(I gave this message at Pines Baptist Church, Pembroke Pines on Sunday February 9, 2014.)
Dr. Maurice Irvin, who
was my pastor while I was at student at Nyack College, writes of an attempt he
made at baking a pie. He had seen a beautiful picture of a pecan pie in a
magazine accompanied by a recipe. So after shopping for the ingredients he
attempted to bake the pie. The result of his efforts, however, in his words, was
"a parched pastry" black in color "about the thickness of a
pancake" and as hard as a rock.
He writes, "At that point I looked at the
picture in the magazine of the beautiful pie I was supposed to be making, then
I looked down at the black, shriveled up, rock-hard thing I had produced. I
took my pie out into the backyard and buried it." He continues,
"There have been
times when I have felt like doing the same thing with my life. I have looked at
the pictures in God's Word of what a Christian is supposed to be. Then I have
considered what I am. And the contrast embarrasses me. There must be others who
at times have been disappointed in themselves. The Bible describes a life of
holiness. Ours is marked by impurity. In God's Word the standard is
graciousness, but we are marked by unkindness. We see sweetness there but
bitterness within; love there, selfishness in us; honesty there, lies from us; hope
in Scripture, discouragement in us; loveliness there, lust in our hearts; generosity
there, greed here; victory there, failure here. And such shortcomings make us
feel like taking our lives out and burying them."
Perhaps you as I have
had similar feelings. We are all too conscious of our sin. Perhaps even to the
point of discouragement. Paul addresses the dynamics of this struggle in the
text before us. What Dr. Irvin describes in all too familiar terms is our need of
sanctification. When we are saved that is, at out conversion, we are justified
delivered from the penalty of our sin. But the challenge we now face is our
sanctification. Living a life of holiness set apart to God. Living in victory
over the power of sin in our daily lives.
In the chapters
preceding our text the apostle Paul presents God's plan of salvation for sinful
man. In chapter three he emphatically
declares that every human being is "under sin," (3:8) (ESV) declaring that "None is righteous,
no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together
they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." (3:10-12)
He continues, (3:23a) "for
all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." He then proceeds to
declare the only solution to man's guilt before God is justification by faith
alone. He makes the case for our justification through the death and
resurrection o f Jesus Christ. Chapter four ends with these words, "Jesus
our Lord,...was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our
justification."
He continues in chapter
five, (5:8-9) (ESV) "...but God shows his love for us in that while we
were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been
justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of
God."
So in chapters three
through five, Paul tells us how to be saved. Then in chapters six through eight
he tells us how we are to live after we have been saved. As W. H. Griffith
Thomas has written,
"Union with Christ
carries with it not one, but two results. First of all there is the efficacy of
the Atonement for our guilty past as we share in the merits of Christ's
death."
That's justification. We
are declared righteous in God's sight because the penalty of our sin has been
paid by the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross over 2000 years
ago. Our sin was placed on Him. His righteousness is imputed or credited to our
account. So Paul could write the Corinthians, "For our sake he made him to
be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God." (5:21 ESV)
Dr. Thomas continues, "...secondly,
there is the efficacy of the Resurrection for our unholy present as we share
the power of Christ's life." This is our sanctification, our
"spiritual condition" as we seek to live a holy life. And what Paul
goes on to say in chapter six is that our sanctification, living in victory
over sin, is also the result of our union with Christ in his death and
resurrection. Neal Anderson writes,
"Sin hasn't died
nor is it removed when we receive Christ, but our relationship with sin has
ended and its power to dominate is broken through the believer's crucifixion, resurrection
and righteousness in Christ."
Romans chapter six
outlines for us this wonderful truth. There are three key words that give us
the framework to understand and experience this freedom in Christ. First, the
word "know" found three times, verses three, six and nine. Second, the
word "consider," "count" or "reckon" in verse
eleven. And thirdly, the word "present" or "offer" in verses
twelve and thirteen. As someone has said "Know who
you are. Believe it with all your heart. And yield to God." (J MacArthur)
First of all, Paul
begins with what we need to know. Chapter six begins with this question, (ESV) "What
shall we say, then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? In other
words, having been justified shall we take advantage of God's grace and
forgiveness by continuing to sin? Paul says emphatically, "By no means! "No
Way!" He then asks another question, verse two, "How can we who died
to sin still live in it?" It's a rhetorical question, more of a statement
than a question. You don't expect an answer from a rhetorical question because
the answer is so obvious. And in this case the answer is found in the question
he poses. If you have died to sin how can you continue to live in it? You
cannot be dead and alive to something at the same time.
