Romans 6:1-11 “Dead to Sin, But Alive to God”
Romans • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsPaul opens the sanctification section of his epistle beginning in Chapter 6, and addresses how in our unification with Christ believers are dead to sin, and alive to God.
Notes
Transcript
Good Morning Calvary Chapel Lake City!
We have entered into a new season with our now 45th and 47th President of the United States Donald Trump.
I enjoyed watching the inauguration… and texting the Men’s Bible study as we watched.
Not that Trump is our Savior, but I’m excited for the next four years… many prayers have been answered… and we need to continue TO pray… individually and corporately.
During our night of Prayer & Worship on the 29th… we for sure will be lifting up our nation and President in prayer…
I hope you can join us.
Before we get into our message today… Ethan and available Elders can you come up on stage?
If you don’t know… Ethan is my eldest son… and has been home for the past six weeks…
And, he is departing this Tuesday to return to Calvary Bible Institute in Peru, South America to continue in his studies.
So, we are going to pray over him to send him off right.
As we lay hands on him please extend your hands as well.
Let’s turn now in our Bibles to the Book of Romans 6. Paul’s ‘great treatise on the Gospel.’ Romans 6:1-11 today.
Romans can be outlined in 5 words… Condemnation, Justification, Sanctification, Vindication, and Application.
Today… we enter the third section of this epistle… this letter by Paul… focused on sanctification.
Can you imagine if Paul just ended his letter concluding with justification… and the benefits of justification… and as he wrote in V20 “… where sin abounded, grace abounded much more...” ?
His readers would be left with much to wonder about… namely if living in sin was acceptable before God.
In various portions of Paul’s letter… Paul anticipated questions and objections from his readers…
And, as we move to Chapter 6… Paul now addresses the mistaken notion that just because we stand justified before God… living a sinful lifestyle is NOT justifiable.
This Sanctification section of Paul’s epistle is MORE good news on top of the already Good News of Justification… because in Sanctification… we don’t have to live as we used to.
There’s a great misperception in culture… that practicing sin is a freedom and a pleasure… a right if you will… that people should be able to express without judgment.
The problem is practicing sin is not freedom… it’s bondage.
Sin leads to slavery…
Thus, Christ delivers us from the power of sin…
We’ll see today that Sanctification is freedom from sin.
We’ll read today the words “we should no longer be slaves of sin”… “freed from sin”… “sin shall not have dominion over you”…
And, “Dead to Sin, But Alive to God”… which is our message title today…
And… really… really good news.
Praise God for that good work He is doing in us!
Let’s Pray!
In reverence for God’s word, please stand as I read our passage today.
Romans 6:1-11 “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? 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.
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.”
Praise God for His word! Please be seated.
Before we get into these verse… since we are moving from Paul’s emphasis on ‘justification’ to ‘sanctification’… I’d like to take a moment to define these terms.
I sometimes make the mistake of assuming we all know what these important theological terms mean, so let me not make that mistake today.
When you think of Salvation as past, present and future…
Assuming you’re a saved believer…
Justification happened in the past…
Sanctification is our present… the… “You Are Here” dot on the map of our lives…
… and glorification is yet future… what awaits you as you step OUT OF physical life and step INTO eternal life.
Justification is the legal act by which God declares us as righteous… even though we are in a sinning state.
It’s deliverance from the penalty of sin… a past action for all believers… accomplished by Christ on the cross and our faith in Him.
By contrast, Sanctification is not when God declares us as righteous… rather it is the process that happens during our entire Christian life where God is making us righteous.
It’s deliverance from the power of sin… it’s the continual process where God is conforming us into the image of His Son… in other words He is making us Christ-like by the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives… and it’s observable… there is victory over the flesh.
When you come to Christ in faith… you come in such a state that is counter to God… and God loves you too much to leave you in that state.
And, this is grace. So often Christians only apply the grace of God to His forgiveness of our sins… which is true.
BUT, grace is also extended by God in that He not only forgives our sins, but He gives us power to have victory over sin. Grace is multi-faceted.
Grace is not in league with sin… it stands opposed to sin… and does not justify living in a sinful lifestyle.
Jesus didn’t only come into the world to die for your sin… only to leave you powerless to the effects of sin in life.
That would be an incomplete salvation.
Jesus saved us from the judicial punishment of sin in justification…
… we are presently being saved from sin’s reign over our lives… freed from the power of sin in order to bear fruit to holy Christian living (Sanctification)…
… and when we transfer our residence to heaven… sin will be altogether eliminated (glorification).
