Are We to Continue in Sin So that Grace Might Increase?

We return with me to Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 6. We have been looking in the book of Romans as the first four chapters, the first main section of this book is about justification by faith alone, how we have acceptance with God, not based upon our own righteousness but the righteousness of Jesus Christ through faith alone. Chapter 5 is a bridge between the first four chapters and the next three, chapter 6, 7, and 8, after Paul brings to a head this glorious doctrine and shows us how that all of us are condemned before God because of our connection with Adam, our forefather, and yet we can come to be justified, righteous in his sight by being connected to Jesus Christ. And now in chapter 6, Paul begins to talk about sanctification. Sanctification.

Sanctification is a glorious truth and it is probably one of the most misunderstood biblical teachings there are. There's been more controversy over this doctrine of sanctification and what it means and how it works in our lives than probably any other area of the Christian life. And so we're going to take plenty of time as we go through these three chapters, Romans chapter 6, 7, and 8. And we will see how those who have been justified by faith alone in Jesus Christ apart from the works of the law, how we are to live our lives in Christ. Primarily what Paul has does in this book and throughout his writings is he shows that there are basically two realms that every person on the face of the earth is in.

Now in this book we have seen so far he's referred to the fact that we were all in this fear of Adam. We were under the influence of Adam in a very real way our forefather who stood for the entire race fell into sin and plunged all of us into this state of being alienated from God. And in fact under condemnation and subject to judgment. And this fear of life which is referred to as this fear of sin and unrighteousness, this fear of Adamic sin, that is what we were born into and that's how we lived our lives.

But when faith came, when Jesus Christ became the object of our faith we were transferred out of this fear into another sphere and that is in Christ Jesus or in the spirit, in the sphere of grace, in the sphere of righteousness. And what Paul is going to point out to us in these chapters is you cannot live according to the principles of the old sphere, the old realm that used to live in. You cannot follow those principles of life when you're living in the realm of the spirit, the realm of being in Christ Jesus. It's glorious truth. It's so practical. It has everything to do with your daily life.

Coming to understand that God has done something in sanctification. In sanctification is pictured for us in several ways. It has a beginning, it has a middle, it has an end. The most important part really is the beginning and that beginning is a work of God, a definitive work of God. When you rested your faith in Jesus Christ you were sanctified. You have been set apart.

The reason that we are called saints, all of us. There's no such thing as a unique little number of saints who've lived the perfect life in their war. Therefore they have earned sainthood. No such thing in Scripture. What the Scriptures teach is that we are all saints and that simply means we have been sanctified. We have been set apart for God through the work of Jesus Christ.

You may think that the Bible teaches that individuals are called Saint John and Saint Matthew, but that's simply a heading in the printed version of the Bible you have. That is not what the Bible says. The Bible never calls an individual saint so we don't call each other saints because sainthood has to do with what is true of all believers without exception. If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, you have Christ living in you, you have the Holy Spirit, you are a saint. You are part of the saints of God who are living in this world. Those who have been set apart for God, you are unique in the sense that you have been taken out of your old realm where sin dominated you and you've been put into a new realm where there is life and liberty and freedom and joy in Christ Jesus.

And what Paul is going to tell us is we need to understand this truth and then begin to live according to it. Now in these verses that you heard read this morning in Romans 6 verses 1 through 11, every person who has descended from Adam needs to understand this truth. What Paul is describing here isn't secondary truth. This isn't some lower level of biblical teaching. This is primary truth because it describes the only kind of life that leads to eternal life. In fact, look at verse 22 of Romans 6.

Look at that verse. But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you bear your fruit resulting in sanctification and the outcome eternal life. You see what eternal life is the outcome of sanctification. Sanctification comes through the bearing of fruit that is the spirit of God living through us. Living in this new sphere of life, it produces sanctification. He says the ultimate end of that is eternal life.

