Death to Sin, Part 5

The passage that you will be
focusing on, as well as the places for notes, are there in your
bulletin. And by way of only the briefest
of review, God’s people know where we are.
We’re in Romans six. Paul has turned the corner into
his lengthy discussion of sanctification, which begins in chapter six,
verse one, but carries all the way down through to chapter eight,
verse thirty nine. We are in the midst of this discussion
of sanctification. Paul has presented that we are
all sinful. Paul has given us the hope of
salvation. But lest people think that merely
believing that they possess salvation, Paul wants to correct that potentially
errant thinking into showing them that sanctification must
be present and developing, and that the same God that does the
work of salvation does the work also of sanctification. That’s essentially his premise
as he gets into chapter six here, and he has begun to really defend
his own doctrine. We have spent no little time
presenting that to you, that in chapters five, verse 20 and
21, Paul said some things that might raise some eyebrows and
might even lead to faulty thinking. and rather than have that whole
immediately begins to address that in chapter six verse one.
The question is posed there in verse one. What shall we say
then? Are we to continue in sin that
grace might increase if sin brought down such a mighty wave of God’s
grace? Should we just let go and let
sin run its course so that grace might flood our lives? Well, Paul can’t even hardly
articulate that position. He says, may it never be, verse
2, and he begins there to give us the answer. And the answer
to that question is a reminder of the fact that we have died
in Christ. May it never be. How shall we
who died to sin still live in it? Well, Paul knows Paul knows
our weakness. Paul knows us as sinners and
Paul knows our tendency would be to say, when did exactly did
we die? Throughout this whole section,
there’s an interesting thing. Paul Paul knows us and Paul knows
our thinking. Paul knows what we know and what
we don’t know as believers. And he’s challenging that thinking.
He does it in verse one. What shall we say then? You know,
he knows how we’re thinking. Should we continue in sin? He
knows that we truly understand at the core of our being that’s
not possible. Do you not know? And he brings
up this argument, this line of reasoning again. Have you forgotten? Do you not know that all of us,
verse three, who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized
into his death? Not talking there about water
baptism, talking there about the real thing, not the right,
but the reality that we are having been immersed in Christ. We are those who have been baptized,
immersed into his death. What Paul does from there, is
moved into the purpose. He’s told us that we’ve died,
but he hasn’t told us why. And in verse four, he does that. In verse four, he says, therefore,
we have been buried with him through baptism or immersion
into death in order that so that as Christ was raised from the
dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk
in newness of life. It’s about resurrection. It’s
not about dying at all, ultimately. It’s not about this death. It’s
about life. It’s about a new kind of life.
It’s about newness of life, as we saw last week. Paul is latched
on to this subject of the resurrection, and that’s where he’ll be for
the next number of verses. He is focused in on the resurrected
life, life that comes after death. And what a glorious thought that
there is life after death, that we’re not stuck in this condition. We’re not stuck in a sinful condition. We’re not stuck dead. We’re not
stuck buried. But there is life after those
things, even as there was for Christ. There’s hope. No wonder
Paul refers to it as the hope of the resurrection. Let’s take
those verses in their entirety, we’re going all the way down
through verse seven. What should we say then? Are
we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never
be. How shall we who died to sin
still live in it? Or do you not know that all of
us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized
into his death? Therefore, we have been buried
with him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ
was raised from 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
be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this. that our old self
was crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done
away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, for
he who has died is freed from sin. Paul wants to, having already
introduced the idea of resurrection or resurrected life, newness
of life, a life that is different based on the fact that as we
died with Christ, we too will rise and be resurrected with
Christ, not just in the eschatological future, not just when Christ
returns to bring his children home, not just from the grave,
physically speaking. But Paul wants us to know that
we live a resurrected life right now. As soon as someone places
their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, they die to self, they
die to sin, they die with Christ, as we’ll see in a moment, and
they immediately begin to live a resurrected life, newness of
life. Paul wants to show, he wants
to illustrate this, by indicating that our union with Christ in
his crucifixion was key. This is the proof. This is the
proof that we died. And it’s one thing to convince
the saints that we died with Christ. OK, we get that. First
of all, we couldn’t really remember exactly when that was. But OK,
you’ve shown us that when we placed our faith in Christ, we
died with Christ. How exactly did that happen?
