Paul – author of some great books in the New Testament wrote this in Romans 6:1-14
What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 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. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 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; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting 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. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
For the past few weeks, you’ve been hearing several different speakers, like Tim Gauci who spoke on this tension between what our physical and fleshly nature wants to do versus the things that we are called to do in Christ Jesus.
And a couple of weeks ago, you got to hear Pastor Paul speak on the Evidence of Spiritual Maturity… and today, I want to continue this study by speaking on yet another important topic… and it’s the topic of sin.
The reason that I want to conclude our series on this topic is because of the many Christians, and maybe those in this room, continue to live their lives in sin with no desire to change or to repent…
They live these lives of sin without true repentance. It’s these same Christians who are perverting true Christianity, picking out the things they like in the Bible and tossing out the rest that makes them feel bad.
AND it’s here in this passage today at Romans, where we see an issue that MULTITUDES of Christians wrestle with everyday, and every single day I flip on the television, it seems to get worse!
But before we get into that, our passage today is found in the book of Romans, one of the main reasons that Paul writes to us this book of Romans was because Paul noticed some things about the Roman church, and he’s old-school “blogging” about them – he’s writing about his concerns regarding the Roman Christians.
Paul pulls us aside today in this passage of Romans and gives us several important points! He reveals this key, this road map to eternal life by telling us what a true Christian walk looks like– and it’s because of this very important issue that we are able to conclude that this topic of sin and eternal life, is something that shouldn’t just be important to those of you in this room who proclaim to be Christians, but also for those who do not even believe in God because an understanding of this concept today is what will get you into heaven.
It applies to every single person wanting eternal life! Paul begins chapter 6 by saying,
“So what do we do? Keep on sinning so God can keep on forgiving? I hope not!”
He begins this passage by addressing to us that in no way… NO WAY do we, now that we’re Christians, just because we know that we are forgiven – no way should we continue living on in sin!
And I like how Eugene Peterson words the next verse in this passage saying, “If we’ve left the country where sin is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good?”
Brothers and sisters – we left the lifestyle of sin the moment we became followers of Christ – you know what I mean, the moment where (1)maybe you prayed that prayer asking Christ to come into your heart, or that moment when (2)maybe you were in the church and the Pastor asked you to raise your hand if you wanted to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior – in that moment… we, as Eugene Peterson put it… left the country, or that lifestyle of sin, and even though sin occasionally arises within our lives from time to time, we know that SIN DOES NOT FIT IN, IT DOES NOT BELONG IN OUR LIVES!
Amen?
John 14:21 says this... “If we love him, we will keep his commandments.”
Sin separates us relationally from God – how can we profess to love him if we don’t keep or pursue keeping his commands?
Even as I speak, I am reminded of so many Christians who abuse this by saying they love God, they keep his commands, but they repeatedly sin the same sin over and over again – AND NEVER ONCE SHARED THEIR FAITH – NEVER ONCE SHARED JESUS TO THEIR FRIENDS & FAMILY –
Friends and family who don’t even know that they’re Christian…
IN SHORT, the forgiveness that we receive from Christ isn’t really grace if it’s motivating you or encouraging you to keep on sinning…
On the other end, our love for Christ and the forgiveness we receive from him, should serve as motivation to stop us from sinning.
And it all boils down to how we perceive our relationship with Christ… Which is why from time to time, I’ll talk with several of you about
- different issues
- different problems that arise between
o you and some school friends
o you and your family
o or you and a significant other,
and most if not all times, I’ll pause in the midst of speaking and ask…
“How is your walk with God?”
Because I believe it’s most important that we focus on our relationships with Christ instead of focusing so much on how our sins/struggles make us feel – that’s the heart of the issue.
You see, sin creeps up and takes over our lives when we fail at keeping a consistent relationship, or walk with God. And it’s because of this sin that we start to see issues rising up in our lives – these road bumps or even road blocks in our walk when it comes to family, friends, loved ones, and whoever else…
Brothers and sisters, do you understand what a relationship with God looks like? Going back to the beginning of our passage today, Paul’s rhetorical question (the question that needs no answer), he says, “are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? BY NO MEANS!”
In other words… sin should have no place in your lives, because the moment you feel yourself becoming comfortable in sin is the moment you should start to realize (hopefully) that you are falling away from GOD.
