Dead to Sin | Reign of Grace - #8 | Pastor John Lindell

[Music] well if you have your Bibles I invite you to turn with me to Romans chapter 6 are you ready for romance alright we've been having a great time in a Roman series and we come to chapter 6 the title of the message is dead to sin dead to sin something you may not know about debbie and i was when we got married when we were 19 years old and so i just finished up my sophomore year at Central Bible College and we got married in Wisconsin and we moved to Colorado to work for the summer and and I didn't know I knew we were coming back to Springfield but I didn't know where we were gonna live and I don't have a job and I still can't believe her parents let us get married and blessed it I mean it's kind of like what in the world so we get married and we moved to Colorado and we're living in a what's a house but had been a chicken coop so our first house but you know when you're married when you're newlywed who cares I mean you know there are more important things and so we're there and and you know we're just praying and asking God to open a door for us to have a place to live to to have a job and so every day we'd pray and and we just say you know God we need you to open the door and show us and and we didn't have any plan to drive down here look around get that set up I don't know what we were thinking hey we were newlyweds you you just kind of take it a day at a time and so out of the blue one day a funeral home here in town calls and the owner of the funeral home said hey I hear you're you're gonna be a junior in college and somebody told me about you and and I know you recently married wondered if you'd want to live here at the funeral home and we'll give it to you rent-free and then we'll pay you a salary and we understand you be in town to go to school so school comes first but after your classes then we'll work around your class schedule and you can have a full time job at the funeral home so you know I you know I said well I you know hadn't considered that that's not something most people aspire to you know and so but if your funeral director good good on you and bless you but I you know so I said why my I'm gonna have to think about that and he said well III can't hold the job for very long how long do you need I said give me three days to think about it just let me kind of think about it so I hang out Debbie's heard the phone call and she says who was that and I said well you know it's it's a funeral home in Springfield called and offered me a job she said well what'd you say I said well I have to think about it she's like what what's to think about you needed a place to live you needed a job you got it come on I mean it's all right there what do you got to think about I was like well now wait a minute wait time out you're not gonna be the one doing it I'm gonna be doing it so we have this little you know this little discussion on what it means to work at a at a funeral home and and so you know we end up moving to town and the first night it's a little bit of poetic justice we get there and and the first night out about midnight I get a call and I've got to go on a call and and go with funeral director and so Debbie's going to be alone in this mortuary and it was shall we say business was very good right then so I mean she's like you know because there's something about the whole idea of that of dancing and being dead and all of that that makes when you're living a little bit uncomfortable and when you come to Romans chapter 6 Paul is talking about how you and I are dead to sin which just saying that sparks a whole lot of questions on our part whether I'm dead to sin what do I struggle with sin and how does all that work Paul's going to answer those questions in fact this is a very very important chapter in the Bible in the book of Romans it's maybe one of the most misunderstood chapters in the book of Romans and yet I don't want to encourage you and challenge you that if we will take time to think thoughtfully and to think deeply about this chapter it can have a profound effect on how you live for Christ and the victory you know in Christ in fact I would suggest to you that a lot of Christians because they never understand Romans six they don't know how to process their interaction with sin how they battle it how they how they should process when they've succumb to sin what sin is is doing why there is that challenge what does it mean in fact I would suggest to you that there's a lot of believers and because they don't understand Romans chapter six because they don't understand how things work they are short-handed in the battle with sin and so what happens is they feel like they're constantly having to start over they're constantly wondering if they're saved kind of like the person they kind of view it as as like they're climbing this mountain of this mountain of trying to become more and more like Christ and they get up and they get start getting altitude and all of a sudden they sin something happens and they feel like they've fallen down to the foot of the mountain and have to start all over again and I want to suggest to you that's not true at all the you and I are held by a scarlet cord called grace and that God's grace is greater than our sin and that when you and I understand what God has done and what's happened to us at salvation it radically wonderfully changes how we process that battle with sin and how we walk with God and ultimately no victory in fact I would suggest through this chapter and understanding this chapter will have more to do with your ability as a follower of Christ to walk in victory than maybe any other chapter in the Bible so this is absolutely critical and just to get us caught up to speed and by way of review you remember that in Romans chapter 3 in chapter 4 we learned about that first step of salvation the beginning of our salvation which is will use a theological term but it thinks really important because we can say saved but but that means a lot of different things but when we use the term justification then then that has definition