That’s a complete salvation.
Keep in mind also… as we get into this Chapter… that when Paul originally wrote this letter, there were no chapter and verse breaks… chapters and verses were added sometime later to help us navigate the word of God… and we do appreciate being about to reference a specific book, chapter and verse… like John 3:16 and to be on the same page with others.
But… we also need to be aware that the original flow of thought in Bible books often bleed over into the next chapter or segment.
In other words, what Paul is writing here in Chapter 6 is not isolated from Chapter 5…
And, as already mentioned… Paul spoke about abounding grace, but not as an excuse to sin… which is what he is addressing now here in V1 of Chapter 6.
And, if you recall… Paul had… even back in Chapter 3… already addressed similar faulty conclusions…
In Chapter 3, Paul discussed how we all are condemned before God apart from Christ… Paul anticipated… addressed… and rebuked… a different objection… a different justification to sin…
Paul wrote this thought of an objector in Romans 3:7-8 “For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?
So… that’s twisted thinking…
“Why am I judged as a sinner if I lie? Doesn’t that just prove God is true and bring Him glory?”
Therefore, “The more we sin, the better it is!”
Don’t test God. Don’t justify sin. Don’t take advantage of Grace.
In Romans 3… Paul barely addressed this…
… except to say that some were slandering him claiming he justified sin… which he didn’t.
And, to say, “Their condemnation is just.”
In Rom 3 the context was unbelievers… and Paul didn’t feel led to put much ink to the paper to address this depraved thought process.
But, now… in Romans 6… the context is Believers…
Back in Rom 5:1 Paul wrote, “…having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ...”
“Having been justified...” as in it already happened.
So, now… this information we soak in today is rich with information for us to know about Christian living.
So, V1… “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”
Again… these two questions are presented as coming from someone Paul anticipates allowing their mind to wonder down the wrong path…
“Well if God’s grace abounds… then it doesn’t matter if I live a life of habitual sin… because God’s grace will overflow my sin.”
The word “continue” in V1 means “to stay on; to remain; to persevere.”
Paul is clearly speaking about the practice of habitual sin…
Not an isolated event of sin whereby a believer confesses and is cleansed of unrighteousness.
But, a lifestyle characterized by sin…
“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”
Seems like a ridiculous hypothetical question, but peer out at Christendom… and you’ll observe many who claim Christ… and yet march to the beat of the drum of sin.
Paul emphatically answers the question of V1 in V2 replying “Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”
The phrase “certainly not” is used 15x in Bible… 13x by Paul… a favorite phrase of his…
10x he uses this phrase in Romans alone…
If “Certainly not!” is not strong enough for you…
Other translations read…
“By no means!”… “God forbid!”… “Heaven forbid!”
“Absolutely not!”… “Perish the thought!”
And if none of those get the point across… the God’s Word Translation renders V2 “That’s unthinkable!”
Reminds me of The Princess Bride… “Inconceivable!”
And… it is! BECAUSE… how could we live in habitual sin… without repentance and confession… knowing that we died to sin?
We “died to sin?” What does that mean?
Well… what does it mean to die?
In this context, Bill Mounce define death as “to die to a thing by renunciation or utter separation.”
Death here speaks about separation… but NOT extinction.
In this lifetime… and after our new birth… after faith in Christ and justification…
We died to sin… there was a separation from sin.
The relationship we had with sin… our acceptance of it… and it’s acceptance of us as it’s slave…
The relationship has permanently changed.
But, there was not an extinction from the presence of sin…
We do not live a life of sinless perfectionism… Not yet… not in this life… not until glory.
In glorification the presence of sin is abolished.
But now… even being filled with the Holy Spirit, you have the potential to sin… and to grieve the Holy Spirit.
Even if you are Baptized with the Holy Spirit… living a Spirit empowered life to be a powerful witness for Jesus…
You could still sin. After Peter was baptized with the Holy Spirit… Paul later rebuked Peter for showing favoritism to Jews over Gentiles (Gal 2).
That was wrong. But habitual sin did not reign in his life. He was dead to sin.
As are you. For me… for many of you… at one time we walked in sin with full acceptance.
With no thought that it was wrong… or at least not wrong enough to stop…
But, in Christ we cannot continue in sin. Our eyes have been open… the pleasure and lack of conviction we felt in sinning… that’s a thing of the past.
