“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united (“planted together” – KJV; i.e., a branch on His vine – John 15) with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master 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 Even so consider (reckon – KJV) yourselves to be 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 lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting (yielding –KJV) the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present (yield) yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart (inner desire versus external rules) to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented (yielded – KJV) your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present (yield) your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. (How is that working for you?) 22 But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life (not just the gift of salvation but the blessing of a life of obedience). 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:1-23)
This week we will look at an overview of this crucial chapter on how the believer is to deal with sin. As I have been studying and preparing for this message from Romans 6, I read many different titles from different commentators that sums up the message in this critical chapter on sanctification. To me this one says it best. Who do you think you are? And the answer needs to come from Scripture, not other people (their expectations and peer pressure) or our own feelings about ourselves (ranging from pride to self-hatred). As some writers have put it, if we don’t know our position in Christ as defined by Scripture it will be difficult to practice or live out our new identity in Christ. Paul has been telling us since Romans 3:21 through chapter 5 that we have been saved by grace through faith and not by works. And that we’re no longer in Adam and under the power of sin but we are now in Christ and free from the power of sin as well as the penalty of sin. This is the gospel which he spoke of early on in Romans 1:16. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation (a saved and a changed life) to everyone who believes…” But what many believers do not realize is that we have to continue to preach the gospel to ourselves so we will not forget who we are in Christ.
We have an example of this both in biblical history and American history. The Jewish people, God’s people, had been in slavery for 430 years in Egypt and then one day they were totally set free. But they had a slave mindset. They had to learn to think and make decisions for themselves and make difficult choices and all the things tha t they hadn’t had to do before because someone else always told them what they had to do.
Likewise when the African-American slaves were emancipated by Lincoln they too had to start thinking like a free man. The Bible says that we were all under the power of sin and the power of Satan and thus we were slaves to sin before we became new creations in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:17) The world, the devil, and the flesh were our “masters” and told us how to think and feel and behave and choose. But now we’re no longer under the power of sin, the world, the devil, and the flesh we no longer have to sin or even want to sin. “For in my inner being I delight in God’s law.” (Romans: 7:22) We see in Romans 3:21- Romans 8 that scripturally speaking salvation has a past tense – Justification; a present tense – Sanctification; and a future tense – Glorification.
Let’s look at the passages in Romans 6 on sanctification (spiritual growth in Christ-likeness) in three ways:
knowing –3 “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?” [“Water baptism is a symbol of the spiritual union of Christ and the believer. When a person trusts Christ, he or she is incorporated into, united to, Jesus Christ, which includes being united to His death. Jesus’ death becomes our death. Christian baptism makes these spiritual realities vivid.” Radmacher, Earl D. ; Allen, Ronald Barclay ; House, H. Wayne: Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary. Nashville : T. Nelson Publishers, 1999, S. Ro 6:1]
“Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.” We do not have two natures per Romans 6 (old man is dead/crucified with Christ) and 2 Cor. 5:17 (new creation/creature) but in our flesh (“sin in my members” – see Romans 7:17-24) – in our mortal bodies, sin remains until we get our new resurrected bodies in heaven. The difference after salvation is that the new I in Christ is no longer under the power of sin (or the penalty of sin) but the presence of sin remains in our physical bodies. Thus we need to “be transformed (by God’s power) by the renewing of our minds” (by our efforts of reading, memorizing, meditating on God’s Word; – see (Psalm 1) so that we will “know” who we are (positionally) in Christ and thus act like (obey/behave) who we are in Jesus. Another way of seeing this is our spirit is made righteous at salvation (our inner man –Rom. 7:22) but our soul (mind, will, and emotions) are being transformed as we learn and obey God’s Word.
“Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.” In the mystery of Jesus “becoming sin” (2 Cor. 5:21) He at that point and time on the cross was under the power and penalty of sin and Satan thought he had Him and then, BOOM – Jesus rose from the dead and broke the power of sin. He has already paid for the penalty of sin when He died. The lyrics from Rock of Ages says it well: “Be of sin the double cure, Save from wrath (paid the penalty for sin) and make me pure (broke the power of sin so we are no longer under its dominion).
This issue relates to our identity in Christ. We have to continue to preach the gospel to ourselves so we will not forget who we are in Christ.