This is the path of eternal life. You want to know how to have eternal life. You must go down this path and that path is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. That life only is the path to eternal life. And that's what's at stake here in Romans chapter 6. How does this teaching relate to the teaching of justification by grace?

Because that's what he's been spending all of his time doing. He has been telling us proclaiming to us this glorious message of justification by grace through faith in Christ apart from the works of law. That's what's dominated the first major section of the book of Romans.

Well let's look at the way this chapter begins. Notice those words again in verse 1 of chapter 6. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace might increase? Are we to continue in sin so that grace might increase or abound? That's the question that he begins this entire section with.

And we should ask, well why does he ask this question? Now what Paul is doing here is what he's done early in the book. He is acting as his own devil's advocate. He is arguing that if what you say is true then isn't it true that we should just go on and live in sin so that grace might abound? The reason this question is raised is because of the way he ends the fifth chapter of Romans. Notice in verse 18 of chapter 5 when he says so then as though one as through one transgression the resulted condemnation to all men even so through one act of righteousness their resulted justification of life to all men for us through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners even so through the obedience of the one the many will be made righteous and then listen to these words verse 20.

The law came in so that the transgression would increase but where sin increased grace abounded all the more where did grace abound all the more it abounded all the more where sin increased where sin increased grace abounded all the more our union with Adam brought us condemnation because of his disobedience our union with Christ brings us justification because of his obedience and this is really shocking truth and some people think it's dangerous teaching I was listening to a man on the radio the other day a Bible teacher who was talking about how dangerous this distorted teaching was that we are made right with God simply by faith in Jesus Christ apart from our works which is exactly what Paul said some years ago a friend of mine Phil Howard is going to speak at our retreat taught in a Bible college and in fact he was the dean of this Bible college and they the the men on the board after this these teachings of grace begin to stir some of the students brought down the hammer on him and said you can no longer teach the book of Romans because you confuse these young people can't teach the book of Romans because the book of Romans teaches grace and grace will confuse them and so Paul asked this question that many people say this kind of teaching will propagate if the basis of our justification our righteousness before God is not our obedience but Christ's obedience if that is true which is exactly what Paul says if we are counted righteous and accepted by God not because of deeds done by our own obedience but by the obedience deeds done by Christ Jesus in righteousness which is what Paul teaches us here then why not continue and sin that grace could increase all the more now the reason that Adam has been brought into the picture back in chapter five is to make this drastically gracious way of justification unmistakably clear that just as our condemnation was because of our connection with Adam so our justification our righteous standing with God is is based upon our connection with Jesus Christ and not our own works now in a very real sense this is dangerous truth and that's why many want to modify it water it down not teach it stay away from it because it might promote sin in the lives of believers and what Paul is going to do is answer that accusation as clearly as it can be answered it is totally refuted in this chapter he has said in chapter 5 verse 20 where sin increased grace abounded all the more and so he asked this question in the beginning of chapter six well if that's true then why shouldn't we continue and sin so that grace might increase all the more and and that accusation that question of course is being asked because it's an accusation against his teaching think about it if grace is God's act to forgive sin and accept sinners on the basis of Christ's righteousness not ours then wouldn't grace be even more impressive if we would sin more if I would have a bigger testimony if I could say instead of God saved me from sin you know whatever it was however many years ago it was my mother's been saved for 76 years instead of saying he saved me from sin 76 years ago and worked in my life what have I said I've been sinning for 75 years and God forgave me all those sins wouldn't that be more impressive I remember as a kid we used to have you group but they worked with kids who were high risk kids kids in the inner city who they brought the gospel to and they'd bring these kids to the church and give testimonies and man it would impress all of us kids all of us young people as we'd hear a 17 year old kid talk about his life of crime and his drugs and his immorality and go on and on and on in the picture was built up so big and I used to think man my salvation isn't much at all I gotta save when I six I've never done any of those evil things that I could be saved from and that's the nature of this question if this is true if God doesn't save us based upon our own merits but upon the merits of Christ if he doesn't save us based upon our good