Before I continue, let
me point out the significance of the word "continue." Paul is not
teaching that the one who is justified will never sin again. That's why he
chose the word "continue." It means "to stay longer," to
"prolong a stay," to "remain on" (Analytical
p. 158)
For example, it is used
of taking up residence in a house. When you move into the house, you remain
there. You decide this is where you will be staying, where you will be living. Paul
is saying, the one who has been justified will not live in sin; will not
continue in sin. John made the same point, in1 john 1:6, (ESV)
"If we say we have
fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the
truth. Again in 1 John 3:6, "No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no
one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him." (ESV)
Neither Paul or John are
saying a believer will never sin again. But they are both saying that a
believer will not live in habitual sin, the key phrases being, "continue
in sin," "walk in darkness," or "keeps on sinning." Here's
Paul's point, If you been saved, justified,
chapters three through five, you cannot continue to have the same relationship with
sin as you had before you were
saved.
There is a warning
implied here. As Dr. Donald Barnhouse has written, "Holiness starts where justification finishes and if
holiness does not start, we have the right to suspect that justification ever
started either."
In other words, when a
sinner is justified he or she is declared righteous in God's sight. That's a
legal transaction. But at the same time there is a transformation that takes
place in the life of the one God has justified, making it possible for them to
have a whole new relationship with sin. Paul put it this way, in 2 Corinthians 5:17,
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation. The old has
passed away; behold, the new has come." (ESV) That's why, for Paul it would be unthinkable for
one who is justified to continue in sin, because of what took place at the
moment of conversion. "We died to sin," verse two. A death took place
at the moment of our conversion. In other words, you are no longer who you used
to be in your relationship to sin. He goes on to explain, as he asks another
question in verse three. "Do you not
know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into
his death?" What was the purpose of our death with Christ? Look at verse
four.
"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."
That is what water baptism
symbolizes. Buried with Christ in His death and resurrected with Christ into a
new life. He continues, verse five, "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."
Notice the words used
by Paul is describing this baptism. Verse three, the believer is "baptized
into Christ Jesus" and "baptized into
his death," verse 5, "united with him in a death,"
and "united with him in a resurrection." (Emphasis mine)
The word translated
"united" means to be "planted together," "grown
together, closely entwined together." (Analytical p. 384) We are planted together with Christ in His
death and His resurrection. John MacArthur,
"We have been immersed into
Christ and when He died, we died. When He was buried, as it were, we were
buried. And when He rose, we rose and everything is different....everything is
different. This is a mystery to be taken by faith by a miracle I can't explain,
by a mysterious divine act of God. When a person believes in Jesus Christ unto
salvation, that person is placed into the death, burial and resurrection of
Christ to die in Him, to be buried in Him and to rise with Him to walk in
newness of life. We therefore live our lives according to verse 4, in a newness
of life that brings glory to the Father...."He continues,
"Planted in His death, in His
burial and blooming in newness of life. Christ's calvary was your calvary and
Christ's Easter was your Easter. To be saved is not an addition, it's a
transformation. It's not getting something new, it's becoming someone new and
it flows from this real union of life with Christ."
What does that new life
look like? Verse six, Paul goes on to say, "For we know that our old self was
crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, (NIV
might be rendered powerless) so that we would no longer be slaves to sin."
There are the three
things we need to know, to stop and remember as we daily confront sin and self
and the world. First, "our old self was crucified with him (Christ),"
verse six. This phrase describes something that "happened to
us." (Stott) We did not crucify the old self it is not something we have
done. Rather our old self was crucified with him. The word translated "old
self" is literally, the "old man." The term refers to the unregenerate
man, who we were in Adam. New English Bible, "man as we once were." Who
we were before we were saved. This "old self" was crucified with Christ
was put to death on the cross, says Paul. A. B. Simpson has written, (Romans
pg. 135)
"When He was
offered up on Calvary, it was not only for our sins, but for our sinfulness. In
Him we were recognized by God as hanging on that cross with Him and dying when
He died, so that His death represents our death, and when we recognize it, appropriate
it and identify ourselves with it, it becomes the same as if we had been
crucified, and our old life had gone out with His."
Baptism symbolizes
death, buried with Christ and raised from the dead with Christ. Verse five, "united
with him in his resurrection." Death, by very definition means the end of
life. Death brings the life of something to an end. In this case the "old
self," the unregenerate man that you were before your conversion. And just
as burial, as someone has said is "the proof of death," (MacArthur)
resurrection means the beginning of something new!
Again, Dr. Simpson is
helpful here. (138-139)
"It is not said
that sin is dead. By no means. Sin is very far from dead. It surrounds us on
every side, like the dark and murky atmosphere, like
an overflowing flood. But we are dead to sin. What is dead? Is it a part of us?
Is it one of our natures that is dead? Is it some principle in us that is dead?
Is it the evil in us that is dead? Nay, Ye are dead, the whole of you. The old
man, as an individual, the person is as if he were not the same person any
more, but had passed out of existence, and another person had been born from
above and dropped right out of heaven to earth instead."