We are dead to sin. We can no longer live in it.
There’s a new relationship… a far superior and loving relationship now… that with Christ… we are united to Him…
Look at V3 “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”
This is information we should know… in fact Paul uses three different words for “know” in this passage today… to emphasize the importance of thinking related to living a victorious Christian life.
V3 “not know”… one word in Gk… agnoeō- which means to be ignorant… to have no knowledge.
V6 we read “knowing” Gk. ginōskō “to know by experience” implying a deep understanding between the knower and what is known.
And, V9 “knowing” Gk. ĕidō, i´-do “intuitive knowledge”…
The Holy Spirit in this chapter does not want you to be ignorant about sin… and He wants you to KNOW… by experience and intuitively that sin has no more power over us than death had over Jesus.
Death did not have dominion over Jesus (V9) … and sin does not have dominion over you (V14).
NOT as a saved believer in Jesus Christ.
KNOWING these things is important… it should impact your life…
If we don’t know that Jesus gave us power over sin… then it will be impossible for us to “reckon ourselves dead to sin” (v11)…
… without understanding we cannot present ourselves completely to God as instruments of righteousness (V13)…
… with understanding we live no longer a slave to sin, but a slave to righteousness for holiness… as we’ll see next week in vv 18-19.
In relation to knowing… I like how Pastor Damien Kyle put it… “In terms of the victorious Christian life… Paul begins with our thinking… everything is won or lost in the realm of the mind…What we think is vital in overcoming anything in life. It’s important that we know and believe the truth about the victorious Christian life to then enter into it and experience it. It begins with knowing. It begins with thinking.”
I was talking with a brother here at church earlier in the week and we were reflecting on this… and reflecting on the absence of Paul addressing specific behaviors in this chapter.
In several of Paul’s writings… 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 Timothy … Paul lists out a number of behaviors that are sinful behaviors.
But, this chapter in Romans doesn’t focus on the behavior… it focuses on the mind.
If there is a renewing of the mind… the way we think about sin changes and then we walk victoriously.
I like this comparison… in the medical realm, so often Dr’s treat the symptom of an ailment with a prescription.
But, the symptom is NOT the root cause necessarily. Typically there is a deeper issue.
And neither is sinful behavior necessarily the root issue… rather it’s a symptom… it’s a manifestation of what is in our heart… of what is in our mind.
Prior to justification… the key sin in our life is the unpardonable sin… failure to accept… therefore to reject Jesus as Lord and Savior of our live.
After justification… continued behavioral symptoms of sin will be dealt with.
Lust in the mind is a root issue that leads to adultery in the flesh for example.
But, if our mind is sanctified and transformed to think differently about lust… we flee lust… we don’t pursue it.
When Jesus began His public ministry… do you remember His first words recorded?
They were the same words John the Baptist used… highlighting the continuity between their message… and the continuity between the Old and New Testament.
Remember the words? “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt 4:17)
What is repentance? By def. is it primarily a change of behavior… or a change of thinking?
It’s a change of thinking primarily… which will result in a change of behavior.
NASB Dictionary defines repent Gk. mĕtanŏĕō as “to change one’s mind or purpose.”
Strong’s def. “to think differently.”
Mounce defines repent as “to undergo a change in frame of mind and feeling; to make a change of principle and practice.”
Many short change repentance thinking of it only as “turning from sin.”
Repentance is far deeper than that. It peers far deeper than simply observing our external behaviors and demanding we forsake sin.
Repentance is not a prescription to treat a symptom.
Repentance looks into our mind… it looks at our very thoughts, and tells us there is a root issue that needs addressed.
At our core there is a sin that needs dealt with… an unpardonable sin… we must change our mind from disbelief to belief in Jesus… making us justified before God.
God doesn’t require that we clean ourselves up externally forsaking every sin… and being perfect before we come to Him.
That’s a hill too steep to climb… from the lowly sinner on the street… to the self-righteous in their high tower.
That would be salvation attained by works… and that is no salvation at all.
Repentance is NOT a work we do to earn salvation…
One scholar wrote, “All of salvation, including repentance and faith, is a result of God drawing us, opening our eyes, and changing our hearts. God’s longsuffering leads us to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), as does His kindness (Romans 2:4).”
Praise God that we can come to Jesus just as we are.
But, also know that God loves us too much to leave us in that state… and so He sanctifies us… and we continue to repent… we continue to change our mind… NOW about sin… and as the root issues is addressed… the behavioral symptoms decrease.