works but the good work of Jesus Christ and why shouldn't we just sin more so we could be more impressive as a trophy of grace more sin more forgiveness more grace the more sinning there is the greater must be the righteousness of Jesus Christ to counteract our sin and we could be actually more impressive well this question is answered in chapter 6 through 8 now notice what he does the answer is found in verses 2 through 11 he gives us first a short answer this is always good to start with he gives us a very short answer and the short answer is may it never be or as the King James version says God forbid megenoita absolutely not shall we continue and sin that grace might abound absolutely not you're misunderstanding something so important that is a wrong conclusion to draw from this radical teaching of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone now the long answer what he's going to do is he's going to tell us why that is the message of this first section of Romans and basically the answer is this dead people can't live in sin dead people can't live in sin it's as simple as that why shouldn't believers continue in sin because dead people can't live in sin and he's going to develop that answer now what we're going to do today is just kind of look at this overall look at these first 14 verses and then we're going to come back in the next few weeks as we look at the flow of this text and I think what you're going to see is not so much a formula or a key to the Christian life but the truth about the Christian life many of us have such a distorted view of what the Christian life is all about and what it means to be holy and what it means to walk in faith some of us have really views that have been informed by so much misunderstanding of what the scriptures teach second blessing theology as though there are these plateaus that we arrive at and what you always discover is whatever plateau there is when you get up there you find those people up there or just like the people down here there is much in need of grace as these people weigh up here because the Bible doesn't teach that kind of theology the Bible teaches that when you come into the glorious salvation that is given to us in Christ Jesus you have entered into a life of sanctification because God has sanctified you he has set you apart for himself and now it's your responsibility in the power of the spirit to respond to that truth that reality in your life now Romans 6 or 8 tells us why those who are justified on the basis of Christ's righteousness by grace through faith alone do not continue in sin that grace may abound they don't do it they can't do it now it's surprising to many people that Paul's answer isn't something else when he raises this question some people think that assume that Paul would answer something like oh no you misunderstood I'm not saying that you're justified by Christ's righteousness alone I mean it's Christ's righteousness plus a life of obedience Paul doesn't say that he doesn't respond in that way he doesn't say what I really meant was that justification is based on Christ's righteousness and your behavior justification won't lead to lawlessness because law keeping is part of what you have to do in order to be justified he doesn't say that and that's what a lot of people think we're justified by grace sanctified by works we go to the we go to Christ for salvation we go back to Moses to get sanctified and Paul's going to say no that's not true just as salvageous as justifications by grace through faith so sanctification and the results of sanctification are by grace through faith now he could have made that correction if that's what the problem was if that was the mistake in thinking that justification by grace through faith in Christ apart from the works of law was misunderstood in this way but that's not what he does and that's not the misunderstanding they saw something correctly when Paul if he is quoting a specific question he is saying they saw something correctly justification is really by grace through faith alone on the basis of Christ righteousness alone when you stand before God the righteousness that you have that makes you fit to stand before the righteous judge is the righteousness of Jesus Christ now it's true you're going to be rewarded for things that you do because God created you you are his workmanship creating in Christ Jesus for good works which he has before ordained that you should walk in them for his glory but you're right standing before God is based completely holy absolutely upon the righteousness of Christ and that's why at times God brings you to the place where you just can't do any righteousness you keep failing and failing and failing and the harder you try the worse you fail and then some people want to they begin to ask themselves questions am I even a Christian or the question is are you trusting Christ it's his righteousness adequate to make you stand before God so what is Paul's answers to why people who are justified by grace through faith cannot continue in sin notice the basis of his short answer is the form of a question notice the question how shall we who died to sin live in it now you understand what a rhetorical question is a rhetorical question is like when a husband says to his wife how am I supposed to eat this meal without any silverware that's a rhetorical question he doesn't want her to say well what you do is you pick it up with your fingers and put it in your mouth what he wants is he's making a statement you forgot to give me some silverware right that's a rhetorical question the answer is implicit in the question and so when Paul asked this question how shall we who died to sin live