to it justification let me bring up the definition for you is the act of God whereby he forgives the unsaved person sin and credits to them the righteousness of Christ you see salvation is not just forgiveness praise God for forgiveness but salvation is is not only God forgiving us of sin but God giving us the righteousness to have relationship with him and not our own righteousness because you and I could never on our own be righteous enough we need a righteousness not our own and that comes from Christ as well would you notice it says when through faith they believe and even that faith comes from him so to summarize when a person's justified at the moment of salvation three things happen first of all sins forgiven not just every sin that you've sinned up to that point you got saved this is what makes the good news so good God forgives you at the moment of salvation of every sin you have committed and every sin you will ever commit that's unbelievable before you ever committed a sin forgiven God at salvation forgives all your sin covers them washes them removes them as far as the East is from the West some sambal beavers say well I don't know how I can forgive a sin I haven't already committed well think about it this way on the cross he board the punishment for your sin and you hadn't yet committed one of your sins he's the God who knows in advance and laid on him Jesus the sin of us all all of our sin and he punished them so your sins all forgiven amazing then he clothes us with the righteousness not our own so that when God looks at us he sees us as being as righteous as Christ which gives us the basis of relationship and then finally not only did he do all that but to start it all out he gave us the faith to believe I mean it says enrollment air in Ephesians chapter two it says for by grace you have been saved through faith and this not of yourself the faith didn't come from you everything about our salvation comes from God he places in every man the measure of faith when we act on that faith that little tiny bit of faith we have that faith begins to go grow and gets larger and larger and larger over our life and over our service of Christ it grows it develops he gave us righteousness and forgiveness Romans chapter five then we learned to born we learned about a doctrine called original sin that all of us sin because we're sinners we're not we don't become a sinner when we sin we are born if sinners that little baby in the cradle that little baby precious cute is a vile sinner now I you know some struggle with with understanding that but it's critical that we do because the doctrine of our salvation and who we are in Christ it's critical that we understand who we were in Adam factly we learned this in Romans chapter 5 because we were in Adam the first man he we were in him you could say we were we were in him genetically but he was also the representative head of humanity so we were spiritually united with him and when he sinned it was as if we sinned we saw that in Romans chapter 5 in verse 12 therefore just as sin came into the world how did sin wisent world so messed up how did sin get into the world romans chapter 5 and verse 12 answers at through one man through Adam's sin and death through sin why do people die because of sin if there were no sin people wouldn't die you were never designed to die death was never intended death is a malfunction in the human condition sin has warped sin has ruined sin has damaged because that's what sin does death entered the world through sin and so death spread to all men now watch this because all sinned past tense when Adam sinned we sinned because we were in him because we were in him it's as if what happened to him happened to us and PulsePoint in Romans chapter 5 is simply this that just as certainly as through Adam being in Adam we came under the reign of sin once you and I come to Christ we are now in him and just as what happened to Adam when you and I were in Adam it's as if it happened to us once a person comes to Christ it's as if what happened to him happened to us and now we're under the reign of grace we've moved from the reign of sin to the reign of grace two categories of people in life those who are under the reign of sin with the devil as their king or those who are under the reign of grace with Jesus as their king those who are facing judgment because of sin those who have been set free from judgment because of grace only two categories of people on the face of the earth but we're under the grain of grace and what we saw last time as we close out chapter 5 is Grace is not just something not just a word to describe what God did grace is an act of agency that describes what God did what God does and what God will do that just as sin is a force and it can dominate and it can influence and it can ruin and it can destroy grace is a force and and it can direct and it can strengthen and it can it can bless and it can influence and it can dominate our life grace isn't just what God did grace is what God is doing now you and I are under the reign of grace now all of that having been said we come to Romans chapter 6 in verse 1 and Paul imagines as he's talking about the reign of grace as he's talking about how grace works and he makes this statement in Romans chapter 5 in verse 20 he says where sin abounded where sin was bad grace super abounds in there was exponential grace in fact the more sin there was there was exponentially more grace the whole point being grace Trump's sin every single time and the presence of sin only highlights the amazing comprehensive nature of grace that being said Paul imagine someone saying this well if I'm under the reign of grace and if grace is at work and my sins past present and future are forgiven and God already views me as righteous and he's already forgiven me then honestly it doesn't matter how I live does it fact there's some of you and and you've already kind been thinking that maybe you're from a background work where you've been taught somehow that hey as long as you get saved you know it doesn't matter you're saved you're en it