory of God? Should we sin so that God can have more glory? He first brought this up in chapter 3. He said, But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come? As some people slanderously charge us with saying, their condemnation is just. And that's where he leaves it in chapter 3. He brings up the question, why not do evil? That good may come? And he leaves it there until he gets to our passage in chapter 6. And in chapter 6, having just said that grace abounds all the more when sin increases, he says this, chapter 6, verse 1. What shall we say then?

4:08Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? How would you answer that question? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Well, Paul gives his answer right away, right? Verse 2, by no means, no way. What a crazy question. Why would you even ask that? No way, by no means. And then for the rest of the text, of our text today, he's going to prove it. Why the answer is no to that question. Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it?

4:59Back in October, we had a guest preacher that came, Steve Doyle. He's the leader of our local Baptist association. And when he came, he preached on this text before I got a chance to get to it. And he focused mainly on the doctrine of our union with Christ, our unity with Christ, that we are in Christ. And I do think that that is the main doctrine that this text is teaching, that when I became a believer, I became in Christ. And so that in Christ, I died with him and was buried and rose again. And I have these blessings. This is actually a truth that we have seen throughout Romans, that I used to be in Adam, like we talked about last week, because of his one act of disobedience. But now I am in Christ because of his one act of obedience.

5:52Well, since Steve focused on that doctrine, today we're going to focus on what Paul is saying about our sin. How do we fight our sin? How are we supposed to think about our sin? What's our new relationship to sin? In Romans chapters 1 through 5, Paul dealt primarily with doctrine. Not that he didn't have anything practical in there, of course, he did, but he dealt primarily with doctrine. He proved that we're all sinners. Every single human who has ever lived is a sinner, except for Jesus. He proved that all of us are sinners, and so all of us need to be justified by faith and not by works.

6:38And Paul has argued that having been justified by faith, now we can have these blessings, these immense blessings that have been poured into our life so that we're no longer only in Adam, but we're also in Christ. We have been plunged into Christ because of his one act of righteousness. So that's Romans 1 through 5. But in Romans 6 through 8, he's still discussing doctrine, but he starts to address questions about practical living. How do we live? How do we think about sin?

7:12How do we live as if all of these things in Romans 1 through 5, if all of those are true, how now do we live? If we've received all these blessings, how do we live in response? If it's true that we reign in life, like we discussed last week. If it's true that we reign in life, how do we live like it? How do we live according to his abundant grace? And so, in our text today, Paul's going to deal with this new relationship with sin that we have. What has changed? Something has drastically changed when you became a believer. And so, rather than saying that we should sin more, that grace may abound, Paul is clear that we should be fighting sin. So, our outline for today is three facts to fight sin. Three facts to fight sin. Look at Romans 6, verses 1 through 11. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we've been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

8:49We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been since Has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Pray with me before we begin. Father, we pray for help with this text. We pray for help to understand it.

9:42We pray for help to apply it, that we would truly consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. We pray that you would help us pay attention this morning, that you'd help us be changed by your word, that you'd help us grow, that you would equip us for the work of the ministry. Help us to understand what's in your word this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Well, the first fact to fight sin is this: I died and rose with Christ.

10:30I died and rose with Christ. Look at verse 1. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? So, Paul's first response to this question seems to almost be saying, you know, how ridiculous. What a crazy question. There's no way the answer to that question would ever be yes. May it never be. Anyone who truly understands the gospel would understand that that is a ridiculous question. If you really know the gospel, then you know that that question doesn't even make sense. It doesn't make sense because of our new desires.

11:25You know, last week we had the privilege of attending Justice and Sarah's wedding, Justice and Sarah Milligan. And I can guarantee you that at the reception for that wedding, Justice wasn't walking around from table to table asking the married men, now, how much time do I have to spend with this lady this week? He's not asking that, right? They're crazy about each other. They just got married. They want to spend as much time together as they can. They have these desires. Someone who's just gotten out of prison. And doesn't ask how soon he can get back into his cell for an overnight visit, right? He's done with that. He doesn't want to go back. It doesn't even make sense.

12:12In the same way, a Christian is given new desires. It's not saying that we never want to sin. Of course, we do want to sin. But I'm saying that in general, we don't desire to stay in that sin. We don't desire for it to be true of our life that we just wallow in sin the rest of our life. We've asked to be saved from that sin. So this question doesn't make sense because of our desires, but the question also doesn't make sense because it contradicts logic. And I think that's where Paul goes moving forward. He says, Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we who died to sin still live in it? How could you keep on living in sin if you died to it? It's impossible.

13:15How can we who died to sin still live in it? But the question is: when did I die to sin? I don't remember doing that. I don't remember signing up to die to sin. Well, Paul says in verse 6, 3. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? For the first time in this passage, Paul tells us something that we should know, that we should know already as believers. Do you not know?