in it the implicit answer is it is impossible he is making a statement and he wants us to understand the statement the reason that we cannot continue in sin is because we have died to sin and dead people can't live in sin he's using this rhetorical question to bring home to our hearts a crucial truth that we need to sink down deep into us how shall we who died to sin still live in it means because you have died to sin you can no longer live in it it is not possible so in summary what he's going to do in this chapter is this the objection is if justification is on the basis of Christ righteousness alone and not our righteousness by grace through faith alone then shouldn't we continue in sin that grace might increase and he could be more gracious to us by forgiving more and more sin his answer is no and his reason is because you died to sin and dead people don't live in sin the rest of Roman six is an explanation of that so we're going to look at the the structure of these next few verses what I'm really trying to do is get you to pay attention to these passages and begin to read Romans chapter six seven and eight and do it repeatedly and take notes and ask yourself questions the way to study the Bible if you want to know the simplest form is all you do is this you read the text carefully and you ask the text questions you ask it questions when it makes a statement you ask it what that means some of you are so used to reading the Bible and understanding about 10% of it that you just think that's the way it's supposed to be and it's not what you're supposed to do is as you read it ask it questions inquire of the text what it means and so that's what I'd like you to do be doing over these next few weeks as we go through this glorious part of the New Testament that teaches us how to live the Christian life as people have been justified by grace through faith alone and not according to works if we are grace people if we have understood the doctrine of grace the gospel of grace if we have believed a gospel that says salvation is not of works it's not through your merit you can't earn it you must receive it with by faith you must come to God with empty hands I can't bring anything to God to receive salvation I have to come with empty hands and receive a gift if you believe that then this text tells you how you are to live as those who have been justified by grace through faith in Christ alone and so he's going to give us this explanation and what I like to do is just look at these I'm in a very simple way look at three truths that we'll look at more detail but three truths as we go down through this text this is something that every believer should know now we know that because Paul says don't you know look at verse three do you not know he's saying come on you know this do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death don't you know what baptism is about therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised in 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 become united with him in the likeness of his resurrection knowing that our old self our old man who we used to be in Adam before Christ 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 some people have forgotten that they died and so they assume they're still in bondage to sin that sin is still their master after all it screams its orders to you every day doesn't it through the lusts of the flesh through the cravings of the body and the emotions and aren't I still under the dominion of sin no you're not you died to sin that's Paul's argument do you not know now the implication of that statement do you not know is you must already know these crucial truths because you've been you are believers you've been baptized now let me let me deal with one little thing here you've probably I've heard people say there's no water in Roman six and the point of that is because this text will often be quoted at water baptism if when we baptize people in water because this speaks of being baptized into Christ death bear on resurrection and some are afraid that that we're just talking about the the sacrament of baptism and it does these things well obviously what he's talking about is the truth the reality the spiritual reality that's taken place in the life of a person who then publicly is baptized who submits to baptism under the authority of Jesus Christ and by that is stating the fact that he is rested or she has rested their faith in Jesus Christ now that faith in Christ is a picture it results in our being joined to Christ in some very wonderful unique and glorious way we have been joined to Christ every person who is baptized is claiming by that baptism that they have been joined to Christ now obviously we know some people go down sinners and come back up sinners you know unregenerate they go down unregenerate they come back up or unregenerate because they don't have faith in Christ water baptism won't save anybody but what water baptism pictures is our union with Jesus Christ and so he says don't you know this you were taught this in the early church when a person was baptized they were taught the implications of the gospel and they made a profession of faith by being baptized the apostle Peter says it is a the pledge of a good conscience before God it's a pledge of a good conscience before God in other words they are claiming before everyone the whole world I have rested my faith in Christ and I have been joined him and therefore what I am saying because I put my faith in him I know that I died I was buried and I was raised again in Christ Jesus now evidently that was clearly taught because the apostle Paul says you know this you've forgotten this truth think