“Spiritual Death & Life and the Practice of Sin”

Five Sermons on Romans 6 – Part 2: “His Death and Life and the Practice of Sin”

TEXT:  Romans 6:5-11

REVIEW

1. Shall we continue in sin: Do you think that fighting hard against sin is part of the Christian life?  Do you think that it is somewhat extreme or fanatical to desire a more solid faith and a more serious pathway of obedience to God’s Word?  This entire chapter presumes an understanding of the grace of God that is consistent with vigorous warfare against our own sin in this present life.  If we are not supposed to be serious about this spiritual warfare, or even concerned about our own spiritual growth, then what sense would there be in Paul enumerating the useful weapons that God has given to us for this battle.  But there is a serious battle for the true Christian, and the five weapons for this battle that Paul enumerates in Romans 6 are gifts of God for the one who resolves that continuing in sin is not an acceptable option.

2. Baptism: The first of these weapons that the Apostle has written of here is baptism.  The follower of Christ who is tempted to live a life of sin should remember the truth of his or her baptism in the thick of spiritual battle, and should consider sin to be inconsistent with the sacrament of baptism.  You have been marked for life.  You should not be continuing in the ways of death.  Because baptism is a sacrament of your union with Christ, it signifies and seals your union with your great Savior, if you are a true child of God.  If you are united with Christ, then you are united with in Him in His life, united with Him in His suffering, united with Him in His death, united with Him in His burial, united with Him in His resurrection, united with Him in His ascension, and even united with Him in His current heavenly reign.  In the verses that follow, Paul focuses upon your union with Christ in two very crucial events: His death and resurrection.  The consideration of this union is a second powerful aid in our fight against sin.

TODAY’S PASSAGE:

TEXT: Romans 6:5-11

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.  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. 

¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1.  United Together in His Death

            If you have been united with Christ, then His death means something real for you.  Somehow you are counted in that death.  Somehow you were together with Him in that death even though you were not yet born.  In the mind of God, the death that Christ died, He died for you.  This means that the penalty against you for your sin has been cancelled.  But it means more than this.  Your “old man” was crucified with Christ.

            What is this old man?  There are two other places in his letters where Paul uses this language.  In Ephesians 4 and Colossians 3 it is very plain that the “old man” has to do with life and actions as those who were once entrenched and entangled in lives of sin.  When Christ was crucified, the old man died, that the body of sin might be done away with.  This has to do with your way of life, your conduct, your deeds.  The old man of sin is dead.  You once walked in the old man’s ways, but he is dead and gone now.  Therefore you need not invite him back into your life.

            You died with Christ.  Think about His death for one moment.  The death He died, He died to sin, once for all time.  He does not die over and over again in some unending cycle of death and resurrection and then death again.  His death is an event of history.  It has been completed, never to happen again.  This can be a powerful thing for you to think about in your struggle with sin, for He who died to sin, died once for all time for your sin.  Your “old man” of sin is dead in Him, and that death is final.

2.  United Together in His Resurrection

            Scattered throughout these verses we find mention of another aspect of our union with Christ.  If you have been united with Christ in His death, then His resurrection also means something real for you.  His death is past.  His life is present, future, and forever.  Christ dies no more.  Death no longer has dominion over Him.  This is something that is shown to be so final in the resurrection of our Lord.  Christ is no longer suffering for your sins today.  He is not eternally on the cross.  He rose from the dead.  He has atoned for your sins and is therefore freed from sin.  The life that Christ lives now, He lives to God the Father.  He does not live to sin.

            You are together with Him in this great victory of life.  Christ lives to serve God.  You also are living to serve God.  You have not yet seen all the fullness of this victory.  You still play with the dead ways of sin, and you still have a mortal body that is subject to decay.  All over America tomorrow, many will visit the graves of loved ones and remember.  But this current age will one day be completed, and the battle that we have against sin and death will be a thing only of the past in every sense of the word.  Apparently, one of the most powerful weapons of spiritual warfare that we can have now, is to recognize that for Christ our head, the sting of His death is over, and the life of His resurrection is forever.

3.  Dead to sin – ALIVE to God.

            In the eleventh verse of this chapter, our final verse this morning, you are called to consider yourselves to be dead indeed to sin even now, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  If you have true faith in Christ, Paul is only asking you to consider yourself as God considers you.  God considers you as dead to sin through the death of Jesus Christ.  God considers you dead to gossip, dead to mean-spiritedness, dead to self-righteousness, dead to rebelliousness, dead to greed, dead to immorality, dead to self-preoccupation, dead to the old man who died in Christ.  Consider yourself dead to the old ugly way of life, if Christ died for you.

            Then consider yourself alive.  God considers you alive to Him through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  If Christ rose again from the dead for you, then you are to consider yourself alive to God.  Not everyone is alive to God.  Many live their lives as if He is not there.  They don’t think that He sees them or hears them.  They don’t seem to think of Him as speaking in any way.  You are not to think that way. You are to consider yourself alive to God, alive to His presence, and yielding yourself daily to His purposes.

APPLICATION:

            The historical pattern for Jesus of Nazareth is very clear.  He died.  He lives never to die again.  Add to that historical pattern the meaning of those bare facts, and here is what you get.  He died to sin.  He lives to God.  If you have faith in Christ, you are united to this Jesus of Nazareth.  This simple pattern of death and life is the right one for you.  Of course it is, because you are together with Him in a way that cannot be broken or stopped.  Therefore the pattern for you is simple.  You are dead to sin.  You are alive to God.  You died.  You live never to die again. 

            Your body may die before your story is over, because the current age that we live in is not yet over.  When this age is over, Jesus of Nazareth will return, and we will see with our eyes what we now know by faith.  We will see that Jesus is alive.  We now know that only by faith.  And we will see a great number with Him, those who are united to Him.  They shall be alive, and we will be alive together with Him and with them forever.  We believe it now, but we will see it then.

If the death of Christ to sin is not real, then you do not need to believe any of this, and you can continue in your old ways and your old patterns of existence.  If the resurrection of Christ to the service of God is not real, then you do not need to believe any of this, and you can return to an old way of life – ignoring the presence of God, and acting as if God has no purpose for your life.  And if there is no real union between Christ and you in His death and resurrection, then you do not need to believe any of this.  If there is no union between Christ and the elect, then you can think about Jesus as an interesting teacher and a good man of history and you can live the way you want to live for your own purposes without any serious thought of Him.

            But Jesus did die.  His body breathed its last.  A man with a spear stabbed his dead body and there was no response.  Another man took Him down from the cross and put His corpse in a tomb – dead.

            And Jesus did rise again.  His body breathed again.  He ate fish.  His friends saw Him and heard Him again, even touched Him again – alive.  He is never going back to the cross.  He is never going to die again.

            And here’s the toughest thing for you to believe.  It takes a miracle.  His death is for you.  His life now is for you, because you are united with Him in the mind of God, and that’s what really matters.  

Now with all of that firmly in your mind this morning, fight the good fight that He has ordained for you.  Lift high the banner of His death, His resurrected life, and your union with Him in these things.  By the strength of this strong weapon, consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.