In the book of Romans.
You'll remember that the book of Romans is a letter.
! It's a letter written by the Apostle Paul in the 50s A.D.
It's called Romans because Paul writes it to the churches in the city of Rome.
And at the end of the day, it is a letter that is about the gospel.
It's about the good news of Jesus' life and death and resurrection.
Last week, we started chapter 6, and we had this question.
If God forgives sin, why not just sin more?
And that's the question Paul asked in verse 1.
He said, what shall we say then?
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
If you were here last week, you'll remember the answer was no.
That doesn't make any sense.
It doesn't make any sense because you've died to sin,
and you know that you've died to sin because of your union with Christ.
And then Paul ended verse 4 talking about walking in newness of life,
which is the life that's empowered by the Holy Spirit,
the life where the same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is at work in you.
This week, we continue that same question, but we expand on it.
It's the same topic.
We're picking up where we left off with verse 4, walking in newness of life.
And this passage takes us the next step, which is this.
How do we walk in that life?
If the glory of the Father raised Christ from the dead,
and that power is at work in us,
what do we do with it?
How do we walk in it?
It's going to be what we look at this week and next week.
Now, in these verses, verses 5 through 11,
Paul is actually going to repeat a lot of what he said in verses 1 through 4.
He's even going to repeat some of what we looked at in chapter 5, verses 12 through 21.
Okay, so we're going to focus this morning.
Not every verse is going to receive the same amount of attention
because some verses are repeating what's come before.
Our focus this morning is on two new concepts,
verses 6 and 7.
We're going to see that we are free from the slavery of sin.
Verse 11, Paul tells us,
consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
So our focus is in those two areas,
focusing especially on verses 6 and 7,
the idea of being free from the slavery of sin.
Focusing also on verse 11,
we consider ourselves dead to sin,
alive to God in Christ.
Jesus.
It's with that that I invite you to turn with me to Romans chapter 6.
You can turn in your Bible.
You'll also find it on page 7 of your worship guide.
As we turn to it, remember that this is God's word.
And Jeremiah chapter 23 tells us that God's word is like a hammer
that breaks a rock into pieces,
which is a way of saying that there is nothing more powerful than God's word.
So that's why we read it now, Romans chapter 6,
starting at verse 5.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his,
we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing,
so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
For the one who has died has been set free from sin.
Verse 8.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again.
Death no longer has dominion over him.
For the death he died, he died to sin once for all.
But the life he lives, he lives to God.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's word.
Our Father in heaven, we do thank you again for your word that you've given to us.
We thank you that you've united us to yourself.
That when Christ died, we died.
And when he rose, he brought us new life.
We ask that you'd remind us of those truths this morning,
that you would bring them to life in our hearts, in our lives, in our minds.
That you would help us to understand your word.
Even more than that, you would show us Jesus Christ.
We would see his great glory and power and majesty and holiness.
His authority, his mercy, his grace, and his love.
And we ask that you would use our time together to grow our love and affection,
our reverence in all, our obedience to Christ.
We ask these things in his mighty name.
Amen.
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine took a trip to the sand dunes in southern Colorado.
And as she was hiking up the sand dunes, she came to the hardest part of the trail.
She's hiking barefoot through the sand, and the trail becomes narrow.
And as she was coming along, trying to get to the top,
there was this obnoxious woman who was spread out, laying down on the ground,
just blocking the path entirely.
And not only was she just spread out, lying down, blocking the path entirely,
but she was actually smirking.
And refusing to move as people would come up along this trail.
And you'd think, on a normal trail, this wouldn't be a big deal.
But this is the sand dunes.
And so it's hard enough as it is to walk on the trail.
It's even harder to navigate around someone who is spread out on the trail.
And my friend was hiking barefoot, so that makes it even more challenging.
And so as she told this story, she said this,
I wanted to kick sand in her face.
Which is understandable.
And the plan, of course, would be she's going to pretend it was an accident.
Oh, sorry, I didn't mean for my foot to move in that direction.
But she said, but then I remembered,
I'm a child of God.
So she didn't.
She didn't kick sand in her face.
I tell you that story because that is the point of this passage.
In fact, that might capture some of the point of the end of chapter 5
and what we saw last week.
That is what it looks like to walk in newness of life,
according to Paul in this passage.
Walking in newness of life is remembering who you are.
Now, my friend could have said,
you know, I remembered what I remember from Romans chapter 5,
that I was in Adam and now I'm in Christ
and the power of sin has ceased to have authority over me
and that when Christ died, I died,
and that the reign of sin no longer controls the center of my heart
and so I've risen to resurrection life,
which is the newness of life that's empowered
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
She could have said all of that,
but she captured all of that by simply saying,
I remembered I am a child of God.
That's why I don't kick sand in people's face.
Romans chapter 6 is detailed and technical and complicated.
