WITH CHRIST DYING TO LIVE Romans 6:1-14 May 24, 2015 Providence INTRODUCTION: If you could wish for anything, what would it be? Life offers so many options and the world presents so much that is enticing. The advertising industry makes its living trying to create desires in you and a willingness to go after what they promise will fulfill those desires. Whether the promise is good health, whiter teeth, products that make you look and feel successful or cook, adventures that look like fun they all give the illusion that desiring them and having them are worth whatever price you must pay. When we hear people say, I am dying to have or do that! we never take them seriously! Few things are worth dying to have after all, you would be dead and could not benefit from them! But there is something worth dying for and you can only get it by dying! In fact, the ultimate irony is that the only way to live is to die! Rom. 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. All too often, the gospel message is adjusted to suggest that it is not that costly that the message of grace means that you cannot do anything to be saved, so there is no expectation that becoming a Christian will ask anything at all of you! But to follow Christ means first off that you are called to come and die to be crucified with Christ in order to be dead to the old nature so that you may be raised to new life through the power of the resurrection. Dietrich Bonhoeffer: When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ. (The Cost of Discipleship, p7, 47) The big question posed in the beginning of this text is whether grace means that life in Christ costs nothing or at the very most, it is cheap grace that costs Christ everything but costs us nothing. THESIS: When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we die with Him so that we might live with Him and for Him in the new and glorious power of His resurrection. The gospel message is about change transformation new life! Those who have faith in Jesus Christ, who have been declared righteous by His grace because He paid in full the penalty for our sin, we now are made alive with Him through the power of the resurrection! Therefore, we are with Christ and remain in His presence because of this grace in which we stand (5:2). I. WITH CHRIST IN DEATH TO BE WITH HIM IN LIFE --The basic explanation of the new life we have is that by the grace of God, His Son died for our sins paying the penalty we deserved, overcoming the power it held over us. --But beyond just dying, He rose again, defeating death s grip on us and giving everlasting life to those of us whose sin no longer controls our present or our future. A. HAVING BEEN JUSTIFIED BY FAITH, WE ARE WITH CHRIST. Rom. 5:1-2 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 1. We Have Peace With God --Nothing separates us from Him because Christ has made peace for us and we are now with Christ in God because of His mercy and grace in dying for us. Colossians 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
2. We Have Our Place With God 2 Rom. 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand --For now and all eternity, our place has been secured we will be with Him from now on and forever, promised by His unchanging words that He will never leave us or forsake. B. HAVING IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST BY FAITH, WE ARE ALSO IN CHRIST. --As those who are now with Christ, we have to understand that to be true because in FIVE statements in 6:4-8, our lives are connected with Him in such a way that we have a complete share in His resurrected life because we have also shared in His death. 6:4 Buried with Him 6:5 United with Him 6:6 Crucified with Him 6:8 Died with Him 6:8 Live with Him --In other words, Paul makes it clear that we live only because we have identified by faith in the death of Christ so that we might also identify by faith with the resurrection life of Christ. Gal. 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. 1. Grace --Our identity with Christ and our place in Christ have been freely given to us through no merit of our own what our sin destroyed, the grace of God restored so that sin no longer ruins or runs our lives (more later 6:14). 2. Baptism --Is there a way to express this new life, a means by which we can affirm outwardly what has happened inwardly? --God has provided a visual, a meaningful picture, by which we can express in a very significant way the statement of how this new life came to be ours we are to be baptized! Rom. 6:3-5 Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 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. ILLUS. What happens when we baptize someone as Jesus commanded us to do? They publicly take their stand upon the testimony of God s grace in their lives they bear witness to the glorious news that their sin is forgiven and they have new life all because Jesus died for their sins and rose again to give life to all who trust in His name. When we baptize, we immerse each person for two very simple reasons: 1) the New Testament word of baptize is baptw or baptivzw which translated means to dip, immerse, submerge; and 2) the act itself summarizes what has happened buried with Christ in death (as the water pictures the grave) and raise with Christ to new life (as coming forth pictures the resurrection). Those who are baptized make the profound statement, I have identified by faith with Christ in His death for my sins and in His resurrection so that I now have new, eternal life! If you have not been baptized since you believed in Christ, my I ask respectfully Why not? We have regular opportunities for you to do so here Christ tells us to do it the gospel is affirmed in your life and those who witness it it is the right thing to do!! II. WITH CHRIST -- DEAD TO SIN, ALIVE TO GOD --A key concept in this new life gets a lot of attention by Paul that we who are in Christ, have died to sin with Christ.