Reckoning – 11” Even so consider (reckon – KJV) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” [“to reckon, count, compute, calculate, count over; to take into account, to make an account of; metaphor: to pass to one’s account, to impute; a thing is reckoned as or to be something, i.e., as availing for or equivalent to something, as having the like force and weight; to number among, reckon with; to reckon or account; to reckon inward, count up or weigh the reasons, to deliberate; by reckoning up all the reasons, to gather or infer; to consider, take into account, weigh, meditate on; to suppose, deem, judge; to determine, purpose, decide; This word deals with reality. If I reckon (logizomai) that my bank book has $25 in it, it has $25 in it. Otherwise I am deceiving myself. This word refers more to fact than supposition or opinion.” http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3049&t=KJV] You can see both the work required and the importance of this step so we will respond to the truth of who we are versus react to the lies of the world, the devil and the flesh. They no longer have power over us but they lie and try to convince us they do (you are too weak so admit it and yield to sin); and they try to trick us through lying to us about the benefits of sin. “Reckoning” is in the moment kind of work whereas “knowing” is stored up knowledge gained over time through continually being in the Word. If this sounds like spiritual work you are correct. But one preacher put it this way: “If believers gave as little thought to their businesses as they do to the gospel (the Scriptures) most of them would be bankrupt.” “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Phil. 4:8)
Faith is a means of grace (God’s unmerited favor and enabling power) and reckons/believes what is true as seen in God’s Word even when our feelings and other people tell us otherwise; e.g., I am dead to sin, meaning that the dominating power of sin over my life has been broken!
YIELDING – “and do not go on presenting (yielding –KJV) the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present (yield) yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16 Do you not know that when you present (yield) yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart (inner desire versus external rules) to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented (yielded – KJV) your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present (yield) your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.” Even Jesus as a Man had to yield His will to His Father’s will in the Garden of Gethsemane. “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matt. 26:39) Since Christ is in us His yielded Spirit is in us and we can call on Him to empower us to yield to God’s will when we feel like we do not want to do so. “For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.” (Heb. 2:18)
There’s another critical issue that relates to sanctification or living out our new lives in Christ and that is the danger of spiritual complacency. This leads to a lack of brokenness, contrition and daily dependence upon the Lord. A key mindset on spiritual growth is our conscious and desperate need for God’s power to enable us to live the life He calls us to live as lived and modeled by our Lord Jesus as a Man (Christlikeness). This applies especially in our relationships as seen in the Great Commandment and Great Commission. On the one hand we enjoy, celebrate and “relax” in our security in God’s unconditional love. But on the other hand, like Paul, we see that being like Jesus is our ultimate goal and our ultimate good and thus we have a passionate desire and make a concerted effort to become more and more like Jesus. “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:12-14) Christlikeness is both the goal (now in this life) and the prize (in the future at the judgment seat of Christ). “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” ― Robert Browning,
But why not be happy with just being saved? What motivations do we have to press on to increasing Christlikeness (spiritual growth/sanctification)?
1) Sin no longer satisfies a true believer. “Everything is meaningless,” says the Teacher, “completely meaningless!” 14 I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.” (Eccl. 1:2, 14) 20 “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death.” (Rom. 6:20-21) How is that (sin) working for you? Although they weren’t agreeing with Paul or the Bible even the Rolling Stones said: “I can’t get no satisfaction” (by sinning). Bad grammar but a good message.
2) God lovingly disciplines us as His sons for sin and we learn to rightly fear the Lord. We even learn to appreciate His discipline as we experience more of the blessings learned through obedience. (Heb. 12:5-11)
3) God built into us a desire for spiritual profit and the rewards at the judgment seat of Christ motivate us. (1 Cor. 3:10-15)
4) But mostly we are motivated by the Lord’s passionate love for us and we want to love Him passionately in return as expressed by the psalmist in Psalm 73:23-28 below:
“Yet I still belong to you;
you hold my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
leading me to a glorious destiny.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart;
he is mine forever.27 Those who desert him will perish,
for you destroy those who abandon you.
28 But as for me, how good it is to be near God!
I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter,
and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do.”
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION AND APPLICATION
1. Who do you think you are? Who answers this question for you? And what is the answer?
2. How do all people have a “slave mentality” until they come to Christ? Who were our three “masters” before we were saved and Who now is our Master as new creatures in Christ?
3. Why do we have to continue to preach the gospel to ourselves? Do you do that and how do you do it?
4. What is the difference between knowing and reckoning?
5. What is the difference between knowing and reckoning and then yielding? Who gives us the power to yield?
6. What are the dangers of spiritual complacency and how can we avoid it?
7. Which of the four motivations for pressing on to more Christlikeness inspires you the most and why? What other motivations inspire you and why?