13:53Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized or immersed into Christ were immersed or plunged into his death? That word for immersed is what we transliterate as baptized, but it just means to dip or plunge or immerse in the water. And so I think that as Christians are using this word, of course they're going to remember their own baptism. Of course, that's going to be in the back of their mind. But I think Paul uses it several times throughout the New Testament as an illustration. You know, one time he'll say in 1 Corinthians, he says, and all were baptized. This is all of Israel. All of Israel were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. He's saying they were immersed in Moses and in the law that God gave through Moses. A couple chapters later, Paul says that Christians have been baptized into one body. Listen to this. For in one spirit, we were all baptized into one body. Jews are Greeks, slaves are free, and all were made to drink of one spirit, for the body does not consist of one member, but of many. So, yes, we're all different members, we're different body parts, but we've been immersed into one body, into the same body. In Galatians, Paul uses the illustration in the same way he does in Romans. He says, As many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

15:29So, we were baptized into Christ when we became a believer. And what Paul is saying in our text in Romans 6, in verse 3, he's saying that this means that we have also been immersed into his death. When we became a Christian, when we were baptized into Christ, we were also baptized into his death because we are in him. We are united with him. So that when he died, we died. When he rose, we rose. Listen to this. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. In the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. That's Galatians 2:20. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live by Christ. Christ who lives in me. So when Christ was crucified, you were crucified. You died. If you're a believer.

16:39This cataclysmic, history-altering event that we studied last week, this one act of obedience from Christ, we are united with him in all of it. When he died, we died. Not as some fanciful fiction that we want to make ourselves believe, but in reality. This is our new status. We died because we're united with him. Not only did we die, look at verse 4. We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

17:32You died and rose with Christ. Since we are unified with him, we were buried and we rose again. And just as the glory of the Father rose him up, just as the power of the Father rose him from the grave, so we too can walk in newness of life because of what's happened to us. Imagine somebody who was of a ripe old age. And so their body is frail. They have aches and pains all the time. They've been sick for years.

18:17Well, imagine that that person died and was a believer and was one day given a new resurrection body with no aches and no pains, with no sickness, no possibility of death. It'd be ridiculous to think that that person would long to go back and live in their old body, right? Why would you ever want to trade in this newness of life for what you used to have? You would much rather walk in this new life. It wouldn't even make sense to go back to your old body.

18:59Well, in the same way, it wouldn't make sense for Christians to willingly live a life that is dominated by sin. Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How can we? How can we who died to sin still live in it? I died. There's been this huge change that has happened in my life. I died. I was buried. I rose again to newness of life. It doesn't even make sense to want to. Go back.

19:35The second fact to fight sin is that I am free from sin's dominion. I am free from sin's dominion. I died and rose with Christ, so I am free from sin's dominion. Look at verse 5. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. Paul's saying that this doesn't go halfway. You can't be united in Christ's death and not be united in his resurrection. If you're united with him, it's the whole package. It doesn't go halfway. If we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. So for the second time in this passage, Paul tells us that we ought to know something. There's something that we should be knowing, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. And so the purpose of us being crucified with Christ is that our old self was crucified. Adam self was crucified, and the body of sin was brought to nothing.

21:11What do you think about that? Does this mean that we never sin, that our body of sin was brought to nothing? Is he saying that we never sin? No, he who says he's without sin is a liar. Well, does he mean that our sin nature is gone? That it was our sin nature that was crucified with Christ? No, we're still tempted. We still live with this sin nature. We still sin while we're in these tents. What does it mean then? Because it certainly doesn't feel like my body of sin has been brought to nothing. My old self doesn't feel dead.

22:01Look at verse 6 again. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For the one who has died has been set free from sin. So Paul is saying that we used to be enslaved to sin. We used to be under sin. Dominion. We used to have no choice but to sin. But now that body of sin has been brought to nothing. It used to have total power over you as your master.

22:49But now it has lost that power. It doesn't have power over you anymore. You have been crucified. It has been crucified. You are free. Verse 7: For one who has died has been set free from sin. We're free because we were crucified with Christ. Our old man died. You know, a slave is not a slave eternally. A slave is not a slave eternally. If a slave has a master, and that master is in power over that slave, that has a term limit, right? When this slave dies, this master has no power over that slave anymore.

23:39If you have died, if you are a Christian, then there is nothing your old master can do to you to make you sin. You have died. You have been crucified with Christ, and so you have been sin. Set free from sin, set free from bondage to sin. So, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? No, why would we? That was our old master. Why in the world would we want to go back? Picture that you were a slave in Egypt, let's say, and you had a master, and your master had a vineyard, and this vineyard was on top of a hill, and your master was delusional. And he didn't realize that the soil was rocky and the soil was bad. And so, every day he's making you go and work this vineyard, tend to the vines.