I’d love to say sin disappears, but it does not… sin certainly begins to dissipate… and then at the point of physical death… sin completely vanishes… as we step into glory.
And, while repentance is not a work to earn salvation… repentance unto salvation does result in good works.
The change of mind results in a change of action… a course correction if you will.
John the Baptist in Matt 3:8 declared, “Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance...”
The person who come to Jesus in faith… is set on the path to repent also of sin and there will be an evidence of a changed life.
When James addressed “dead faith” in James 2… the context is not being righteous before God. It’s not a justification passage.
Jam 2:18 “Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.”
That’s not works based righteousness. That’s not earning salvation by works.
James highlights that because of our faith… works are an outflow… and the people around us observe this change and we stand justified before them.
Take Zacchaeus for example… he was a chief tax collector who sided with Rome, the enemy of his people… and he charged excessive taxes stealing from his people.
And, then he encounters Jesus. As Jesus comes into his house to dine… Zacchaeus “received Him joyfully”…
And, we read in Luke 19:8–10 “Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, [that’s repentance… a change of mind… Jesus is his Lord… this is a faith profession] I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” [and there’s the change of action] 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham [a reference to Zacchaeus’ faith]; 10 for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.””
This is repentance. First, faith in Christ… then a change in behavior.
Biblical repentance is starts with changing your mind about Christ… receive Him as Lord and Savior…
No longer is He to be rejected, mocked or disregarded.
And with this… repentance towards sin comes. Sin no longer has power… and it no longer brings pleasure.
Sin can become so muted that it has no voice in our life… it becomes powerless… as we are freed from it’s grip.
I’ve seen this in my own life… early in my walk (back in the year 2000)… there was a change in how I viewed women and relationships…
Casual relationships lost their appeal… in fact they became a burden.
I remember praying to God and repenting… ‘Father, forgive me. I’m letting go of pursuing women to pursue You alone.’
I was being sanctified. Freed from the power of sin.
Years later… my view on alcohol changed… again… I was delivered from it’s clutches.
Now… with all that established, look back at V3 “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”
Water Baptism is an ordinance whereby a believer identifies with the death and resurrection of Christ.
We are not baptized to be saved… we get baptized because we are saved.
If you’ve never been baptized, you should take that step.
In Water Baptism, one is fully immersed in water…
In V3, being “baptized into Christ” is a full immersion into Christ…
You faith in Jesus Christ puts you in union with Christ.
And, just as He died… we die too. We are baptized into His death.
We put to death the old man of flesh (V6)… as we go into the water… and then we come out of the water resurrected if you will… walking spiritually in life.
When I baptize a person, I recognize that some of you need more cleansing then other… therefore, I reserve the right to hold you under the water as long as I deem necessary.
That’s a joke. In reality I’m a quick dunker. I’ve heard stories about Pastor Chuck Smith though… that he put the person under the water… AND THEN prayed.
Can you imagine? I do hope people knew what to expect and that they took a nice big breath.
Continuing this thought and now adding the image of burial, Paul writes in V4 “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death...”
And, so Paul confirms there is a link between baptism and burial… baptism is a beautiful illustration… a visual demonstration again of our union with Christ being buried in the grave…
As He was laid in the grave… so too do we enter the waters of baptism symbolically putting to death our old life… our life in Adam…
Continuing in V4 “… that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father [by His glorious power}, even so we also should walk in newness of life.”
The Father raised the Son… resurrected Him in full acceptance of His sacrifice…
Jesus’ death satisfied God’s wrath on sin… and resurrection is testimony of this acceptance.
And, since we are in union with Christ through faith… we too are raised “in newness of life.”
Just as God raised Jesus from the grave… God raises us from deadness in life… He gives us power over sin…
Therefore, we walk… we should live and carry ourselves in victory over death.
There should be an evidence of change… in what we do… in what we choose NOT to do…
Notice the word “should” in V4…
On one hand… we read “we should walk in newness of life” and can say we should or we might walk that way, but we don’t always. We drift… we stumble… praise God we are not hopeless and His Spirit guides us back to the right path.
What’s interesting thought… it the word “should” or “might” is not in the original Greek.
I’m not sure why it’s not italicized because there’s no Greek word for “should.”
As God separates us from the power of sin… He gives us a new life… and day by day we come closer to resembling His Son… this is the continued work of the Holy Spirit in Sanctification.
