Alive to God

Scripture Reading

Will you please turn in your Bibles with me to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 6. And this morning the sermon will come from verses 5 through 11. Again, for a little bit of context, we're going to read Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 5 verse 20 through Romans chapter 6 verse 11. We want to try to keep things in context. So, let's go there. Romans chapter 5 beginning at verse 20.

Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who died the sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, Certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we die with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, Knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion 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. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Brothers and sisters, the grass wither, the flower will fade, but the word of our God endures forever.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for giving us your word. We thank you for inspiring it, for giving those men of old, your spirit to write down the very words of life, your words. Father, we pray, knowing that they are not just dead words on a page, but your Holy Spirit uses these true words in powerful ways in our hearts. God, we plead with you. We pray to you that you would please apply these words to our hearts. Let Him live it in our lives. We can only do that by Your Spirit. So we pray in Jesus' name, asking for Your help. Amen.

Sermon

Sometimes we have a problem connecting the done with do. We sometimes have this issue of why do we do what we do versus what Jesus did, what was done on the cross and in his resurrection. The household I was raised in, the type of church I was raised in, there was a big disconnect. We knew sometimes what we were expected to do, but we didn't know why we were supposed to do it. And my hope is that when you leave here today, that you will know why you are to do, why you are to live like Jesus, why you are to put away the deeds of flesh and put on the way of Jesus.

That's my hope for us this morning. And so as I was talking to the elders back there, I was telling them, I can't guarantee I'm going to get through every single point of this sermon. It may be a two-parter, and I'm going to try to respect your time and the food that's in the oven downstairs. So if we don't get through all of it, I will try to be prompt with just saying, we'll pick it up next time.

But this is an extremely important section of God's word. It instructs us in a way that can help change our entire attitudes and lives. And so there's six points to this sermon. The first is that we see that I have been united to Jesus. If you have faith, I have been united to Jesus. Secondly, we'll see that I know my old man has been crucified. Thirdly, I am freed from sin. Fourth, we believe that we will live with Jesus. Fifth, that Jesus is our proof And lastly, sixth, we'll see that I consider myself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. I mentioned before that growing up, I was really wrestling, not understanding. I can't say I didn't hear the gospel. In the sense that the gospel is that Jesus Christ died for my sin, right?

Most evangelical churches are really, really good at that. There's a church historian, his last name is Bebbington, he talks about four things that really kind of show what evangelicalism is. One is they're all about the Bible, Bible-centrism. Second mark of people who would call themselves evangelical is that they're really big about the crucifixion. that Jesus really did die for their sins. Thirdly, that Christians or evangelicals are those who are big about, you must be converted.

You cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven unless you'd be born again. That's what Jesus told Nicodemus. And so you need to be born again. And the fourth is activism. You got to actually do something with your faith. But I want to suppose to you that I am afraid that a number of evangelicals, or people who would call themselves Christians, don't actually get to that fourth point. Or when they get to the idea of activating, doing something, you don't know why. In my mind as I talk to it is, I told my chaplain when I first started learning about this that I had been given my whole life a lollipop gospel.

Jesus died for your sins. Here's a sweet thing for you to suck on. Well, you know you're a bad person. You know you've done things. So here's a little sweet thing for you to just enjoy for a little bit. Almost like a pacifier. Just a little bit of dopamine hit. Just a little bit of, oh, that's nice. I like that. But there was a big disconnect for him. But what does that actually mean? How does that actually transform my life? And I think that's where Paul is getting at today.

Because if you don't know why you should pursue holiness, it'll just be legalism. You'll just do, do, do, because the slave taskmaster of legalism will tell you, you should feel bad for your sins, and because you feel bad for your sins, yes, Jesus died for your sins, now slave, keep doing. but you'll never actually be able to enjoy God and obey out of love.

I Have Been United to Jesus

So first, I have been united to Jesus. Look with me at verse five. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly also We also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. This idea of being united, it's kind of this odd word. What does that mean, united to Jesus? This is definitely one of those mysteries of the Christian faith. What does it mean for me to be in Jesus and Jesus to be in me? It's not a physical reality, it's a spiritual thing. So how does that work? I can't explain all the ins and outs of it.

It's one of the three legitimate mysteries of the Christian faith. Sproul liked to talk about those three legitimate mysteries of the Christian faith. One is we don't fully understand the mystery of the Trinity. Second is we don't fully understand how Jesus can be fully God and fully man. And third is we don't fully understand how we can be united to Jesus. But yet we confess, we believe all those three things to be true.

