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[0:00] We welcome you to the media ministry of Bethel Community Church, Knowing Jesus, Making Jesus Known. All right, we are going to be continuing on with Romans chapter 6 today.

[0:21] But before we do, I would like you to turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 1. Because one of the things I think is good to remind us is what is our purpose for studying the book of Romans?

[0:40] We've been in it for 10 weeks. We finished up through chapter 5. And the great thing about these passages of Scripture is they are the fundamental doctrines of the faith.

[0:56] You know, a lot of people I've heard over the years say, you know, doctrine, it's kind of dry. And we kind of, we need to hear something that tickles our ears, you know.

[1:07] And we need to hear some funny stories and so forth. But we will discover that the beauty of the doctrines of the faith are the most important things that relate to our life.

[1:23] And there's a couple of verses that just when we were, when our brother David was giving us the first lesson that Paul was, in his letter, was putting out.

[1:37] And in verse 10, the Apostle Paul says this. Speaking of the people that are there in, and he says this.

[1:48] Always in my prayer making requests, if perhaps now, at last by the will of God, I may succeed in coming to you. So Paul would like to come to visit these people.

[2:00] And he hasn't had a chance to visit that church in Rome. But he says this in verse 11. For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you that you may be established.

[2:18] And so we're here this morning to hear doctrinal truth. Because the purpose would be that the spiritual gifts of doctrinal truth are establishing our life.

[2:32] And what is an establishment? Well, you know, when you think of a building, you say, well, you know, that building, it says right on the cornerstone. It's been established there since 1901. And so that differs from you go to the mall and there's a kiosk.

[2:47] And the kiosk might be there this week, but it may be gone next week. So that's a good definition of establishing something. Rooted, sunk down deep, strong foundation.

[3:00] And so Paul is saying, I want to come to you and I want to share with you some truth that will continue to establish you.

[3:11] And that's why we're here, hopefully. So, but in verse 12, he also says this. That is, that I may encourage, that I may be encouraged together with you, while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.

[3:31] So Paul is kind of saying, hey, you know, I don't have all the answers. I come with what the Lord has given me. But, you know, I'm anxious to learn from you too. And so as much as I have arrived and as I get to Rome, I want to be an encouragement to you.

[3:48] But let's be realistic. I want to be encouraged by you to me. And so, you know, we gather each week with hopefully that's in mind. That when you come here, you want to encourage the other saints here regarding their faith.

[4:02] You want to see them move on. You want to see us growing. And so that's how I read that. So our purpose would be that we're here to encourage each other in our likewise faith.

[4:15] Okay, we are going to turn to passage Romans chapter 6 and look at that today.

[4:28] And I do want to do a review, though, where we've been so far. And this should only take a few minutes, but it's good to say, all right, what doctrinal truth have we addressed so far?

[4:38] And so in chapter 1, we see where the subject of the wrath of God that is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

[4:52] And then the Lord goes on to say, you know, I've delivered the truth to you through your conscience and through my creation, and you have rejected it. And let's see, verse 21 in the first chapter.

[5:05] For even though they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculation, and their foolish heart was darkened.

[5:19] So the Lord says, I came to you, the human race, through your conscience, through creation, that you would know me, and you have rejected that. And he said, you've rejected it to such a degree that you set up idols.

[5:36] And he said, you know, I just had to come to the point. Have at it. If that's what you want, that's not what I want for you. But the Lord says, he says, he's given them over to the lust of their hearts regarding things like idolatry.

[5:53] And then he says, and also you're now involved in degrading passions, diversions of sexual unnatural acts and so forth.

[6:06] And he says, if that's what you want, then the Lord says, what can I do about that? And then he says, and also in verse 28, he says, and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to depraved minds to do those things which are not proper.

[6:29] And then he gives a whole litany of the things of sin that we see both in those times and in our time today. So that was the doctrine of sin that we had studied in detail.

[6:43] Chapter two was the impartiality of God. And he says, okay, we've got some who like to judge others to say, well, you know, I have a much more holier than you.

[6:53] I'm much more spiritual climate than you. And the Lord addresses that regarding those that would like to pass judgment on others when the Lord would say, hey, what about yourself?