about it this is so important that it's surprising when Christians don't know it that's the implication of his statement here don't you know well of course you do you know this maybe you've forgotten it maybe you didn't count it to be important but this is a glorious truth that when you put your faith in Jesus Christ you were joined him by the spirit and therefore you in Christ have died have been buried and have been made alive in Christ Jesus and so the picture that water baptism has is of this union with Jesus Christ you're saying that you have rested your faith in him now our failure to see clear implications of what we have been taught is a common problem we all have I have it you have it everybody has it we've been taught certain truths but we never saw the implications of them and so we do think that sometimes we do things think things believe things that is in total contradiction to what we know to be true because we're not seeing the implications of them we're failing to see see the clear implications well how do we come to understand the implications of biblical teaching the only way is through the ministry of the Holy Spirit it's why when we come to the scriptures we must be right with a spirit so the spirit can open our eyes to the clear implications of what the Bible is teaching nobody's gonna understand the Bible without studying it don't ever think that you can simply have somebody tell you what the Bible means and never read it never study it for yourself and come to understand what it really means you have to work hard at it salvation is by grace alone but understanding the Bible is through hard work blood sweat and tears you got to put time in effort in thinking in you got to meditate on it and think about it argue with it so nice you need to argue with the Bible what what really obsessed me is people who violate scripture when you mention it to them they don't want to hear it I don't want to hear that well then argue with the Bible argue with the Bible if you don't like what it says then argue with it and see who wins the argument you know the best prayers in scripture have you ever noticed this when you read the Psalms and you read through the word of God the best prayers in the Psalms is a man arguing with God telling God how disappointed he is and what he's done in his life but what always happens in the process his heart gets changed doesn't his perspective changes because he begins to bring God into the situation as he complains to God and he pleads with God to change the situation and before you know it he has come to see reality the way it really is with God right there before him in the same way as with the Bible don't avoid those difficult passages that you know seem to teach something that you don't want to do argue with the text if you don't think it's fair that God requires certain things of you then come to the text and argue with it until you understand what it's teaching and understand why you disagree and then write a book well we could summarize Paul's explanation in three statements when Christ died in some vital real way believers died in him or with him when Christ rose in some vital real way we were made alive in him and therefore Paul says because those things are true we must become in practice what we are in Christ we must become in practice what we are in Christ and what is that he's going to say we're dead to sin and alive to God dead to our old master alive to our new master now let's look at this a little bit notice this when Christ died in some significant sense now we'll look at this a little closer I just want you to simply believe the text it says don't you know that all of us who were baptized in Christ were baptized into his death therefore we died with him now notice this he says it's over and over again if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death we have become united with him in the likeness of his death we have been united with Christ in such a way that when Christ died it is true of us we have died knowing this that our old self was crucified with him now the word in the Greek that's translated itself in the numeric standard here and other translations is actually the word ontopos old man the reason Paul uses this phrase is because that's what he's been talking about in chapter five the old man Adam the new man Christ who I was in Adam and who I am in Christ and he says the person I was in Adam died with Christ on the cross I was crucified with him I died in some sense you can say when somebody says well what have you done about your sins you could say well I died on the cross for them in the person of my substitute because I was united with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with now that's going to happen in the in we're going to experience the beginning of it now and the ultimate expression of it in the future he also says in verse eight now if we have died with Christ there is a union with Christ that makes what happened to him valid for us in him when he died we died when Christ died he died and which sins did he die for the ones you committed before in the year 2000 the ones that you've committed up to this point what about the sins you're going to commit next week did Christ die for those sins when you died in Christ did it cover your future sins that's the key to why the justified do not go on sinning is because dead people don't sin that's what he says now we're going to have to unravel what in the world he means by this because this raises the whole issue of perfectionism and just how free we actually are from sin I could tell you all day long that your dead and you can't continue in sin and you could be elbowing your husband