But this idea is more organic. More agricultural. This idea is that we have been engrafted into Jesus. Paul's actually gonna pick up that language later in the book of Romans. That our life is like there's a tree already growing, and that tree is Jesus, and some bark was stripped off, and we were a branch that was wild growing somewhere else, and we were grafted in, tied to the tree until it was growing together. Now the branch in and of itself, what's going to happen if it doesn't have a tree? It's going to die. It's not going to grow, it's going to die. But does the tree need the branch? No, the tree has life itself. And the tree is Jesus.

And this idea that's being brought up here in Romans chapter 6 verse 5. For if we have been united, In the likeness of his death, this idea is that we truly are organically united to Jesus. Our life is, this is why Paul will say it elsewhere, our life is hidden in Christ. Can you say, I have been united to Jesus? And there's two ways that we're united to Jesus. First is in the likeness of his death.

Have you been united to Jesus in the likeness of his death? When Jesus died, were you included in that? When Jesus offered up his body as a ransom for many, are you part of the many? When Jesus poured out his blood to cover his people's sin, are you part of that atonement? Or is your life so hidden in Christ that you can honestly say, when Jesus died, I died. That's what Paul is saying here. That's a... That's a crucio-centrism. That's a cross-centeredness of the evangelical faith. We're pretty good with that part.

If we have been united to him in the likeness of his death, or in conformity with his death, indeed also, this is emphatic though, the second part of verse five, are certainly we also shall be. Certainly, emphatically, importantly, it's not just that we're united to Jesus in His death, but also, extremely important, have you been united to Jesus in His resurrection? Now I need to make it very clear here.

Because there's a whole bunch of people who call themselves pastors or theologians, who do not believe that Jesus actually rose from the dead. And they will come up with all sort of theological hula hoops to try to intellectually twist people into thinking, well, maybe he was just raised spiritually, but not actually physically. No, I'm telling you, if Jesus died in that tomb and didn't raise from the dead, all of this falls apart. It doesn't make any sense.

It's a historical fact, Jesus did raise from the dead. Witnessed to by hundreds of people, again and again, over a period of 40 days. Not a phantom, not a ghost, eating breakfast, walking with people, talking with people. Jesus really did raise from the dead.

So if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly also we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Have you been united to Jesus, not just in his death, but in his resurrection? Do you remember how Romans chapter four ended? For he was put to death for our sins and raised for our justification.

For our being declared righteous. The only way that you will be declared righteous and subsequently live in righteousness is if you have been united to Jesus in his righteousness. And that means Jesus had to actually raise from the dead. Now make no doubt about it. It says we shall also. This is a future. Certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. This is a middle future. This, in the Greek, the grammar is that this is something that's going to happen. But it's going on now in a real way. We're united to him.

But make no doubt about it, the dead will rise again. Our eternal state, forever in the kingdom of God, is dependent on whether you are united to Jesus in his resurrection. Because if you don't have the life of Jesus, if you don't have the resurrected life of Jesus, You don't have a tree to live. The way you get to live forever is because Jesus lives forever, and your life is hidden in Jesus's resurrected life. The old man dies, and the new man lives.

So in Romans 6 verse 5, This is truly speaking of our union with Jesus. But where Paul's going to go with this, and he's answering the question, right? He's got an objection. That's where we're starting at in the first couple verses of Romans chapter 6. People are saying, well, if grace, or if sin abounds and grace abounds that much more, then why don't we just keep on sinning so we get more grace? And Paul says, uh-uh, knock it off. Don't do that. We're not going there. Why?

And his whole point here is Jesus truly did die for your sin and rose for your righteousness, so we live in righteousness. You've been united to Jesus in his death, and so now as a necessary consequence, what happens next? You live for righteousness.

Now there's a couple big fancy words I'm going to have to introduce you through as we go through this, and so this first one I've even given you in your bulletin, it's sanctification. Sanctification. The Westminster Shorter Catechism speaks of it this way, sanctification is the work of God's free grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man, that whole man meaning body and soul, everything we feel and do in our body, after the image of God. And are enabled more and more to die to sin and live unto righteousness.

Christian, because you are united to Jesus, who is our risen and righteous Lord, you get to, you are enabled to, you have the Holy Spirit working in you, because you are united to Jesus, and He pours out His Spirit in your heart, you now get to live like Jesus. Do you see the difference? If you think that your doing is disconnected from what Jesus has done in conquering sin and the grave, All you're doing will just be moralism or legalism. You trying to earn enough good points to be right with God.

I Know My Old Man Has Been Crucified

But that's not why we do things. That's not why we try to live like Jesus. We live like Jesus because our life is hidden in Jesus. We're sanctified, we're becoming more like Jesus. Because Jesus is the one who empowers us to walk like him. You must be united to Jesus. And you're united by faith. You are united to Jesus by faith. So secondly, if we have been united to Jesus, I know my old man has been crucified.