[7:06] And then he gets into even the Jew. And the Jew likes to teach from the law. And in that same chapter, Paul will address and say, wait a minute, rabbi or teacher, you do the same things.

[7:21] When you tell somebody not to cheat, you do the same thing. When you tell somebody not to commit adultery, you do the same thing. And so the Lord is saying, I am impartial. That all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

[7:33] And there is none that occupies a place outside of that. And then in chapter three, the question is arisen by the first verse.

[7:44] What advantage does a Jew have in a situation of sin? And Paul will go ahead and answer that. In fact, we're going to later on quote a situation whereby a Jew would like to get around the gospel and like to use the law to do that.

[8:03] And so we will come back to that as well. All right. And then in chapter, the latter part of chapter three, we reach the high point of scripture. And it's the simple words, beautiful words, only two words.

[8:17] It says, but now. So after all the discussions through two and a half chapters, we reach the words, but now. And here's the beauty of those words. We're going to read up to verse 21, chapter three to verse 24.

[8:32] But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophet, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe.

[8:50] For there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by his grace through the redemption, which is in Christ Jesus.

[9:07] So now we're introduced to a doctrine to justification by faith. And it is a beautiful doctrine because in simple terms, it means our salvation.

[9:20] And then today's lesson will be on sanctification. And so when we look at these doctrines, in my past, I would say, well, what are some of the most important doctrines in all of scripture?

[9:31] And my own personal conclusion would be the doctrine of the Trinity of God, the doctrine of the Father, the doctrine of the Son, and the doctrine of the Holy Spirit are overwhelmingly, if I know who he is and what he's done for me, that doctrine is the greatest for me.

[9:51] Then the next doctrine that would be of greatest would be God's relationship to us. And that would be the doctrine of salvation, the doctrine of justification. And then third would be today's lesson, the truth of how we have Christ in us at salvation and seek to live for him.

[10:13] And so we saw in chapter 3, imparting to us the doctrine of justification, of salvation.

[10:24] Chapter 4, Paul gets into how justification actually exists in Old Testament times. And then he will quote Abraham and he'll quote David.

[10:36] And for instance, in verse 3 of chapter 4, For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was credit to him as righteousness.

[10:47] So Abraham looked forward, he looked ahead toward the Messiah, to the cross. And because of his faith, it was counted him as righteousness, as justification.

[11:00] And so that was chapter 4 to deal with both examples of Abraham and also David.

[11:11] And then chapter 5, we spent, two weeks ago, we had our brother Mark talk about, all right, with justification now in our life, here are the benefits of that.

[11:24] And one of the first benefits is that we have peace with God now. Before we were his enemy because of our sin. Now we are at peace with God.

[11:36] And we also have introduction or we have access into his grace. Before there was no access into Christ when you were an unbeliever. But through justification, you have access into his grace, as verse 2 points out in chapter 5.

[11:54] And then it also mentioned that we exalt in the hope now that we have. And it's not a hope, hope, hope. It's a hope with reality that I know my future now.

[12:06] And then we also talked about exalting in tribulation, whereby we're, okay, tribulation's coming our way. But it's going to develop perseverance.

[12:17] It's going to develop proven character and so forth. And then in verse 5 of chapter 5, And hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit that was given to us.

[12:33] So some more revelation that now we experience the great love of God for the believer. We are now a child of God. And the Holy Spirit is the one who has given that, was given to us for that purpose.

[12:50] And so last week, David spoke about the latter part of chapter 5. And it was a summation of the beauty of our justification. And it had a number of contrasts.

[13:03] That were brought out. And we're going to look at some of those. Because when we get to chapter 6, the first thing that's asked us in a form of a question.

[13:15] What shall we say then? Well, we don't know what to say unless something brings us back to what shall we say then. And that's what David brought up last week. And that is comparison of what wrath or what the things that Adam brought into our lives versus what Christ has done for us.

[13:39] And so if we, before we get to chapter 6, we look at chapter 5, verse 18. We'll see some of these contrasts because they will play an important part of how we explain things in chapter 6 today.

[13:52] So, verse 18 in your Bible. So then, as through one transgression, Adam, there resulted in condemnation to all man's death.