In verse 3 Paul says, “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…”
In other words…
1. When Christ died, believers died in him and with him.
2. When Christ rose, believers were made alive in him.
3. Because of this, believers are commanded to model this (WRITE THIS DOWN): to be dead to sin and alive to God.
“When Christ died, believers died in him and with him”
- Just like it says in verses 5, 6, and 8 of Romans 6:
o (v.5) “For if we have been united with him in death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his…”
o (v.6) “We 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…”
o (v.8) “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.”
- In other words, those that believe in Christ, these Christians are unified with him… dead people don’t automatically pursue sinning, but rather, it’s this pursuit of Godliness, a pursuit towards pleasing God…
“When Christ rose, believers were made alive in him.”
Just like the practice of baptism that we perform within this church – you are dying to your old self and come up, it’s this symbolic representation of your raising up into a new life, a “RENEWED” life.
And the last point “…believers are commanded to become in practice what we are in Christ: dead to sin and alive to God.”
- And it’s this final and last point that I want to spend some time on today talking to you about…
- HOW CAN WE BE OKAY WITH SIN DOMINATING OUR LIVES WHEN PAUL SAYS:
o (v.11) “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
- HOW CAN WE EVEN FATHOM IT EVER BEING OKAY TO LIVE IN SIN WHEN PAUL WRITES:
o (v.13) “Do not present your members (any part of yourselves) to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness”
This, beloved brothers and sisters, is the essence of this series that we’ve been sharing to you…
be dead to sin and alive in Christ..
But we’re so quick to make excuses about our sin – we know exactly what to say and do to get out of addressing our sins.
We keep licking the knife until we realize that… (1) you’re either dead or (2) you realize licking this blade, indulging yourself in sin is getting you no where.
One of my biggest secrets in life comes from Jr. High… and this was no joke – but I’m going to share to you a short lesson that I learned in Jr. High that up until now didn’t realize how much it relates to what we’re talking about today…
But in Jr. High I was a part of an elite club – and this is no joke – we’re not talking little kid stuff here, but this was what all the big boys were doing… but…
I was in the chess club…
And I LOVED CHESS SO MUCH! – sometimes we’d meet at lunch time, sometimes after school.
Chess is so much like life and more importantly reflective of what our walks as Christians can be like – you see, Paul unearths this issue in the Roman Church that although people were claiming to be Christians, they took advantage of their relationships with God by sinning and using sin as an excuse to receive more grace.
And like chess, believers backthen and even now continue to be these great excuse makers, or responders…
Like in chess, someone makes a move, and you respond, and you know all the while that if this challenge presents itself, you respond this way, and if they go this way you go that way… and it’s this back and forth momentum that develops and we become so systematic in our thinking that we come up with these excuses, these defenses, this seemingly robotic lifestyle when it comes to our relationship with Christ.
Until finally you’ve come up with the greatest excuse ever!!!
You keep on justifying the repetitive sins in your life that you start to say
– “I’m forgiven, so I’ll keep on sinning!”
Instead of saying “Oh God I realize that sin tears apart my relationship with you!!!”
Do you get that? Our first inclination as believers shouldn’t be sin – what do I mean by that? I mean that in moments where our integrity is tested, although we may be tempted to sin, we, as believers are always weighing out with the question, “how will this affect my relationship with God?”
Because ultimately– SIN SEPARATES US FROM GOD and whether instantaneously or not, SIN DESTROYS OUR LIVES… so there’s wisdom in what Paul says in this passage of Romans that WE WHO ARE CHRISTIANS SHOULD SIN NO MORE!
Brothers and sisters, believe me when I say this, you may be getting away with sin in your life right now, and God’s allowing it, sin might feel like the best feeling in the world for however long it lasts, but believe me – living a life of sin is like living underneath a flooding rooftop – eventually it’ll catch up to you, eventually the weight of all the sin you’re stacking up there will come crashing down and flooding you to the point of exhaustion –
And in that point, you may or may not be able to see the God who loves you and has been gracious in the midst of it…
So what do you do now? What application can we hope to draw out of this passage today? I mean, can I honestly give you a play by play and say – to live a Godly Christian life FIRST!!!:
1. Stop sinning?
2. Fellowship with those who will encourage you to sin less?
Can I really give you a step by step on how to live out your relationship with God? Or maybe this is the time you start asking yourself the question… “HOW IS MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD DOING?”
Finally, let me close this series with the question: What fruits are you bearing in your life as a Christian right now… be honest to yourself and to God –
are you living a life that displays the fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5? Or are you living a life that goes against your walk and relationship with God?
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