So Paul says right here, look at verse five. for if we have
become united with him in the likeness of his death. And so, we have to ask how did
he die? Well, it was a sudden and it
was a dramatic, a violent death. We didn’t physically die there
with him. As one said, the idea of some
that verse five simply refers to that future bodily resurrection
must be rejected. And here’s why. Verse five essentially
underscores and repeats the entire preceding context. Believers
are in union with the Lord Jesus Christ, we are in union with
him in his death and we are in union with him in his resurrection. So our death to sin means a resurrection
to newness of life. That’s what he has just said
in verse four. We are risen just as Christ arose. So we are called to walk in newness
of life, we’re called to walk differently, we’re called to
walk completely differently than we used to live. Because it’s
now that we begin truly to draw on the giver of life. What this verse essentially points
to is how legitimate that point that Paul made, the reference
to new life, newness of life in the preceding verse. Union
with Christ at the point of his death points ultimately to union
with Christ In his resurrection, in his resurrected life. The
new nature is stamped upon us, new nature is given to us, we
are completely new. We no longer live and walk as
we used to live. Our death with Christ meant something.
And in verse five, it says that points to it in this fashion.
If we have become united with him, it’s a very fascinating
word. It’s used nowhere else in the
New Testament. But this word in its original, when it referred
to trees and you know where I’m going here, we haven’t had a
good garden illustration in a long time. So here’s where we go.
In the original, when this word referred to trees, and it was
a very common agricultural term, what it pointed to was planting
the trees in the same locality or vicinity, largely for the
purpose of pollination. And so in a very real sense,
they were planted together. And what it pointed to was a
close union, a bond, where they were almost seen as one. There
was this organic, if you will, union. Now in time, and here
comes your garden illustration for the year, in time I began
to really study this in gardening. We do this a lot in gardening,
well some, that you plant beneficial plants with others that really
have a kind of symbiotic relationship to where they’re almost seen
as one, they benefit one another. And there’s dozens and dozens
of them. I’m going to just give you one.
Plant marigolds with squash. I told you this was going to
be practical stuff. Plant marigolds with squash. You see, we like
squash, but we’re not the only ones that like squash, right?
Anybody who’s grown squash knows that there’s little bugs that
like squash, too. Only these bugs have disease. When the bugs
eat the vines and bore into the vines, they spread disease. The
vine dies and so does our butternut, right? There’s a couple of nodding
heads, so don’t. I’m not going to lose you. It’s
a simple one. So the idea is plant marigolds
among your squash. Why? Because bugs hate marigolds. Let me tell you how I know this.
When I was four, See, all of my lessons are experiential in
nature. When I was four, I saw these
beautiful orange flowers, you know what I’m talking about,
those tiny little orange flowers, so pungent, and I figured they
must be delectable to eat, and so I think I ate two or three
before there was a very violent episode. This is how I know that planting
marigolds with your butternut squash protects the butternut
because it does the same things to the bugs when they eat the
marigolds. And so this word means to be
planted together in such a fashion that the two become almost one. There’s another illustration
from Greek mythology. Remember the centaur? The same
word was used to describe him, a union of human flesh and the
horse. Kind of a creepy image, right?
But still, that’s how the word was used. What Paul says here
is that we are grown together. We are planted together and we
are grown together. We have an organic union with
Christ. We are, as we saw for the last
two weeks, we are in Christ. And if we had become united,
one with Him, forming this union with Christ in the likeness of
His death, we weren’t there physically, we didn’t die physically, but
there is a likeness in dying with Christ that is so strong. As one said, likeness is not
identity. The apostle is not dealing here
with our physical death or physical resurrection. He is dealing with
our debt to sin and ultimately our resurrection to spiritual
life. If we have become united with him in the likeness of his
death and the scriptures for the last four verses have said
that’s the main point that we died with Christ. If that’s the
case, we shall be and I want you to note that we shall be
also in the likeness of his resurrection. It’s not necessarily just talking
about something in the future. We shall be. It’s talking about
the certainty of it. And that’s why I appreciate the
way the New American translated this. Certainly, absolutely,
it’s going to happen. It’s not just talking about something
that’s merely out there in the future. something that one day
will happen to us, it’s axiomatic. If we have died with Christ,
we will begin to live a resurrected life. It’s absolute. It’s certain. If we have become united with
Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in
the likeness of His resurrection. This is great news. As one pastor
said here, the resurrection here spoken of is a spiritual rising
from the dead. The whole discussion relates
to sanctification, and that’s why this is such a great passage
to preach before we draw near to the Lord’s table. It’s perfect. Says it points to the discussion
of sanctification to the necessary connection between the death
of Christ as an atonement for sin and the holiness of his people. These two are cleansed, pardon
me, those who are cleansed from the guilt of sin are cleansed
from its pollution. What he says is to be conjoined
to Christ. In the likeness of his death,
means that we will be conjoined to Christ in the likeness of
his resurrection and Christ rising was a Christ who had risen, having
conquered death and sin. And our rising spiritually is
a rising to walk in a new and different way. Now, Paul is drawing on the memories
of his people. He’s saying this and he’s saying
it so plainly that It should have been common knowledge, it
should be common knowledge to us as Christians that we died
with Christ, that we rise with Christ. Remember, that’s what
we said. That’s why baptism is such a perfect image of this.