Our walk is an evidence of this reality… and only realized as one is united to Christ.
I like how Paul puts in in 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”
I like how Paul presents these truths with confidence and certainty.
And, know this… if you are in Christ and you go back to the old life of sin… don’t expect it to be the same as it was before Christ.
It won’t be… the former relationship you had with sin… the former conditions to walk in sin have passed out of existence.
A new birth has taken place… a new creation has been created in Christ.
There is now discontinuity between the old life and the new…
Shall we continue in sin...? Certainly not!
Now… moving on to V5… there are more things to know… “know” is mentioned again in vv 6 & 9… and in this next section from vv 5-11… it would seem Paul wants his readers to know…
… there are certain realizations and attitudes for believers to understand about sanctification.
vv 5-6 “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.”
The way this reads “For if we”… could be rendered “For since we...”
The NLT simply reads, “Since we have been united with Him in death, we will also be raised to life as He was.”
I would underline the words “united together” as they testify of the union we have with Christ… that I spoke of previously.
Paul is not repeating himself in these verses uselessly… but building to a point…
In our union with Christ’s death and resurrection…
We KNOW… “knowing this” V6… there is a certainty we hold… which should be a tremendous comfort to us…
… that our old man was crucified with Him.
I find this interesting… our “old man” is our old man in Adam… who we were before Christ… the person who lived in and perhaps even lived FOR sin…
Eph 4:22 speaks about the former conduct of the old man… which is described as “corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.”
Col 3:8-10 provides a list and this instruction “… put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him…”
We read a list like this and if we are honest… there are times we are guilty at times of these…
That’s not the point of this verse… Christian sinless perfectionism is not attainable…
John wrote in 1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”
Thus, in the following verse he gave the remedy for WHEN we sin… 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
So, as Christians we humble our hearts before the Lord and confess our sins… and because Jesus paid for our sins on the cross.… God is faithful to forgive and cleanse us from not being right with Him.
Our old man, in contrast, had habits… one scholar titled them “repulsive habits- anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language- [that] do not fit or suit Christians.”
If you observe a professing Christian practicing and justifying sinful behaviors… abusing God’s grace… a red flag should go up…
I’m not sure where their heart is, but they may be living carnally (1 Cor 3:1-4)… or they may not have truly understood the Gospel… they may not be saved.
Difficult to say. Regardless… the remedy is the same. They need Jesus. They need the Gospel preached to them.
They need to understand that Jesus died for those sins… and as we place our faith in Him… not only are we forgiven, but we need not walk in those sins any longer.
Paul instructed the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:17 “This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind...”
In that verse notice… Paul references the “futility of their mind”… in the Col 3:10 verse Paul referenced the new man is “renewed in knowledge...”
Again… taking us to the importance of yielding to the Holy Spirit’s guidance to change our mind…
We agree in repentance… a change of mind… and He in sanctification… renews our mind.
Going back to V6… as we are united with Christ… in death and resurrection… we know that “our old man was crucified with Him”…
I find this fascinating because crucifixion was Rome’s death penalty for criminals of the worst sort.
Crucifixion was so torturous that it was illegal to crucify Roman citizens.
Our old man is likened to the most dreadful of criminals…
Jesus was innocent and still they crucified Him this way, but that was fitting for He took on the sin of the world… and our sin was deserving of crucifixion.
Finishing V6… what was the purpose of “our old man” being “crucified with Him”?
“… that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.”
Our bodies when practicing sin become a vehicle… a means by which sin is practiced.
God purposes in saving you to destroy the old man and the body of sin… to bring sin to nothing… for sin to no longer dominate us… for sin to be rendered powerless…
So we are not longer enslaved by and serving sin.
Sin is a cruel master to serve. It makes you it’s slave.
Slave means “to be in slavery or subjection, bondage.”
Serving sin ages you quickly. It makes you a shell of who God intends for you to be. It robs you of your confidence. It leads you away from your God.
Thus, almost as a battle cry, Paul declares in V6 “the body of sin must be done away with...”
Spurgeon said, “I may say of our sins what a Scottish officer said to his soldiers: “My lads, there are the enemy! Kill them, or they will kill you.” And so must I say of all sins. There they are! Destroy them, or they will destroy you.”
Again Spurgeon said, “Christian, here is your practical lesson: Fight with your sins! Hack them in pieces, as Samuel did Agag. Let not one of them escape. Take them as Elijah took the prophets of Baal—hew them in pieces before the Lord. Revenge the death of Christ on your sins, but keep to Christ’s cross for power to do it.”