3 --In 6:1-11 of this passage, Paul uses words to speak of death and dying, being crucified and buried, brought to nothing or done away with 16 times in these verses, he speaks of the death of Christ and the impact of that death on our sin! [2-dead to sin; 4-death, buried; 5-death, the dead; 6-crucified, brought to nothing; 7-died; 8-died with Him; 9- dead, die, death; 10-death, died (2); 11-dead to sin] --If you wonder why, he is answering questions posed in 6:1-2: Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Can those who are in Christ ask such things? Have they really embraced Christ by faith? And have they ever been changed? A. MISSING THE POINT OF GRACE --Those who would ask the question of 6:1 show that they do not understand the grace of Christ at all! --Their perverted logic suggests that since God is going to forgive us no matter what we have done, why not keep right on sinning so that His grace has even more room to operate? ILLUS. That is like saying, In my marriage, I continue to stir up contention by my lousy attitude. But my wife is so kind and gracious, she always forgives me. Therefore, I will try to be even worse and create even more trouble so that she has even more opportunity to show off her loving, forgiving attitude. If you were to hear that, you would rightly conclude that this man has little love and less gratitude for his wife. Instead of choosing to get worse, such demonstrations of grace should result in a resolve to make the need for such grace a rare thing. Because you so willingly and graciously treat me well even when I deserve the opposite, my love for you presses in on my heart and causes me to want to live to please, not take you for granted and keep hurting you! --So Paul answers the question by saying forcefully, By no means! Absolutely not! May it never be! and J.B. Phillips captures the horror in Paul s response: What a ghastly thought! --For those who misrepresent the blessing of God s grace as license to do as you please, their doctrine is exposed and it becomes clear that they are still stuck in a religion based on works instead of a relationship based on grace! Donald Grey Barnhouse points out how different the gospel of grace is from those who would try to suggest that grace means you can get away with anything and God s hands are tied and cannot do anything about it! The two teachings are as different as night and day. The first puts the leverage for living inside the individual; The second puts the leverage in Christ. The first idea is salvation by works; The second is salvation by grace. The first looks at the sins of the individual; The second looks at the death of the Savior. The first argument is based on purely human logic; The second is acceptance of God s revealed Word. Their idea centers the attention on human weakness; Ours fixes the gaze of the believer on the all-sufficient power of God! --So the point of grace is that Jesus death in our place should result in such an overwhelming sense of gratitude, and a full realization of the power of the life of the resurrection that instead of toying with sin, being lured by sin and entertaining the idea of continuing in sin the opposite should be our response!
B. CONSIDERING HIS DEATH AS OUR OWN 4 --How are going to resolve the second question, How can we who died to sin still live in it? --The obvious answer Paul offers is that we cannot, we dare not, we will not but that is possible only as we count ourselves, consider ourselves, as dead to sin, and alive to God OUR MEMORY VERSE for Chapter 6! Romans 6:11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. --What can help us with this how do we consider ourselves to be dead to sin and then live that way? 1. Memorize key portions of Romans 6 and Romans 8 so that you can rehearse the gospel realities taught here. --For example, 6:6-7; 6:11-12; 6:16; 8:1-2 as a starting point so that you can be strengthened with truth when tempted to allow sin to enslave you again. Col. 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly Psalm 119:11 Your word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You 2. Meditate and picture yourself as dead, crucified, and therefore no longer vulnerable to the appeals of sin. ILLUS. As morbid as it may sound, think of a funeral home where your body rests in a casket. Now present some temptation to that dead body and the fact that there will be absolutely no response! Sins of the flesh cannot entice a dead body to lust sins of the eyes cannot tempt a dead body to covet or envy sins of pride cannot gain any traction by appealing to the corpse to be ambitious for power or reputation. All of this comes from considering yourself dead to sin and the life you live is not your own, but Christ living in you and He is definitely not any more interested in the temptations to sin than your old dead nature is!! 3. Surrender to a new law at work in you the law of grace now prevails over the law of sin. ILLUS. Have you ever seen an eagle soaring above the winds of a storm? With little or no effort, the eagle just spreads his wings and allows the law of aerodynamics to prevail over the law of gravity and for hours, he tirelessly rides the currents of the winds and soars! The law of the Spirit of life in Christ has freed you from the heaviness of the law of sin and in Him you also can soar freely above the fray by surrendering to the new life He gives you by His grace! Rom. 8:1-2 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 4. Make no provision for sin in your life by introducing footholds for temptation to drag you back into sin s grip. --Once we have come alive in Christ, we must close ourselves off from the influences and enticements that would cause our downfall. Rom. 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. --Instead of surrounding yourself with the bait of the enemy, you are to put on Christ and be clothed and empowered by His life, fixing your gaze on Him! III. WITH CHRIST -- A NEW MASTER NO LONGER RULED BY SIN --When you are living in the presence of Christ, He is your new Master and sin has to give up the throne it once held. A. SIN MAY STILL BE A POSSIBLE THREAT, BUT NO LONGER REIGNING ON THE THRONE Rom. 6:12, 14 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions... 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
5 --By the power of the cross, sin s chains were broken by the power of the resurrection, sin s claims fall on deaf ears! --Temptations still come, but their power is nullified when you are walking with Christ! B. CHRIST IS BUILDING A NEW YOU WHERE HE WILL LIVE AND REIGN AS MASTER FOREVER. 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. C.S. Lewis: Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You though your were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. (Mere Christianity) --You have a new Master there has been a coup and sin has been ousted from the throne only to be replaced by Jesus Christ! --He has so much more in mind for us than mere forgiveness He aims to rule and reign in resplendent glory and delight us in His presence with inexpressible joy! CONCLUSION: Am I with Christ? Have I warrant to think that I am in Christ? Is my faith in the crucified, resurrected Savior, or in a cheap grace that costs nothing that allows me to think that I can continue in sin that deceives me into thinking I have been saved when in fact I have never died to my sins but insist that I have the right to still live in them? Grace does not mean there is no cost. What it does mean is that Christ bore the cost for you and to have faith in Him is to die with Him, to be crucified with Him so that to resurrected to new life with Him means something (because you have honestly considered yourself dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus 6:11) Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Costly grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered Him up for us. (The Cost of Discipleship, p47) If there has been no transformation in your life if the resurrection power and life of Christ are not reigning in you if the life you live is your own and not Christ living in you you need to back up and take another look have you died to sin? Are you a new creature in Christ? If so, you will join in Paul s answer to the question of 6:1 What a ghastly thought! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (6:2) When we put our faith in Jesus Christ, we die with Him so that we might live with Him and for Him in the new and glorious power of His resurrection. February 9, 2014 Providence Baptist Church David Horner, 2015 Sermon outlines are copyrighted in the event of future publication. They may be used for preaching and teaching purposes but may not be published or sold.