Down into the waters and death, buried with Christ, coming out
to live and walk in newness of Christ, with a newness of life
with Christ. But he’s drawing on our knowledge
and he points to it plainly in verse six, knowing this. What he’s basically saying is,
look, go back to the basics, you remember this and the device
that he’s been using throughout this whole chapter. Do you not
know? Have you forgotten? And he says here, you know this.
This is experiential knowledge that you have, you know how God
has operated, you know what God has done in your lives, you know. What he’s done on behalf of believers. He’s appealing to what is what
we would say is common knowledge as we come to Christ this in
time, you may not know it all the first day, but you begin
to discover and learn and realize what God has done on our behalf. Because of Christ, it’s an appeal
to that knowledge. And he points to three things
that we want to focus in on this morning. He’s already pointed to this
confidence that he has in the resurrection, that’s what this
section is about. It’s about a resurrected life. And he points to a confidence
in that. There are a lot of people that
when they talk about hope, it’s as if they have their fingers
crossed. I hope that I will be raised
with Christ. That’s not what he’s talking
about. It’s a knowledge that is so strong because it’s already
being experienced. I know that I walk with Christ. That’s what Paul is saying here.
He wants to talk about this confidence in the resurrection. which is
undergirded, first of all, by a knowledge of the extent of
our union with Christ. I pointed this already. We know
that we died. He said that we died. We acquiesced
to that. We didn’t remember it at first.
That was we forgot that that was part of the gospel to come
and to die, to take up our cross. We had forgotten that part. But
OK, you told us that we died with Christ. OK, Paul, we believe
that. But to what extent are we in
union with Christ? To what extent is Christ in us
and we in him? That’s the content of this knowledge
base is what Paul points to look at the passage again in verse
six, knowing this, what do we know that our old self was crucified
with him? You’re right, Paul. I had forgotten
that. But that is part of our knowledge
base, and that’s essentially what we do by way of edification
in each other’s lives and basically remind others of what God has
done, of who we are in Christ, of what we have, what we possess.
And of what our obligations are in Christ. The same word here
for the translates here old, It can be misleading. It is not
old with respect to age. The same word was used in one
context in where the Lord used the wine bottles and the wine
skins. It references more the character
of the thing than the actual physical age. We’ve all and let
me illustrate it this way. Whether it’s the dishwasher or
the dryer or the washer or the furnace, we’ve all had the repairman
come out, right? Or the air conditioner. We’ve
all had the repairman come out, right? And he comes to you and
he says, this part is old. Well, no, that’s not possible
because we put that part in last summer again for the third time. It’s not old with respect At
the time, it’s old with respect, it’s basically worn out. As one
said, old does not translate the word, which simply refers
to chronological age, but rather the word which refers to something
that is completely worn out and useless, fit only for the scrappy,
and that was us. Regardless of our age, that old
self, that worn out, discardable self, died with Christ. That self, that word self, points
to all of human character. As one said, it denotes the whole
of our fallen nature, the whole self in its fallenness. It was
the whole part of us. It was the whole man, not just
part of us, that came under condemnation and that ultimately was brought
to condemnation. As one pastor said, our old self,
what we were before we became Christians, was crucified with
him, our old man, our corrupt nature, as opposed to the new
man or the holy nature. And Paul had echoed these sentiments
to others. Listen, Ephesians 4, 22 through
24, Paul said in reference to your former manner of life, let’s
talk about that old self. In reference to your former manner
of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted
in accordance with the lusts of deceit, that you be renewed
in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which in
the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and
holiness of the truth. It’s a different kind of person.
It’s not just a better you. It’s different. It’s a new man.