Romans chapter 5 was the same way,
but at the end of the day,
as we move through those things and understand them,
I want you to remember that.
The Christian does not continue in sin
because the Christian is a child of God.
It's as simple as that.
So as we move through this passage,
that is the big idea.
The Christian instead grows to look more and more like Jesus Christ.
So as we navigate through verses 5 and 11,
if you're tempted to get lost,
I want you to remember that is the big idea.
I am a child of God.
Much of this passage, as I mentioned,
is repetition from last week,
so we're going to move quickly through some of it.
Verse 5 tells us why we have the newness of life
that was mentioned in verse 4.
Sin, this is what verse 5 is telling us,
sin lost power because of Christ's death.
Life gains power because of Christ's resurrection.
Sin lost power because of Christ's death.
Life gains power because of Christ's resurrection.
Jesus died, you died.
Jesus rose, you rise.
By the way, that's the same thing that verse 8 is telling us.
Verse 8 is also saying,
Jesus' death, our death.
Jesus' life, our life.
That takes us then to verse 6,
which is the most confusing verse in this section
because of two phrases.
It uses the phrase,
the old self and the body of sin.
We know that our old self was crucified with him
in order that the body of sin
might be brought to nothing.
And when he says the old self,
he is talking about what we discussed
at the end of chapter 5,
you when you were in Adam.
So the old self is the self
when sin controlled and owned your heart.
The old self is you
when sin owned and controlled your heart.
The body of sin is related
but not identical to the old self.
The body of sin is how the old self
in the totality of your person
played out in real time and space.
So we could put it this way.
You are no longer in Adam,
so no old self.
Therefore, your entire life has changed.
No body of sin.
That's simply what Paul is saying in a sense.
That's again what we saw last week.
He's telling us again,
sin doesn't rule over you.
You don't have to obey it anymore.
Sin does not rule over you.
You don't have to obey it anymore.
That takes us to the new concept for this week
at the end of verse 6,
which is the concept of slavery.
Verse 6, he says,
you no longer be enslaved to sin.
That's the negative.
You're not enslaved.
Now verse 7 gives us the positive.
You've been set free from sin.
And Paul's again basically saying,
remember what I told you in verses 1 through 4.
You are free from the power of sin.
So verses 6 and 7,
two sides of the same coin.
You're no longer a slave,
but free.
And so that's the new idea
that he introduces in this passage.
And so as we think about
what it means to be enslaved to sin,
I want to return to my
non-sand-kicking friend.
If you're not a Christian,
you might be thinking,
that's the stupidest illustration
of Christianity I've ever heard.
I actually don't need Christianity
to not kick sand in people's faces.
I'm an adult.
I have something called self-control.
And if you thought that,
you would be right.
You probably do have self-control.
Most of you are adults.
And you would still be a slave to sin.
Whether you do that specific action or not,
sin is still the ruling power in your life.
Whether you do that specific action or not,
sin is still the ruling power in your life.
Remember, we talked about this
in Genesis chapter 20.
I think that was over the summer
with the story of Abimelech and Abraham.
And we said, look,
sometimes Christians act poorly
and pagans behave really well.
The Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck explains it.
He says, look,
non-Christians can refrain from sinful actions.
But,
non-Christians can refrain from sinful actions,
but it is a battle,
this is what he calls it,
a battle from the outside.
They cannot do what he,
he cannot invade the inner forces
of the heart.
They cannot attack the evil at its roots.
They cannot invade the inner fortress of the heart.
They cannot attack the evil at its roots.
Then gives us another category.
If you're not a Christian,
you can,
by exercising your self-control,
restrain and limit sin.
You can,
even if you're not a Christian,
restrain and limit sin.
But there are some things you can't do.
Bavinck says,
you cannot cleanse it or renew it.
You cannot cleanse it or renew it.
In other words,
yes,
you can be someone who's not a Christian
and you can live a moral life
in certain ways.
And you can refrain from certain actions,
but when you do that,
at your very best,
you are white knuckling.
You are holding on with your strength
to restrain your lusts and your impulses.
You're trying to keep those things at bay.
But you cannot cleanse your heart.
You cannot renew it.
Of course,
we've talked about this other idea before,
that something is only truly good
and pleasing to God
if it's done for the right reasons,
which is for God's honor and his glory.
Of course,
that's not the function, right,
of someone who is white knuckling
certain behaviors.
Bob Vink says,
you know,
someone might behave
because they want respectability.
They might behave
because of the morals
of the culture around them.
But,
if sin controls
the inner fortress of your heart,
you are indeed its slave.
We can think again
of what happened
with my friend.
You might notice
what her reasoning was not.
Notice what her power was not.
She didn't say,
I was going to kick sand in her face,
but then I thought,
what will people think?
What if someone saw me?
That would be the power of shame.