Look at me at verse six. Knowing this, right, there should be like alarm going off. Pay attention. Paul's saying we ought to know something. What do we ought to know? That our old man was crucified with him. Our old man was crucified with him that the body of sin might be done away with. That we should no longer live as slaves of sin. What is this old man? What is this body of sin he's talking about? What is he getting at here? This old man idea.

Well first it's who we were in Adam. Following after the patterns of Adam and the societal ways of Adam. Going in the ways of rebellion. Chasing after our own desires. Thinking that God's holding back good things from us and so not wanting to go after what God says. This old man was the man who is dead in transgressions and sin. This old man was the one who lived under the wrath and curse of God. The old man is the one who is willingly and blindly following. You know what this is like, don't you?

The old man being the one that you know that you should obey your mother and father, and yet you don't. The one that you should treat your wife with kindness, gentleness, Honor, respect, and yet you don't. The one that knows that that third scoop of ice cream probably shouldn't go into your mouth, and yet your gluttonous heart says, I'm gonna eat it anyways. The one that you know you shouldn't covet other people's things, and yet you really do wish you had their life and not the one that God's given you. You wish you had a different spouse.

A different house, a better job. Ooh, here's a stinging one. More well-behaved children like that other family has. That's the old man. We can go on and on. Go back and look at Romans chapter one. Lying, drunkenness, carousing, lust, stealing, murderous heart. That's the old man. We were slaves to sin.

Augustine in the late 400s talked about this idea, the fourfold estate of man. And I won't get into that. I'll talk about it at Chalk and Talk. But one of the things he talked about is after the garden, people became unable not to sin. Right in the garden, we were able to sin or we were able not to sin. Adam and Eve, they had full freedom of the will. They could choose, I can sin or I could not sin.

I can tend the garden, I could have babies, I could do all these fun things. I can go down and make nice, beautiful things out of the gold that's down at the bottom of the river. I could do all these wonderful things. Or, I can go eat from the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.

Or I could not do that. So they had an option, truly. What do they want to do? We know how that story goes, and ever since they ate from that tree of the knowledge of good and evil, we became slaves to sin. Not able not to sin. Slaves to it. And there's a way that we can justify this.

I even found myself falling into this trap a couple years ago. I was talking to my little brother, which is a paradox. My little brother is 300 and something pounds and six foot seven. He's a huge dude. But I was talking to Stuart on the phone one day, and I was really struggling with some anger in my heart.

And I said, well, I guess I just have to be the little angry Irish-German man who's just mad all the time. And essentially, I was excusing away myself. Like, oh, this is just the way God made me. I'm just a hot-tempered, It wasn't until later I was thinking about that, like, what did I just do? I just said, okay, here's my heritage, here's the way I have lived, and so I guess that's just the way I am. Which just became an excuse for, I guess I'll just keep being angry and mad all the time.

If you convince yourself, even as a Christian, that you are... You're just this way. You're just made to be more worldly. You're just made to be more angry. You're just, you know, God just made you with a huge sex drive, and you just can't help from lusting, and that's just, it's just what you do.

And you just, whatever it is, I'm, you know, I just have a sweet tooth, and so I don't, or I just love salty stuff, and so I can't help myself from being gluttonous. If that's what you're gonna label yourself as, that's what you're gonna live as. But what God says here is that that's not the way the gospel works. Knowing that this, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with. Who am I? Who are you? You're not who you once were. If your life is now hidden in Christ, you have a new identity. You are no longer under Adam, but you are in Christ. You no longer have sin as your Lord, but you have Jesus.

So maybe you need to encourage somebody today. Maybe you have a friend in the congregation, and you know that they've been struggling with a particular sin, or they have this area that they're more naturally prone to in the body, and you see them fighting sin. One of the most helpful things you can do for people Just encourage them when you see them walking in the way of Jesus. I see you fighting against that area of sin that I know is a struggle for you, and I just wanted to encourage you.

I've seen you be really kind to your husband lately. I know that's hard sometimes. You know, I see you obeying your mom and dad, and that's a good thing. Good job. I've seen you, I know it's tiring and it's hard to raise these little kids. Good job sacrificing for them. Maybe we should be those who encourage people when they're following Christ. Encourage one another. And remind yourself, right?

I don't have to live this way. No, that's right. You don't have to live this way. I'm a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come. My life is hidden in Christ. Verse six, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with. And here's your emancipation proclamation for today.