[14:05] Even so, through the one act of righteousness that resulted in justification of life to all man.

[14:15] The one act of righteousness, our Lord Jesus Christ bearing our sins on Calvary's cross for you and I. All right. That was contrast number one.

[14:26] Verse 19, contrast number two. For as through one man's disobedience. Adam again. Many were made sinners. All right. Now we have the label that we are sinners.

[14:37] And not only do we have the label, we like to act it out. We like to sin. We like to enjoy our pleasures and so forth. And verse 19, the latter half of that contrast.

[14:49] And even so, through the obedience of the one. Our Lord Jesus Christ obedient to his Father to go to the cross. The many were made righteous.

[15:00] So, one made us a sinner. The other one makes us righteous. And now, verse 20. One more contrast. The law came in so that transgression would increase.

[15:13] The law came in that sin would increase. But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. Wow. We got to explain that first part.

[15:27] How is it that the law, which is not sin, which doesn't create sin, increases sin? All right. Here's an example.

[15:38] Back when, in the late 40s, the 50s, I was going to start driving around 1956. But I do remember, in the state of Kansas, you want to go from Kansas City to Salina or Wichita or Topeka.

[15:56] Whatever time you wanted to get there, that's all the time you allowed to get there. So, if you want to go 80 miles an hour to get there quickly, or if you want to go slow and get there much more leisurely, you chose your time.

[16:07] But back in those days, you know, accidents were starting to happen, and tires used to have rubber tubes in them. I remember those days. And if that tube blew out, you lost control of your car.

[16:21] And when I lived in New Jersey, there was a lot of four-lane highways whereby there was no center divide. And when you lost that tire, you were over in the other lane, and you were into a head-on collision.

[16:32] So, these legislatures said, you know, we've got to start setting some limits to speeds and so forth. So, they made laws, and the next thing you know, they had along the highways posted 55 with the word max above it, or 30 in the cities and so forth.

[16:50] Well, the poor motorists, not used to that. They speed, and they get pulled over, and they get taken to court, or have to arrive to court on a date before a judge or before a violation bureau, told them what they were doing wrong, their lawlessness, fine men, take their license away, perhaps, in some situation.

[17:17] And so, we see in that, that when you go back and look at all the record books of the violation bureaus, they said, man, they're loaded with violations that people have done.

[17:30] What an increase. It once was zero. But now, with these signs they put up, it indicates that the violations of lawlessness is a big number.

[17:43] So, I hope that kind of gives us an idea that the law, the word of God, Moses' law, was one to reveal the depth and the magnitude of sin.

[17:55] So, when the law came in, so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.

[18:09] Now, that contrast there, grace abounded all the more, is going to be a question that comes up in chapter 6 that'll be important to address. But to finish out 21, in order for contrast, it's summing all of this up from David's message of last week.

[18:26] So that, as sin reigned or ruled in death, thank you, Adam, even so grace would reign or rule through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

[18:42] And so, the summation of justification by faith is beautifully explained that grace is greater than all our sins.

[18:54] And so, I hope that answers, what shall we say then? Because Paul raised a question immediately after that, and he says, are we to continue in sin that grace may increase?

[19:05] Now, where does Paul get that kind of a questioning? Well, a lot of Christians back in those days, probably listening to some Greek philosophies and thinking of great men, the Socrates and the Plato's and the Aristoteles and so forth.

[19:23] I remember one time when I was a teenager, I ordered for all the books of the great Western world, and I eventually sent them back. I said, no, this isn't for me. Not at the age of 18.

[19:33] But anyway, what Paul was aware of, of his readers, is that they may have been exposed to Greek and Roman philosophies who rationalize, who want to be logical, who want human reasoning.

[19:57] And it's founded in what was called antinominism. Anti-meaning against, and nomin means rules or regulations or limitations and so forth.

[20:15] And so, the thought of Christians saying, okay, I have grace now that's greater than my sins, so I'm covered. If I don't see change in my life and I'm enjoying my sins, well, grace is covering it.

[20:32] And Paul says, wait a minute, may it never be. We see that in the passage there, verse 2.