or wife and saying well you're sure doing a good job of it seem to be doing pretty good at it so what in the world does he mean well we'll see it does mean that you cannot continue in sin that grace may have been it can't happen if you have died with Christ for all those who have died with Christ it's impossible for them to go down that path when Christ rose Paul says in some significant sense we were made alive in or with him notice this in verse four so that as Christ was raised in the dead through the glory of the Father so we too might walk in newness of life and then in verse five for if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death certainly we shall also be in that and the idea as we shall also be united with him in the likeness of his resurrection the believers union with Christ not only means that we died when he died but that his resurrection is our new life to God that was secured by Christ when he rose from the dead in some sense we died with him and came alive to God with him when Jesus Christ was on the cross he was dead to God he actually experienced spiritual death on the cross when Jesus cried out my God my God why have you forsaken me he wasn't simply saying why have you let them treat me so bad he was saying why have you turned your back on me why have you separated yourself from me why am I dead to you he died in our place died a spiritual death on the cross and then a physical death at the end of that but notice the precision of his wording he doesn't say that we rose past tense with him he said we died with him but he's very careful about how he says we are connected with his resurrection he says that we he did this we have been united with Christ so that just as he died we died in him and as he rose we have been made alive in the likeness of his resurrection not yet physically but spiritually now the physical part is coming but the spiritual part is already taken place you've been made alive to God in Christ Jesus before you were saved before you put faith in Christ before you were joined to Jesus Christ in union with him you were dead to God there was a great chasm between you and God you were dead to him but what has happened through this union with Jesus Christ is you have been made alive to God now the third thing he says in this text is therefore and notice down verse 11 after giving us all these facts and if you notice if you're careful as you look at this you'll notice in verses 1 through 10 he makes no commands he doesn't tell you to put yourself to death he doesn't tell you to crucify yourself he doesn't tell you anything like that no commands in verses 1 through 10 no imperatives all statements of fact they're all telling us what is true and then in verse 11 he gives us a command and he says in verse 11 even so since this all of this is true consider yourself to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus and notice this third point therefore become in practice what you are in Christ dead to sin and alive to God and notice these verses in verse 11 even so consider yourself to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus in verse 13 do not go on stop doing this stop presenting the members of your body that is the capacities of your humanity when he talks about the members of the body saying that all that you are as a human being my mind my will the physical members of my body in every sphere stop presenting them to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead there are the commands there's a principle in scripture that is followed everywhere and that is it's you can put it in this terms that the imperatives of scripture always follow the indicative of scripture that's anybody remember English grammar you know what an indicative is an indicative mood is the mood of reality when I make a statement if I say my car is green that's in the indicative mood that's just a statement of fact the imperative mood is the mood of command get in out of the ring that's a command come over here to me right now that's a command stop cheating that's a command so there's all kinds of commands but in scripture always the imperatives follow the indicatives what do I mean by that this is really important uh all of you studied of every Bible study here is studied I think as studied Ephesians and that's what you see in Ephesians the first three chapter indicatives you were chosen in him before the foundation of the world they become wholly and blameless before him in love predestining you adoption his son indicatives it's just a fact whether you believe it or not it's a fact right it's truth it's a statement of fact you get to chapter four and what does he do he says now chapters four through six live like this because these things are true you see what I'm getting at he tells you what the truth is and he says now I want you to live according to these realities the commands are always based upon the realities and that's the pattern here in chapter six first ten verses indicatives statements of fact you died in Christ you were buried in Christ you were raised in Christ why because he wanted to put to oblivion this body of sin he wanted you to stop using your physical body and your physical capacity your human capacities as instruments of sin but then he gives a command therefore this is what you ought to do the first thing he says you want to do is consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus one of the hardest things for Christian people to do is to consider see that word consider it's sometimes translated reckon now you know in Oklahoma they use like I reckon I will or I reckon I won't it's not that kind of reckon reckon means that you count something to be true