That we should no longer be slaves to sin. You are not a slave to sin. Satan would love to trick you. and to convince you that you could never get out from underneath His Lordship. You are not a slave to sin. I am begging you, you who have ears to hear this morning, who the Spirit is active and working in your heart, who believe in Jesus, hear this. You are not a slave to sin because Jesus is alive. Your Lord isn't laying in a grave dead. Your Lord is not sin, your Lord is Jesus and he is very much alive and you do not have to follow sin. You have Jesus as your Lord, you are not a slave to sin.

I Am Freed from Sin

That's what he's getting at here with this idea that the body of sin might be done away with. You're not a slave to sin anymore. Whether those are the natural impulses of your flesh, or the ways in which your mind wants to go, or the conformity with the pattern of this world, you don't have to go with it. You can live by the power of the Spirit, because you're united to Jesus in His death and resurrection. So I'm just gonna continue on in this good point, point three, I am freed from sin, verse seven.

For he who has died has been freed from sin. The tyranny of sin is over. You see, sin doesn't provide any hope, but Jesus does. Sin promises you pleasure, and deceives and swaps guilt and death and harm and isolation in his place. Sin is no longer your Lord, Jesus is. Sin is no longer your King, Jesus is.

Did you notice that, the language here, verse seven? For being dead from sins We have been freed. We have been made clean. The king has released you from bondage. That's what Paul got at in the end of Romans chapter three. You are no longer in the slave market to sin, but Jesus redeemed you, stepped in and bought you at the price of his own blood. He bought you back. You are free from the sting.

That does not mean, now there's people here, I got this where I wish I could just say these things and be like, okay, we're done, this is great. Walk out of here on a good note, right? Well, you gotta be careful. Because there are some who will take this and they'll take it too idealistically, right?

They'll be like, oh great, I'm freed from sin, so I'll never struggle with sin anymore. Don't worry, we're gonna get to Romans chapter seven. But Romans chapter six declares to us some good news so that when we are struggling in the pits with sin, we're not surprised by it. You think your old slave master wants to just let you go scot-free? I've been reading Pilgrim's Progress with one of our kids recently at bedtime.

And there's this one moment where Christian is fighting with Apollyon. And it's a life and death battle. And Apollyon wants nothing more than to destroy him. But he is not happy that Christian decides that he's gonna follow a new master. Satan doesn't want to just let you go. You think the serpent who bit you and poisoned you wants you to just walk away pain-free? No. No, we're gonna suffer as we fight. But we fight from a position of strength. We fight knowing that we have a good king who loves us and who strengthens us and who died for us and who lives for us.

So you are freed from sin. You have been freed from sin. If you do not believe that you can be free, if you do not believe that you can change, if you do not believe that you can choose to live differently, then you will never change. If you will not hear these words from the king, from God himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, who's telling you, you are not a slave to sin.

You can fight sin. You can live differently. You can choose differently. You can love differently. If you have disbelieving ears, the do will never connect with the done. Because you resign yourself to hopelessness. You just are who you are. But that's not what your King tells you. Our Lord Jesus tells us we are free from sin. So do you believe it? I'm gonna hold off there. If I get into point four, we're gonna be here for another 15 minutes. I wanna leave you with a question.

Are you believing a Band-Aid gospel? You got a wound, God put the Band-Aid over the wound, but it actually didn't cure any problem. Right, is Christianity nothing more than the thing parents do when they kiss their parents' boo-boos, but they don't actually fix it? Or does God's work actually transform you? change you, release you, empower you to live a different life, not from your own strength, but because the one who saved you by grace through faith and not any work of your own, but who did save you that you might do good works, do you live in the freedom that comes from being united to Jesus? I'm gonna pray for you. I'm gonna pray for myself in a second. I'm gonna pray that we're the type of people who fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.

Closing Prayer

And that we continue to become the type of people that we fight from a place of strength. A place that rests in Jesus, our high king. because he's laid down his life for us. And he lives for us as king now. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you are such a wonderful God, that you did not spare even your own son, but that you freed us from the penalty of death and the grave. And though we may die, yet we will surely live.

God, we pray that you would encourage us. Lord, we pray when there are dark days, when we are fighting for what it seems like our very own soul, Lord, we pray that you might please turn our eyes and see our Savior, our King, our risen Lord standing there, who is fighting for us. Lord, fix our eyes on our North Star, Jesus. Encourage us, Lord, in the fight. Strengthen our feeble hands, for you are the one who breathed new life into these dead bones. And so, God, give us strength. Thank you for the freedom we have in Jesus. Thank you for uniting us to your Son by your Spirit. You are good, God. In Jesus' name, amen.