[20:45] What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be. And then he says this, follow-up question.

[20:56] How shall we, who died to sin, still live in it? How shall we, who have died to sin, still live in sin? And so, he wants to say, hey, there's more than a logical answer to this.

[21:12] There's more than trying to say, why should we be under rules and regulations and restriction? And so, he brings that up as, and the key word in there that perhaps the reader was not used to is the terminology died to sin.

[21:30] So, maybe it's the first time they're hearing it, or maybe it's a reminder they're hearing it. And so, we're going to take a little, a deeper look at that.

[21:44] But before they perhaps even had a chance to answer that question, he poses another question while they're thinking of that one, verse 3. Or, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?

[22:07] Before we go any further, let's bow for a word of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the privilege this morning of looking into your word and looking at this beautiful passage of yours on the sanctification of the believer for clarity, Lord, so that our hearts would be established in the truth of the beauty of our salvation and the beauty of our living in Christ.

[22:38] And so, Lord, we just pray this morning that these thoughts are from you and from your heart and that our lives would be changed by them. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

[22:51] Okay. So, the first word there is, that was mentioned, died to sin. All right. So far, that phrase never came up. We heard about unbelievers dying because of their sin.

[23:05] We heard of one who died on the cross for our sins. But we had not heard the expression, as Paul mentioned here, how should we who have died to sin?

[23:18] Okay. Now, believer, because that's who he's addressing. When he says we, he's not talking about any believers in this passage. He's talking about we, believers. How should we who have died to sin still live in sin?

[23:31] And so, to make clarity of that, he goes on with verse 3 that we just read. And he says, Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death?

[23:51] All right. Two more new terminologies. Baptized into Jesus. Okay. Baptized, the word in Greek, baptizo, which means immersion.

[24:02] And so, Paul says, Now, let me make you understand. Did you not know that you have been immersed into Christ Jesus? And because of that, you have been immersed into his death.

[24:18] And so, Paul is starting to reveal why the thinking of number one, why you don't want to always be sinning because you've got the liberty to do it. Uh-uh. You're going to see the beauty of what Christ has done for you that you shouldn't even be thinking that way.

[24:33] And so, and then he goes on further in order to explain verse 3, verse 4. He said, Therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

[24:58] And so, he said, we've been buried with him. Now, if we turn back in your Bible to John chapter 14, we are now talking about if Christ has been baptized, and we've been baptized into him, it has to do with a promise that the Lord made when he was getting ready to go to the cross, and he wanted to pass on some information to his disciples that was very important to him.

[25:27] And that would be John chapter 14, verse 16. I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper, that he may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it doesn't know him, or doesn't see him, or know him, but you know him, because he abides with you, and will be in you.

[26:04] So, one thing, when you look back at the disciples, the Lord was always with them. But here we have something even greater that the Lord's promise to the disciples and to us.

[26:16] He's not only going to be with you in the future, he's going to be in you. And let's go over one more chapter in John, chapter 15, verse 26.

[26:28] When the helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will testify about me.

[26:44] And so this baptism we're talking about is the baptism of the Holy Spirit in our life. And you say, wait, Frank, you said earlier that it was Christ in us.

[26:55] That's the second person of the Trinity. Well, the Trinity is so tied together that when we talk about the Father, the Son is totally involved in this, and the Holy Spirit.

[27:10] When we talk about the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. So, the union that we can't quite gather in our earthly minds that is so beautiful within the Trinity is that, as the Lord said to one time and somebody said, well, would you show us the Father?

[27:27] And what was the Lord's response? Well, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. So, that's the kind of intricate relationship there is within that.

[27:38] And so, when Paul promised us the Holy Spirit, that is the Christ that's in us. And so, amen for that passage that the Lord revealed that that day was coming, and it has.

[27:57] All right. Let's turn to Galatians and hold your place in chapter 6, 220, because I think this verse is really, will sum up what we're saying so far.

[28:10] And rather than just quote it, I want to read it. Paul speaking. I have been crucified with Christ.

[28:21] It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life that I now live in the flesh, I'm still here, in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.