24:48Every day you work hard, but it hardly ever produces any fruit. And when it does produce fruit, the fruit is gross. Even you think it's disgusting. Beyond being delusional, your master is cruel. So he's making you work this vineyard, but every time there's gross fruit, he strikes you. Every time there's no fruit, he strikes you. Every time he gets a chance, he strikes you. But from this bad vineyard on the hill, you can look out and you can see this other vineyard.

25:22And in that vineyard, it's got good soil. And no matter the weather, no matter the time of year, that vineyard. Vineyard always produces good fruit from good land. Well, one day the owner of that vineyard comes to your master and he buys you. He buys you from your old master so that now every day, you know, your dream has come true. You've been longing to work in that vineyard. And now you can. You have a new master. You're working in that wonderful vineyard. Your old master has no power over you. He can't make you do anything. And so every day you're working in this vineyard. It's producing good fruit that you get to eat as a snack, as you work.

26:14You're never beaten. You're never yelled at. You know, do you look back up the hill at your old vineyard and just long to go and work in that rocky soil? No. Do you look back at your old vineyard and long for that disgusting fruit? Do you long for the beatings that you received from your cruel master? No. Do you reason with yourself? Well, my master at this new vineyard, he only makes me work during the days. So the nights I can go back up to that old vineyard and enjoy myself and work in that rocky soil. No.

27:01Ridiculous. Can your old master come and take you back? Can he make you work in that old vineyard? No, he's powerless. You're no longer under his dominion. Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? No. Our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Sin no longer has dominion over me. I'm free from that master. Why would I go back and serve that master? It's ridiculous.

27:51The third fact to fight sin is that I always will be. I always will be. I died and rose with Christ, so I'm free from sin's dominion, and I always will be. Look at verse 8. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all.

28:26But the life he lives, he lives to God. So, Paul is continuing on with this theme of unity in verse 8. He says, Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. It's the same argument he uses in verse 5. If we've been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. But now he's emphasizing this new life that we have with Christ. Since we know that we have died to sin, ending our slavery, since we know that we have died to sin, then we know that now we can also live to him. We can live with him. We can live for him. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, knowing, verse 9, knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. So, for the third time now, Paul tells us something that there's tells us that there's something we ought to know. There's something we ought to know. That since Christ is raised from the dead, he will never die again. He never needs to return to death in his future. Christ never has to fear going through death again. He's done it once for all. It's over. He's conquered death. And so he's free to live to God in verse 10. That's what it says. The death he died, he died to sin once for all. The life he lives, he lives to God. So he died once for all. It's not a perpetual sacrifice like in some other traditions. No, he died once for all, and so now he never needs to die again. In the life he lives, he lives to God. I just want to pause for just a minute and think about how glorious that is, right? We're not just talking about somebody, we're talking about your Savior, the one who holds you fast. He is the one who has died and will never die again. He is the one who is perpetually victorious. So he never needs to fear death, but also you never need to fear that some coup is going to take over heaven, that Christ is going to be toppled, that Satan's power is going to be victorious. It's already all over. Christ died and then he rose again. Death has no hold on him.

31:04Back to our text in verse 10. It says, he died to sin and lives to God. He died to sin, and now he lives to God. What does that mean? He died to sin and lives to God. We'll picture the opposite. We know that it's not saying that Christ died to the Father so that he could live. To sin, we know that Christ did not die to the Father so that he could live to sin. He did not die and then wake up again ready to serve sin for eternity.

31:44No, it's the opposite. He died having never sinned, having rejected sin permanently, dying to the possibility of sin, and he rose to live to God. He died to sin, and now he lives to God. This is part of the knowledge that in verse 9 we're supposed to know, knowing this, and that knowledge is supposed to inform us in verse 8. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. So, just as Christ died to sin and lives to God, and just as we died with him, so we believe that we will also live with him. Our death with Christ, our death was once for all, just like his was. It's over.

32:44And it wasn't just a death freeing us from this slavery to sin. It was also a resurrection leading to the ability to live to God just like Christ does. Now we can live to God forever. Just as death will never again have dominion over Christ, so sin will never again have dominion in your life. There has been a permanent change. Sin can never be your master again. It will never have total control over you again. When you became a believer, that changed forever, for eternity. We're free and we always will be.

33:31So, are believers of the gospel antinomians? Do we reject all boundaries? Do we revel in our sin? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? No. And if we really understand what happened to us when we became a believer, if we really understand that we were united with Christ, so that we were united in his death and resurrection, that we died and rose to newness of life, then that question wouldn't even make sense. Why in the world would we even entertain the thought?