Playing with sin… and allowing it back in your life is not a game.
Sin desires to ensnare and destroy you. It approaches as harmless, but it desires everything from you… and given the opportunity it will take everything it can.
Put to death the old man… crucify Him… and as you do…
V7 “For he who has died has been freed from sin.”
In death you are free. You are re-born spiritually… you are united with Christ… you are freed from sin.
Freed in Gk. means “to declare righteous”… it’s used 40x in the New Testament… and it’s the same Greek word typically translated “justified.”
Not surprising it’s a word used frequently in Romans and Galatians.
In justification… we are free from the penalty of sin…
And, again the context of V7… in sanctification… we are free from the power of sin.
We are free from the hold of sin.
Continuing on… in vv 8-10 “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ...”
Our union with Christ is still in view here…
One one side of the coin we died with Him…
On the other side, we believer we live with Him…
And, when God gives you eternal life… it is credited to your account now.
Now you live… freed from the reign of sin which leads to death (Rom 6:23, Jam 1:15)… and you never stop living… physical death just passes believers to eternal life.
V9 “… knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.”
We know… we are confident that Jesus died and rose again…
Death held Jesus for three days, but could not keep Him because death only has the right to hold the sinful… and Jesus was sinless.
In Acts 2:24 Peter preached, “… whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.”
The resurrection proved the Father accepted His perfect sinless sacrifice… dealing with the issue of sin once for all.
1 Cor 15:6 declares post resurrection, “He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once.” That’s a lot of eye witnesses… a healthy number beyond what any court would require today for eye witness testimony.
Upon resurrection, Jesus was in a glorified body… and ascended to heaven… where He is presently alive… seated at the right hand of the Father…
He defeated death. Death has no dominion or mastery or jurisdiction over Him.
V10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”
He died to sin “once for all”… His one death some 2,000 years ago was for all sin… and for all people who place their faith in Him.
And, how many times can one jam the words”death”, “died”, “life” and “live” into one sentence… Paul does a good job here.
In Rev 1:18 Jesus confirmed He is alive, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”
Not only is He alive, but He holds the keys. The holder of the keys has authority over the door.
If you hold the keys to a house or a car… you have access… you enter properly without breaking in.
Jesus has the keys… the authority over hell and death.
He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. (Jn 14:6)
And, just as Jesus “lives to God”… so too should we.
God granted us eternal life and freedom from the power of sin… NOT to live however we please apart from Him, but to live to God… and for His glory.
In our closing verses… with much established about our sanctification… and what we know about sin and the freedom we now have over sin…
Paul now gives some words of application… seen through the command to reckon.
V11 “Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If you’re not reading from New King James or King James… your Bible doesn’t say “reckon”… it reads “consider.”
And, you’re missing out. “Reckon” is so much more fun.
It’s like Paul just got Southern on us. “Reckon yourselves to be dead.”
He must be from Southern Tarsus.
Reckon is an accounting term meaning “to count, calculate.”
It’s the same Greek word logizomai… translated elsewhere as “imputed or accounted.” We’ve saw this word quite a bit in Romans 4 (imputed righteousness).
But here Paul commands (reckon is an imperative)… for us… like Christ… to be “dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Paul made his case in the previous ten verses and now he makes his appeal… “Therefore… do it.”
Right now… whatever sin might be in your life that you know needs to go… and whatever sins might creep into your life…
Consider yourself fully dead to that which Jesus died for.
He is your Lord… NOT sin.
He is your Christ… your Messiah… your Savior… look to Him for freedom.
Be dead to sin… give it no place in your life. It has no power over you.
For you are alive… alive to God through Christ Jesus.
And, all the saints said… “Amen!”
We are going to wrap up there… worship team please come.
Easily the next three verses… vv 12-14 would fit nicely into this message, so I encourage you to read those verses today.
But, we will expound them next week and finish out chapter 6 as well. Read Ahead.
Let’s Pray!
If you need prayer for anything… please come forward as our prayer team comes forward.
Maybe today is a day to deal with something that has a grip on your life.
Maybe as I was preaching, something came to mind that doesn’t sit well with you… and certainly not with God’s Holy Spirit in you.
You desire to walk in newness of life. If that is your prayer… let us pray with you today.
Believers… God bless you in your week ahead… continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