[28:43] So, when we're back here in this passage and we say, okay, Paul says I've died. Well, he wasn't on the cross, but when Christ was crucified on the cross for our sins, Paul in his justification was dying to his old self, to his old nature.

[29:05] What was that old nature? He was an enemy with God. And, you know, remember what Paul, he went about killing Christians. He was such an enemy of God. And he had no access to Christ.

[29:19] And he loved sin. He probably wouldn't admit it, like a lot of times we won't, but the old world is what Paul died.

[29:32] So, that's what it said, that we have died with Christ we've been buried with him. And then, verse 5 of our chapter today, chapter 6, verse 5.

[29:45] For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection.

[29:57] So, there's a confirmation. There's an assurance. The word united is joining us with the baptism of the Holy Spirit by saying he's indwelling us, he's abiding in us, he's living in us, and he's united with us here in this passage.

[30:19] And then Paul goes on to further say, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him. So, that's where we get the idea where Paul says, I am crucified with Christ.

[30:31] He said, he died for my sin on the cross, but I died to my old life, my terrible life of sin. Thank you, Adam. My sinful life that just brought me just misery and destruction and wreckage of families and wreckage of careers and just so many things that the old life has ruined for us.

[30:57] So, that the old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin.

[31:12] Our life that the sin might be done away with, the body of sin. Well, that's in process. That's a warning to Satan that a red flag that the day is coming that through all of our resurrection that the body of sin be totally out of our life.

[31:33] And so, Scripture is saying that we also are no longer the slaves of sin. So, one of the things of the old life was the power of sin over us, but the bondage of sin from Satan that dominated our life.

[31:52] And so, Scripture, in fact, when David gives his lesson in a couple of weeks, it'll bring that up, the fact that we have been shackled, and we've been enslaved because of the old life.

[32:07] But verse 7 says, For he, speaking of you and I, who have died is freed from sin. It doesn't say we have become sinless. It's become, we've been loose from the power and the bondage of sin, and so that there's no reason why we have to live anymore.

[32:25] And then verses 8 through 11 is one more beautiful thing about our sanctification. And let's read those verses.

[32:37] Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again.

[32:50] Death has no longer, is master over him. For the death that he died, he died for sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God.

[33:03] Even so, speaking to us, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. So when the first question came up, should we continue living in sin?

[33:18] Then Paul, after teaching us the beauty of Christ in our life, that we wouldn't want to live in sin, he said, so consider yourself to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

[33:31] I want to just follow through with a couple passages that David will become his first passages when he gives his lesson, but I want our magicians to come up, and I would like to read these, because they are tied in, even though my lesson was supposed to be up to 11.

[33:48] 12 through 14, as we just read these, become very important, because I want to make one comment about it. Verse 12, therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you will obey its truth, its lust.

[34:05] And do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead.

[34:18] And your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace.

[34:34] And what a beautiful fitting. And one comment, when I think about helper, you know, sometimes if I can't do something, then I go get a neighbor or somebody could help me.

[34:47] But it's like, in the case, I find out the helper wound up doing all the work. And I became the helper. It's like a woman. She said, oh, I've got company coming.

[34:58] I didn't know about it, but I've got to fix a dinner for them. Mom's next door, I'm going to ask her to come over and help me with that dinner. But meanwhile, the phone rings. And the daughter is over there taking this very important call.

[35:10] And meanwhile, mom is making the whole meal. And then the daughter gets off the phone and says, mom, is there anything I can help you with? And, well, mom, the helper, is the one who did all the work.

[35:23] So in, I say that because in our life of sanctification, we often think there's a whole bunch of do's and do's that we need to remember in order to make sanctification work.

[35:38] I think if we many times realize the Holy Spirit is ready to do mostly all the work for us. Now, it's not a passive thing to say, all right, Lord, take over.

[35:50] You do it all. But I run into things I shouldn't do. You know, you solve the problem for me. It's the idea that we play an important part in our sanctification. but the Lord is available to make the difference in everything that we do.

[36:06] And so, I thought that would be an important factor for us. So, thankfully, that a doctrine that is so important for our life, it's really the basis of all that we are since we came to know Christ is our sanctification.

[36:24]  And it's internally tied in with our justification, with our salvation. Thank you.