34:17I said at the beginning that Romans 1 through 5 is primarily doctrinal, and Romans 6 through 8 is very practical. And yet, in our text today, Paul says, Has only focused on what we know. He's told us three times that we should know something, that we were baptized into Christ's death when we were baptized into Christ. That our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. That's something we should know.

34:57And that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. That's something we should know. I died and rose with Christ, so I am free from sin's dominion, and I always will be. Paul has equipped us with this knowledge, but there's been no command so far in this passage until we get to verse 11. And the command is this, verse 11, so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

35:35So you also must count yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. That's the command. Consider this to be true about you. We learned what is really true of us in this passage. Even though it might not feel like it's true about us, we learned what is by objective fact. We learned what is. True about us in the command that Paul is giving is that we need to count ourselves, reckon ourselves, consider ourselves dead to sin, consider ourselves alive to God. So it's one thing to know that these things are true of those who are in Christ. It's another to count it to be true about your own soul. That as a believer, these things are true about you. And so when sin is enticing you, or when your old master is calling you back to the bad vineyard, when your old body is calling you back to jump into the grave and give up newness of life, you need to stop and reckon about yourself what is true. You need to remember what is actually true. You need to know the truth about yourself. That's how you fight against sin.

37:07Commenting on this passage, John Stott writes, The major secret of holy living is in the mind. The major secret of holy living is in the mind. You died to sin. You are alive to God. Count that to be true. Reckon. That to be true about yourself. Not that you're believing in some fiction, but the opposite. That you're living according to reality. You've been armed with the truth. These truths are the swords that you use to fight against your sin, enabling us to live to God.

37:55Listen to 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14. For the love of Christ controls us because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore, all have died. And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who for their sake has died and was raised. He's saying that the love of Christ controls us because we've concluded this. That one died for all, therefore, all have died. We died with him.

38:43And because we know that, then we can live for him instead of for ourselves and instead of for our sin. Live according to this reality. That's the first command that Paul gives in this passage. So you also must count yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. Christ Jesus. Paul gives a second command in verse 12. Look at verse 12. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. So if sin is not your master, then don't let it reign over you. That's the second command.

39:17Consider these things to be true about yourself. And second, if sin is not your master, then don't let it reign. That's the second command. The third command, look at verse 13 and 14. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace. So again, if sin isn't your master, then don't present yourself to sin as if it was your master. Instead, present yourself to God, your real master. Live for him.

39:58We'll cover verses 12 through 14 with the next passage, but I just wanted to bring it up that Paul is following all of this doctrine, all of these truths about you and your relationship to your sin with these commands. This is how he is applying what we studied today, that we should count these things true about ourselves, that we should not let our old master reign over us, and that we should not present ourselves to be used by sin. We should present ourselves to be used by God.

40:30So, teenagers, children, when you feel trapped by your sin, if you find it impossible to obey your parents, because they're aggravating you. If you're in Christ, it's not impossible. Sin is no longer your master. You can obey. Young men and women, when lust seizes your heart and it feels impossible to escape out of this lust, if you're in Christ, it's not impossible. Your body of sin has been brought to nothing. It does not have power over you anymore.

41:31Consider this to be true. That's how you fight. Parents, when your children keep making you angry and it feels impossible to be kind and gentle with them, if you're in Christ, it's not impossible. You were crucified. You're not a slave anymore to that sin. You were baptized into his death. You're free from that sin. Husbands and wives, when your spouse has sinned against you and it feels impossible to forgive, if you're in Christ, it's not impossible. You live to God, non-Christians and unbelievers, when you recognize that you're sinful and you wish that you weren't and you want to stop sinning, it is impossible for you.

42:44Sin is still your master, but our master, Jesus Christ, our master invites you to come in love. He invites you in love to come to him and repent of your sins, to trust in his promises, to find total forgiveness and receive new life. Do you wish to be free? Will you confess today? That you're a sinner. Will you come to Christ? I hope that you will. Be free of that wicked master. Be free and come to Christ and pray with me. Father, we're filled with gratitude, we're filled with joy, we're filled with wonder as we consider that we were brought out from under that master.

44:29We remember in our lives the times when we were happy to be dominated by sin in our life, happy to live according to our own selfishness, happy to live in rebellion to you, enjoying our pride and our lust. Wallowing in our sin. And yet, to your glory, you changed us. When we believed in Christ, when we trusted in His promises, when we believed that He died on the cross for sinners, we asked for forgiveness. You changed us. We died.

45:45Our old man was crucified, and we were raised again to new life. Help us, Father, to live like it. Help us to live like it. Help us to stop pretending on our dark days that we're still under sin's dominion. Help us stop pretending like we don't have a way of escape. Help us stop pretending like our old master still has power over us. Help us find joy in war. Walking in newness of life. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.