Paul put it this way,
Galatians 2:20. (ESV) "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer
I who live, but Christ who lives in me."
Friends, this is the
very essence of Christianity. We must know this truth if we are to progress in
our sanctification.
Notice secondly then, in
verse six that, the "body of sin" is rendered powerless. What is the
"body of sin"? William Newell writes, (Romans Verse by Verse 92) "The 'body of sin' refers to our
bodies as yet unredeemed, and not delivered from sin's rule..."
The term "body of
sin" refers to the authority of sin or the rule of sin in our lives. Remember
how Paul described the condition of the Ephesians before their conversion to
Christ. Their lives were dominated by sin. Sin was their master. He describes
their condition before coming to Christ, Ephesians 21-3,
"...you were dead
in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of
this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is
now at work in the sons of disobedience -- among whom we all once lived in the
passions [lusts] of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body [flesh] and
the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
(ESV)
Before we are saved the
testimony of Scripture is that we live in bondage to sin. Apart from Christ our
lives are dominated by sin. In other words, before the new birth, sin is our
master. At the end of verse six Paul describes our pre-conversion state as
being a "slave to sin." But, says Paul, that all changes when we come
to Christ. The "body of sin" is rendered powerless. So J. B Phillips
translates it, "let us never forget that our
old selves died with him on the cross that the tyranny of sin over us might be
broken."
As John Stott says, "We
were thus crucified with Christ,...that our sinful nature might be deprived of
its power." Notice Paul does not say that the body of sin is destroyed. Rather
it has been rendered inoperative. It has "been deprived of its strength."
Sin has not been annihilated, but is "robbed of it's power." It's
been "put out of business," as someone has said. So Newell explains
further, "...the 'body of sin' is to cease
to have any power to bring the believer into bondage to sin..."
Friends, we must know
this truth if we are to live a sanctified life. The "old self" is dead
and buried with Christ so that we can walk in newness of life, verse seven, and
the body of sin has been rendered powerless.
Thirdly then, we are no
longer slaves to sin, verses six and seven,
"We know that our
old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought
to nothing, (rendered powerless NIV) so that we would no longer be enslaved to
sin. For one who has died has been freed from sin." (ESV)
Paul uses a very powerful metaphor in describing
the ultimate outcome of what God has done for us with regard to the Christians'
relationship with sin, the metaphor of being set free from slavery. Slavery was
prevalent in his day. Every audience Paul spoke to or wrote to was familiar
with slavery. Slaves were a part of every day life in the Roman empire. Slavery not only spoke
of the loss of individual freedom but of bondage and loss of dignity. The slave
lived in subjugation dominated by and controlled by his owner, living as though
he had no will of his own. That is the imagery used here of the
unbeliever's relationship to sin. The word translated "freed" is the
word "justified." Because we have been united with Christ in his
death and resurrection, we have been set free from slavery of sin. We are no
longer bound by the power of
sin in our bodies.
Remember, Paul is
speaking of what we should know. Do you understand this truth? Do you
understand the power of this truth? Are you living in the power of this truth?
So Paul can repeat in
verse fourteen, "...sin shall no longer be your master." And in verse
eighteen, "You have been set free from sin and become slaves to righteousness." And Paul goes on to describe the irrevocable nature of
this transaction that has taken place. The finality of what was accomplished in
the life of the believer through our death and resurrection with Christ in
verses eight through ten.
"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." (
Let me illustrate it
this way. Let's say you came to the United States as a political refugee from a
foreign country. You had lived under the repression of a communist state. You
suffered economic deprivation. You suffered persecution for what you chose to
believe. You were deprived of certain personal freedoms, free speech, the right
to dissent and so forth. But once you stepped on American soil and were granted
the rights afforded an American citizen you were free from the bondage of an
oppressive, tyrannical state. The communist government that oppressed and
controlled you no longer has any legal right to limit or interfere with the
personal freedoms that you now enjoy under the authority of the United States' Constitution.
Friends, if you are a
believer born again by the Spirit of God you have died with Christ and you have
been united with Him in his resurrection. The penalty for you sins has been
paid. The person you once were, the "old self" has been put to death. Dead and
buried! The "body of sin" has been rendered powerless. The power of
sin has been broken. You are no longer a slave to sin! Friends, do you know
this truth? If you know this truth, are you living in the power of this truth?
This brings us to the
second word that I spoke of earlier. It all starts with what we know. But there
is another essential step. Secondly, Paul says, verse eleven, "So you also
must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus." The
older versions use the word "reckon." Some translate it "count."
Someone has said, (J McArthur) consider can "refer to calculating in the mind, or
reasoning in the mind, or affirming in the mind that something is so...to affirm it as true."