because it's true when you put your money in the bank they reckon it to your account it's it actually is used in some in some context using accountings word it is an accounting system that you reckon certain things to this account but in our life it means that we are to consider certain things to be true for example in Hebrews chapter 11 it says that Abraham reckoned that God could raise the dead and what did he do what did he do because he reckoned that God was able to raise the dead come on what did he do I'm assuming that you know what he did I couldn't hear those words but he offered up his son Isaac didn't he God says I want you to offer up your son Isaac well that was the most beloved thing in his life and God says I want you to offer him up in sacrifice and it says Abraham reckoned that God was able to raise the dead see he counted it to be true that the creator could raise the dead now my point is this is a Paul says at the very beginning you must have this kind of reckoning going on in your heart and mind and spirit you have to count these things to be true what is it you're to count to be true you have died in Christ to sin you have been buried with Christ you've been raised with Christ you are dead to sin and alive to God count that to be true now that doesn't mean once for all it doesn't mean oh yeah I remember 42 years ago I had this experience where I reckon that to be true and now my life has changed no it won't because if tomorrow you don't reckon this to be true I can tell you what you're going to be right back where you were before it's something that you must reckon count to be true of who you are in Jesus Christ your relationship with sin has completely changed now sin in this chapter is pictured is personified as a ruler that demands obedience how many of you could say that's exactly what it is sin is a ruler that demands obedience and it does it the way it gives its commands it shouts it shouts its commands to you through the lusts of the flesh now some people think oh I don't have any problem with the lust of the flesh oh yeah you don't know what the lust of the flesh are because the lust of the flesh are far more than sexual temptation far more the lust of the flesh include religion self righteousness establishing your own righteousness wanting people to think highly of you well you know one of the biggest roadblocks to true sanctification is caring so much about what people think of you that you look holy and act holy and live in a way that people will think you're holy and so the truth the truth that's really going on inside of you is hidden and shielded this is a hard lesson to learn for parents because I got to confess this was certainly my thinking that the most important thing although I would never I would have never thought I believe this I would never verbalize it but the most important thing to me was for my children to look like good children that was more important than them being good children because I cared so much about what people thought of me as a parent that was a roadblock a roadblock to sanctification is you caring so much about what people think of you that you live in a way that you know people will think you're sanctified because of the way you look and act instead of living out of a relationship with God that is this reality I have died to sin and I'm alive to God this is what he's called you to count to be true he's called you to live your life reckoning that the truth statements of scripture about who you are about what's true of you and your relationship with God is the absolute truth that you are alive to God some Christians act as though they are dead to God and it's not true if you're a believer in Jesus Christ you're alive to God have you ever seen couples who treat each other as though they don't even exist ever been in a very tense situation I've been in these before where you're in somebody's house and this couple's having a problem and they kind of go about their business acting as though the other person doesn't even exist I know none of you have ever experienced that in your marriages but that happens sometimes what are they doing they're acting like they're acting like the other person is dead non-existent or they're dead to them God says some of you have forgotten that you have died to sin and you're alive to God you're acting though you're dead to God and alive to sin that's why Christ died to deliver you out of that realm to bring you over to this realm where you're dead to sin and it's a rule and alive to God in Christ Jesus now notice something very important he doesn't draw the conclusion of a mechanical or an automatic obedience from our death and resurrection with Christ he doesn't say you know since you all died to sin in Christ and you're alive to God in him there is no need for me to give you any commands to do anything there is no act of obedience involved in this no commands no it's automatic mechanical wouldn't that be something it'd be wretched though wouldn't it because you probably met people like that it's kind of like an automatic mechanical sinlessness he doesn't say that he says you died to sin and you're alive to God but you must obey therefore you must obey what he does say is you died so consider yourself dead you're alive so consider yourself alive to God you are so now become what you are this is great hope this is great hope instead of having to pretend to be something you're not he says just be what you really are be what you really are count as true what God says he has done for you in Christ Jesus he has set you apart for himself if you could come to grasp if that could take hold of you the truth of it and you reckon it to be true