It’s a new creation, says Paul. Colossians, he addressed it to
them as well. Colossians 3, 9 through 11, he said, Do not lie to one
another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed to a true
knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. A
renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and
Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised. It’s a new person. And our old self, Paul says,
was crucified with Christ. He’s already told us, right,
that we died with Christ, that we share union with Christ in
death, that we have become united with him in the likeness of his
death. And here is just a further expression
of that. These are the details. How did
it happen? Right. How did we die? This is the obituary. This is
what happened. These are the details. Our old self was crucified
with him. That’s how we died. We knew that
the cross was part of the gospel. We know that dying to self was
part of that. And when we came to him and we
placed our faith, we died. What we didn’t realize is all
of the details that we were there, too, on the cross. All believers,
said one Puritan, died on the cross with Christ. as they were
one with him and represented by him. Their old man or sinful
nature was crucified together with Christ. If then their old
man having been crucified with him, it cannot be now that they
would live according to their old nature.” He points to the
forecast of this passage. That’s where Paul’s going. If
our old self was crucified with Christ, why on earth are we living
this way? Paul echoes this elsewhere as
well, you know it well. Galatians 2.20, I’ve been crucified
with Christ. And it is no longer I who live,
but Christ lives in me. The life which I now live in
the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and
gave himself up for me. This is not an obscure thought
in Paul’s doctrine. Paul says we were crucified with
Christ a reminder of the terrible nature in which Christ died.
Horrible death that he experienced for us. And that
in a very real way, we were there. Those who placed their faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ were there. Paul says, look, We have a confidence
in this resurrection. We know that when we place our
faith in Christ, we die to Christ and we begin to live a resurrected
life. It’s undergirded by a knowledge,
first of all, as I said, the extent of our union with Christ.
It’s undergirded by the purpose of our crucifixion. Why were
we crucified? We know well that Christ’s sacrifice
was once for all. It never needed to be repeated.
It was perfect. He was the perfect, sinless sacrifice. Why put us there with him? Paul says, plainly evident, let
me give you the purpose of our crucifixion, knowing this, that
our old self was crucified with him. Why? That our body of sin
might be done away with. Oh, yeah. That’s how this whole
passage goes, doesn’t it? All these little light bulb moments.
Oh, the body of… Oh, but wait a second. What is
the body of sin? At least several commentators
compiled a good list, a helpful list, on exactly what this phrase
means, the body of sin. Listen carefully, really briefly.
One suggested that it’s the totality of sin viewed as a body having
many members. In other words, as if to say
the entirety of our sinfulness, with all of its little tentacles
throughout the world and throughout life. Another suggestion is that
the body of sin means the whole mass of sin. And we use the phrase
in the same way when we speak of an artist’s body of work,
right? Is that a workable option? Another option is to say that
this body of sin means the physical material body that is controlled
by sin. And that’s coming really close.
That’s a good answer. There’s only one problem with
that. is that it could and ultimately did lead to the Gnostic view
of the flesh as being inherently evil, and so they would punish
their bodies and go through all these gyrations and suggest that
they could live a sinless life ultimately. Well, there’s a fourth
option. This body of sin refers to the
entire man, because the body isn’t just the only sinful part,
right? The body is what we use a lot of times to sin, but we’re
perfectly capable of sinning with our mind, sinning with our
thoughts, and we dare not leave that element out, should we?
The body of sin is the whole man controlled by sin. It is
the person in his entirety. as viewed as controlled by sin.
One very capable description went like this. The flesh, the
unregenerate nature with its downward tendency, the old atom
in which sin found a ready accomplice might be rendered inoperative.
That’s the purpose of the cross. This body of sin is more than
an individual affair. It is rather that old solidarity
of sin and death, which shall share in Adam, but which has
been broken by the death of Christ. In other words, there’s a union,
a coupling that is shattered. That our body of sin might be
done away with another interesting word. That it’s rendered absolutely
impotent and inactive as if it was dead. The body of sin, the
connection of our lives with sin is broken. We don’t have
to be controlled by it anymore. We don’t have to sin anymore. Interesting that this verb, and
I don’t have time to go into it this morning, but the verb
is used 22 times by Paul, and he uses it and translates it
a number of different ways. Without effect, of none effect,
to destroy, to abolish. That connection of our selves
with sin was shattered, ruined, destroyed. That’s why we were
crucified with Christ. That’s the purpose that he says.