The idea here is to
live in the light of the truth that you have come to know. It is helpful to
point out that while the crucifixion Paul has been speaking of happened only
once in the past, the reckoning or counting happens over and over again. What
we are counting on, the truth we are considering took place once in the past but
you will have to go back and count on it over and over again. John Stott,
"Now 'reckoning'
is not make believe. It is not screwing up our faith to believe something we do
not believe. We are not to pretend that our old nature has died when we know
perfectly well that it has not. We are rather to realize that our old self --
that is our former self-- did die, thus paying the penalty of it sins and
putting an end to its career. So Paul says 'reckon yourselves' (AV), or better
'consider yourselves' (RSV), or better still 'regard yourselves' (NEB), as
being what in fact you are - dead to sin and alive to God.'" He continues,
"Once we realize that our old life has ended --the score settled, the debt
paid, the law satisfied --we shall want to have - nothing more to do with
it."
What happens when we
are tempted? When I find myself tempted by those thoughts that I should not
think? When what I see with my eyes stimulates desires that I should not
entertain? This is when the power of "counting" or "considering
it" comes into play. Again Dr.
Simpson,
"When the old self
seems to return, refuse to recognize it as yourself, and that attitude will
destroy it. When the corpse insists on rising from the grave, and thrusting
itself upon you consciousness, let the wand of faith wave over it and bid it
back to its grave, and it will return to its place in the cemetery of the soul."
Friends, this is the
theological basis, the theological grounds for Paul's promise in 1 Corinthians
10:13. (ESV)
"No temptation has
overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let
you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also
provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
Did you hear what he
said? There will never be a temptation that a believer cannot overcome in
Christ. Provision has been made in Christ for victory over every temptation we
will ever face. That is an astounding statement and promise. The question is, do
we believe it? Or perhaps the more honest question, do we want to believe it?
This brings us to the
third word. First we know the truth. We know who we are in Christ: our
"old self" was crucified with Christ; the "body of sin" is
rendered powerless; we are no longer slaves to sin. Second, we are to
"consider" this truth, "count" on it. Affirm it as being
true. In other words, believe the truth you
have come to know. Take ownership of it. Over and over again, at every point of
temptation, in every time of temptation. But thirdly, we must, present or offer
our self to God, verses twelve through fourteen. (ESV)
"Let not sin
therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. (so that
you obey its evil desires NIV) 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 the law but under grace."
If step one, what we "know"
involves the mind, and step two, "consider" it or affirm it involves
the heart, in other words, believe it, step three, "present", "offer"
or "yield" involves the will.
In verse 12 there is a
"therefore" and a command. The "therefore" connects what he
has just been writing about, with what he is about to say. Paul is saying, for
this reason "Let not sin...reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its
evil desires." Here Paul identifies where the battle will be won or lost. If
we let sin rule our lives we will obey its evil desires. So Paul goes on to say
what we would expect him to say, verse thirteen, "Do not present your
members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness." And then a positive
command, "present yourselves to God and "your members to God as
instruments for righteousness." The word translated
"instruments" is the word "weapons."
Here is what Paul is
saying: We have the choice of offering the parts of our bodies to sin as
weapons of wickedness, or to God as weapons of righteousness. We have the
choice of offering the members of our bodies: our eyes, our ears, our tongues, our
arms and legs, our sexuality, our brains with its thoughts, our hearts with its
emotions, to sin as weapons of wickedness, or to God as weapons of
righteousness.
Paul is reminding us we
are in a spiritual battle that we cannot afford to take lightly. It's like
saying, okay reader, "the balls in your court." "Don't let sin
rule you life!" The process of our sanctification will depend on us making
the right choice, not once, but over and over and over again.Thomas Schreiner in the
English Standard Version Study Bible summarizes it so well.
"The tension
surfaces here between what God has already accomplished and the responsibility
of his people to obey. They are still tempted by desires to sin and must not
let those desires gain control. Each day they must give themselves afresh to
God."
Similarly, Paul wrote
the Philippian church, "...work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his
good pleasure."
God has made provision for
victory over sin but we must choose to take advantage of it. I close with this
word from John MacArthur,
"The whole thing can be summed
up in saying the old self was a slave to sin; the new self is a slave to
righteousness, that's the change. The
old self was in perfect agreement with the fallen flesh, the new self is in
perfect disagreement with the fallen flesh. No more bondage, no more bondage.
Verse 7 sums it up. "For he who has died, is free from sin." When you died in Christ, you're freed from sins tyranny. The controlling
dominating sovereignty of sin has been broken. That's [what] Verse 14 says
'Sin shall not be master over you for you're not any longer under the law, you're
under grace.' So that justified person is not only declared righteous, but set
free from the dominating power of sin. A sanctified person set free to the dominating power of
righteousness."
© James P McGarvey All Rights
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