then you will begin to act as one who is alive to God we're justified by grace who faith alone because of our union with Christ whose righteousness is hours by imputation by him giving it to us covering with us with his righteousness and now we see that the same union with Christ explains why we will not continue in sin as believers this is really crucial truth and I'm appealing to you to commit yourself to learn this truth as justified people as those have been justified by grace or faith and Christ alone apart from the works of the law I wanted you to commit yourself to learn this truth that you can pass on to your children these truths when applied will set you free they'll give you peace they will fill your heart with joy and they'll make you a radical Christian now that's scary to become a radical Christian you might be over there with Mary Maryam next year working in the dirt but that's what it'll do for you when you realize who you are and you begin to count it to be true and live according to that truth that reality I'm going to do my best to come to this text and open it up so that we can see it and understand it for you who are really radical memorize Romans 6 memorize committed to memory and then when you get done with that memorize Romans 7 and when you get done with that memorize Romans 8 you get those three chapters memorized and you're able to mull them over now if you can't do that just carry a Bible around or make you a copy of this come to this text over and over again meditate on it ask God to open your eyes to it to understand it question it interrogate it object to it when you read it say in your heart how can this possibly be true how can this be true that my old man the person I was 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 how can this possibly be true I want it to be true is it really true and discover why it's the truth and how it should change our life as we embrace it as truth and notice in verse 14 he says for sin shall not be master over you for you are not under law but under grace for sin shall not be master over you sin shall not be master over you I wish a lot of Christians would just grasp that that promise of God that statement of fact sin shall not be master over you so would you come to this text this week would you dig into it would you let it seep into your heart and your head and your spirit come to understand it so that you could teach others you know we're living in a day where there needs to be a multitude of teachers of this truth you need to grasp it so that you can pass it on you need to come to understand it and embrace it make it a part of your life so you could pass on to others we when I was in college at Western Baptist College we had a teacher come and did a week-long Bible conference taught through the book of Romans in five days in five one hour sessions went through the book of Romans I wish I could remember his name I can't even remember his name maybe somebody does but he this was this is one of his the primary things he did was teach through the book of Romans and I remember his appeal on the last day on Friday he says I want to tell you my heart aches to see others take up this book and to learn it and to teach its truth to the people of God there are so many people that in name or following Christ and yet do not understand the basic implications of the gospel of Jesus Christ that are given to us in these three chapters it's all about how to walk in sanctification not in your own self righteousness but in true and real sanctification that God has wrought when he brought you to Christ this is what you are Paul says now act like it learn to live it and experience it in your Christian life would you stand with me let's close in prayer don't get your children until 11 30 because it disturbs the leaders over there the teachers so just hang around here and talk to each other until 11 30 before you pick up your children that's pray our father we do thank you for the reality of the gospel not only that you have accomplished it in Christ but you have communicated it to us through your word you've given us the spirit of truth who opens our eyes and our hearts to the word as we come to it with diligence and seriousness we really do want to know what your word says and how it impacts our lives and so father we pray that in these weeks to come as we begin to look at these realities that you would bring them to bear upon our hearts that you'd change us that you would make deep and profound changes in the way we think and our understanding so that we could begin to glory and revel in be thankful for what is really true of us in Christ Jesus and so that you could use us. Father I thank you that you've called every single believer in this room to be a steward of the grace of God in the work of the gospel the advance of the kingdom in this world and what a great need there is today for those who know your truth who've lived your truth and who can communicate your truth to others in all kinds of life situations I know that there are those in our flock who are going through various kinds of trials and difficulties so diverse and so different father some of them health problems some family problems some with children difficulties with their children all kinds of things finances all kinds of things and yet the implications of the gospel speak to all the areas of our life so we pray that you would help us to apply these things to our lives father give us boldness to incite one another to love and good deeds to learn your truth to live your truth to communicate your truth father we pray we could be a lampstand in this world for the glory of Christ we pray Christ's precious name Amen