She'd be using shame
to kind of hold her behavior at bay.
She didn't say,
what will happen?
What if this woman stands up
and wants to have a fist fight with me?
That'd be the power of fear, right?
That would be
what's motivating her.
That would have been
fighting from the outside, right?
That would have been
the fortress
that she can't penetrate,
but she's holding,
restraining,
and limiting sin.
But no,
when she said,
I didn't do it
because I'm a child of God,
what she's saying is this.
The inner fortress
of my heart
has changed.
The power center
of my life
no longer has sin
in the chair.
In my command center,
at the very inner place
of my heart,
it's actually Jesus Christ
ruling and reigning
as king.
And so I'm not
white knuckling,
not controlling
my behavior
for respectability
or because of the society
around me.
No,
I'm a child of God.
The power of God
by his spirit,
the same power
that raised Jesus Christ
from the dead
is at work
cleansing,
renewing,
and transforming
me.
Even more than that,
what my friend was saying
was I did the right thing
for the right reason.
I didn't do it
to escape consequences,
I didn't do it
to escape shame,
I did it
for God's honor
and his glory.
I'm his child.
Why would I do
anything else?
That's what we sang
about our second song
this morning.
We sang Run and Run.
It says this
in the first verse.
Run and run,
the law demands,
which is saying,
this is when you're
trying to fight
from outside the fortress,
but gives me
neither feet nor hands.
In other words,
your only tool
is white knuckling.
Better news,
the gospel brings,
it bids me fly,
it gives me wings.
Wings.
Those wings,
the power of the Holy Spirit,
the glory of God
that raised Christ
from the dead
at work in the heart
and life of the believer.
We also saw it
in our Old Testament
reading this morning
from Ezekiel chapter 36.
What does God promise?
This is on page three
of your worship guide.
I will cleanse you,
I will give you
a new heart.
I will remove
the heart of stone
from your flesh
and give you
a heart of flesh.
That's in a sense
what my friend was saying.
God has given me
a new heart.
When she did that,
she was following,
in a sense,
the other new concept
in this passage,
verse 11.
Verse 11 says,
so you also must
consider yourselves
dead to sin
and alive to God
in Christ Jesus.
And what Paul
is saying there is,
hey,
remember what's true.
It's true
that you are
dead to sin
and alive to God
in Christ Jesus.
Now you need to
consider yourself
that way.
You need to remember that.
You need to think
about yourself
in those terms.
You need to remind yourself
of what's already true.
That is how you take hold
of the power
that we saw last week.
It's also saying,
hey,
it's actually really easy
to forget that you're
in Christ
and to think
that you're still
in Adam.
It's easy to forget
that you belong to God
and he's changing
your heart.
And so you have to
constantly be
reminding yourself,
remembering,
coming back again
and again to what is true.
And what is true
is this,
when Jesus died,
you died.
when Jesus rose
from the dead,
he gave you
new life.
Scottish pastor
named Sinclair Ferguson
illustrates this
with this concept
of being called up
to military service,
the draft.
And so I've taken
this illustration
and I've adapted it
to be about yours truly.
When I turned 18,
as a man
in the United States,
I had to register
for selective service
so that the military
would know who I was
if they ever wanted
to have a draft.
Now that hasn't
happened for me,
but I want you to imagine
for a second
that our neighbors
to the north,
our great Canadian friends,
decide they're going
to have a military draft.
They're calling up names
and the name
Matthew Capone
pops up.
Matthew is called
to fight
for the Canadian military.
And so Canada
calls me up,
and they say,
guess what?
You showed up
in the draft.
This is your date
to show up
and serve in the military.
You're going to help us
fight our war
against whomever.
What am I going to do
in that moment?
Do I shake in my boots?
Oh no,
I have to go to war
for Canada.
No,
I'm going to laugh
in their face.
And why would I laugh
in their face?
I'm not a Canadian citizen.
You have no,
what?
You have no power
over me.
Point is this.
Sin
is going to call you up
as a Christian.
Hey,
you know what would be
a great idea?
I think you,
I think you should flirt
with someone
who isn't your spouse.
Actually,
I'm going to command you
to do that.
I'm sin.
I'm going to speak to you.
What do you do?
You laugh.
That's really silly.
Why would I do that?
I'm not a citizen of sin.
That doesn't make any sense.
That actually sounds
kind of miserable.
That sounds like slavery.
Sin calls you up.
Hey,
I have a great idea for you.
I want you to rehearse
all the ways
you've been hurt.
Whatever grudges you have,
I really want you
nursing those.
Actually,
I don't just want you
doing that.
I command you to do that.
What are you going to say?
You're going to laugh.
I'm not a citizen of sin.
I don't have to do
what you tell me to do.
That actually sounds
kind of miserable.
That sounds like slavery.