There’s a third element that he points to that gives us such
a confidence in the hope of resurrection. This confidence of resurrection
is undergirded not only by a knowledge of the extent of our union with
Christ and the purpose of our crucifixion, but look thirdly
in closing. The confidence of resurrection
is undergirded by knowledge of the result of losing this body
of sin. What happened? Knowing this, that our old self
is crucified with him, that our body of sin might be done away
with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. Now, Paul is
going to milk that illustration for all its worth because it’s
perfect. We’re not slaves. We’re not slaves
to sin any longer. What he points to here is that
slave is like this evil and harsh and cruel taskmaster, and he
is. He embodies this concept of sin. He gives it a body, gives it
a personality. And he’s this evil taskmaster
that bosses around our body, our Constitution, ourselves. It bosses it around and makes
it do its bidding. Paul says, not any longer. Remember
the kids on the playground? You’re not the boss of me. That’s
what we do. Then you’re not the boss of me.
You’re not my master any longer. I don’t have to obey you anymore. One faithful pastor said the
service of sin is a slavery. It is a state from which we cannot
free ourselves, a power which coerces obedience despite the
resistance of reason, conscience and even the will. In other words,
we don’t even want to do what we’re doing, but sin is our master
and we must obey. He says, it is a bondage from
which we can be delivered in no other way than by the death
of the inward principle of evil, which possesses our nature and
lies behind the will beyond the reach of our power, which can
be destroyed only by. Union with Christ in his death. Who died that he might deliver
us out of the bondage of corruption? What a beautiful thing. What
it points to is the fact that as Christians, as those who have
placed their faith in Christ, we are not slaves anymore. We
are not slaves to sin. We don’t have to sin that bondage
that that relationship between our old selves and sin has been
broken. We are no longer. Under that
master. And the proof of it, he closes
in verse seven with a perfect capstone. For he who has died
is freed from sin. You know, that makes a lot of
sense. I mean, it’s simple, but it makes sense. Try bossing around
a dead body, sinful master. Try that one. He who has died
is freed from sin. We died on the cross with Christ. We were crucified with Christ,
our old selves, and no longer are we even there to be bossed
around by this sinful master. This is, as one said, the great
evangelical truth, which underlies the apostles’ whole doctrine
of sanctification. The natural reason assumes that
acceptance with a holy and just God must be founded on character,
that men must be holy in order to be justified. The gospel reverses
this and teaches that God accepts the ungodly. So that we might
be justified in order to become holy. Our sinful master doesn’t
call the shots anymore. We’ll return to that image and
illustration in the weeks to come, but we are not we are not
under its command. We are not given to do its bidding. Because our old self was crucified
on the cross with Christ. Let’s examine our hearts before
him. Oh, father, what great hope we have. For so many of us in
this room that have placed our faith in Christ and would somehow
we stumble and struggle. And we almost give into the idea
that we can’t help ourselves, we can’t overcome. We can’t ignore
this cruel master sin. Paul gives us great hope, great
confidence. By great reminder. That we have been crucified with
Christ. With that body of sin was destroyed. That we no longer have to be
subservient to that evil master. We thank you for the privilege
that we can begin now to grow in sanctification. Our thinking
is corrected. And we pray that by your grace,
you would continue to reshape and reform our thinking. Father,
we thank you for this table. To which we come that calls us. On a regular basis. To examine
ourselves. Lord, we thank you and praise
you for the. The Savior that provided. The reality behind
this table. that his body and his blood were
offered on our behalf. And we come before you to celebrate
the Lord’s table with a joyful heart. And yet, in solemnness, knowing
what it cost. We thank you and we praise you.
In Jesus name. As is always the case, if you
would hold the elements until we both pray and have a brief
reading of Scripture and then we’ll all partake together. And as we pointed out last time
that we celebrated the Lord’s table, there are a couple of
different breads that we’ll be distributing concurrently. One
is a wheat-free, gluten-free, anything that you’re allergic
to. Eat the darker loaf. If you don’t have health issues
to contend with, then the standard loaf will suffice. you you. you. the the the John, would you pray for the
brethren? Now, Father, we thank you for
the message that we have heard this morning. And what I pray
that we would be convinced of is that we who are in it is going
to have to be within it. Lord, we thank you for the freedom
that we have because of Christ, that we are no longer slaves
of sin. We thank you, Christ, for the sacrifice you made for
us, for giving up self, the only sacrifice that was possible.