If you're falsely accused,
sin's going to come to you
and say,
you know what?
Punch them back.
They hurt you.
You hurt them.
What are you going to say?
You're going to laugh.
You're going to say,
I'm actually a child of God.
And you know what God says
to his children?
He says he's going to defend them.
He's going to vindicate them.
I'm not going to worry
that someone's falsely accused me.
I know that God
is the bringer of justice.
I don't need to punch back.
I'm what?
I'm free.
Not a citizen to sin.
Of course,
it's easier said
than done.
Which is the point
of verse 11.
Paul has to remind us
to do it.
Paul is saying,
look,
think in this way.
Remind yourself
of what's true.
The Christian life,
one way of thinking about it,
it is a battle
to remember
who you actually are.
It's a battle
to remember
that you are in Christ,
not in Adam.
It is a battle
to remember
you are no longer
under the reign of sin.
It has no power
or authority over you.
You have died to sin.
You are no longer in Adam.
You have been set free.
I don't care
what sin says.
Sin calling me up
and telling me
what to do
is as silly
as Canada
trying to draft
Matthew Capone
to their military.
I'm not part
of that reign.
I'm not part
of that rule.
By the way,
and this is stretching
back to last week,
how do I know
I am now in Christ?
I've been baptized.
Yeah, what sin?
When sin comes to you,
you remind it.
Actually, that's silly.
I've been baptized.
I died when Christ died.
When he rose,
I was given life.
Now what I'm about
to tell you
is going to sound
a little weird.
It's going to sound weird
because it is,
but it's also brilliant.
I have a friend.
She's a member
of Generation Z,
and she has trained
ChatGPT
to remind her
of truths from Romans.
So one time I said,
okay, I want to watch you do this.
Show me what you do.
So she opened up ChatGPT.
She's trained it.
She said, hey,
ChatGPT,
I'm having a really bad day.
I really need you
to help me get back on track
and remember what's true.
And ChatGPT said,
remember,
you have actually died to sin.
You are no longer
a slave to righteousness.
You actually belong to Christ.
Sin has no power over you.
And that, my friends,
is a modern solution
to an ancient problem.
She, in a sense,
is working to live out
verse 11.
She's reckoning herself
dead to sin
and alive to Christ Jesus.
That is what this passage
is telling us.
We return again and again.
We remind ourselves
over and over
of what is true
and not just reminding ourselves,
reminding each other.
You may still feel like a slave.
You may still act like a slave
at times,
but you are a slave no more.
You are free.
So act like it.
Behave like it.
Now, I don't mean
to oversimplify this.
There are other pieces
to consider
in our battle against sin.
It certainly is more
than this, right?
But it is not less
than this.
And this is the place
that Paul leans in
in this passage.
In this passage,
as we think about
what all of the Bible
teaches about fighting sin,
Paul says,
this is one
of the tools
in your belt.
Remember what is true.
Reckon yourself.
Consider yourself
dead to sin
and alive to God
in Christ Jesus.
Finally, Paul reminds us
it's not just that
we're free now.
He also goes out of his way
to tell us
we will always be free.
There's, in fact,
no chance
of going back
into slavery.
That's the point
of verses 9,
and 10.
Verses 9 and 10,
he's saying one thing,
essentially.
Look,
it's a done deal.
You actually can't
unresurrect Jesus.
And if you can't
unresurrect Jesus,
you can't be a slave
to sin anymore.
Jesus has risen,
verse 10,
once for all.
It's done.
There's no threat
of Jesus being pulled
back into the tomb.
Verse 9,
never die again.
Okay,
it can't be clear.
You are free
from sin forever
because Jesus rose
from the dead
forever.
You're free
from sin forever
because Jesus rose
from the dead
forever.
Jesus is not
going back
in the tomb,
so you can't go back
into slavery
to sin.
It's done.
The deal's sealed.
return windows over.
Of course,
what Paul teaches us,
Jesus taught
first.
Jesus tells us this
in John chapter 14,
if you love me,
you will keep
my commandments.
how do we live
the resurrection
life?
How do we walk
in the newness
of life
that Paul talked
about last week?
We live it
remembering
that we
are children
of God.
We're no longer
slaves.
We are free
to obey.
So you also
must consider
yourselves
dead to sin
and alive
to God
in Christ
Jesus.
May the mind
of Christ
my Savior
live in me
from day to day
by his love
and power
controlling
all I do
and say.
let's pray.
Our Father
in heaven,
we praise
you
and thank
you
that you
always
empower
what you
command.
You bid us
fly,
but you also
give us
wings.
You've given
us freedom
through the power
of your Holy
Spirit and the
resurrection
of our Lord
Jesus,
and we ask
that you
would remind
us,
especially this
morning,
that that is
true and
that we would
live into it
as we follow
you.
We ask
all of these
things in
Jesus' name.
Amen.