doesn't matter what happens how you live there's others of you that are from a holiness background and if you are you know what I'm talking about and you've been thinking this when we were in Galatians and now we're we're we're in Romans and here's what your concern is you feel like this come on pastor if you keep telling people their sins are forgiven past present and future and as I say it I say it a lot because I want people to get used to it because when I first said it you can feel people kind of like cringe they're like I wish you wouldn't say that I wish you wouldn't get because what you're afraid of is you're afraid that if you tell people all their sins are forgiven even the sins they haven't committed and they have the righteousness of Christ and their own righteousness doesn't matter in terms of having righteousness before God that it you and I on our own righteousness can't approach God then you're saying well what incentive do people have to live a righteous life in fact why not keep on sinning and Paul answers that question now as we walk through Romans chapter 6 it deals with we're gonna lay a foundational understanding this morning for what happened to a set salvation and then we're going to build on it and it's going to affect how you and I view sin how we process sin where where the battle with sin really is and if people don't understand where the battle lines are they will not know how to fight can you imagine a soldier being in a battle and not knowing where the lines are not knowing if he's surrounded by the enemy or if he's got if he's in the right place where he's supposed to be can you imagine him not knowing what he's defending or what he's attacking and yet I would suggest you there's a lot of Christians because they don't understand Romans chapter six they have no idea how to how to fight how to stand how to process in those moments when there is sin that is a part of their life how do you deal with that how do you process that and oftentimes what happens unfortunately people find themselves in their mind thinking well man I feel like I'm starting all over and the enemy loves it that way he loves to dishearten as' by causing us to think we've made no progress or by confusing us regarding our relationship to sin so let's look at it Romans chapter 6 and verse 1 here's where Paul he imagines a person saying you know well if you tell people all this can't they just keep on sinning what should we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound in other words if if where sin abounds grace was exponentially greater if we're sin abounded grace was on display so somebody's saying well man if it does that let's just keep on sinning how does Paul answer that question look at it in verse 2 by no means it's like no way are you crazy why would you do that you don't understand grace if you're thinking that is the idea it's unthinkable and here's why verse 2 how can we who died to sin still live in it how can we who died to sin do you realize it not that you're dying to sin you died the sin you died you died to sin how can we live in it this is this is one of the greatest statements in Christian theology one of the most important statements in Christian theology and Paul's going to repeat it several times in Romans chapter 6 he's going to say the same thing in essence in a different way we know that our old self was crucified with him said you died you were crucified past tense Romans chapter 6 in verse 7 one who has died there's the idea again we died Romans chapter 6 in verse 8 we have died with Christ when he died you died if you're in him it's as if what happened to him happened to you this is the idea Romans chapter 6 in verse 10 for the death he died he died to sin so Jesus died to sin guess what if you're a believer you died the sin number verse 11 consider yourselves what dead to sin in other words reckon yourself you can't you can't think yourself to be something if you don't know that you're that something and a lot of Christians frankly don't know they're dead to sin a lot of Christians if you ask the average Christian are you dead to sin well I'm trying I'm trying to die to sin I'm trying to die to listen there's no trying about it it happened and you didn't have anything to do with it you died to sin Romans chapter 6 in verse 2 here's what Paul says how can we the idea there's an emphasis in the original that's how can we being who we are being what we are how can we who died to sin still live in it we have this unique position what causes a Christian to struggle with sin is win and I'm not saying battle because there can be a battle but we're gonna go farther and winning the battle with sin if we understand what happened to us when we were saved because a lot of people don't understand theologically what happened and and here honestly is the problem that in contemporary Christianity some things have been assumed pastors have assumed that people only want to be entertained and can't think they've assumed that people will only come if you're dealing with their felt needs now listen I'm all for helping all of us I've heard great messages from this pulpit that where people have talked about how to deal with fear how to deal with anxiety how do those things have their place and it's not that it's wrong it's just that if it's at the expense of sound doctrine that helps us understand what the Bible says that's foundational to a victorious Christian life then we've sold ourselves short and we've disservice the people all of us need to understand this so I'm thankful to be in a place where people want to hear more than pablum more than baby food this this takes a bit of thinking but I think if you'll hang with it through the end of chapter 6 and even chapter 7 you're gonna say wow that has really helped me and then in Chapter 8 you will be you will be loving life because it's just a victory lap of amazing theological truth Paul says Romans chapter 6 in verse 2 how can we who died to sin still live in it when you became a cry when you came to Christ you were completely moved out of the realm of sin and you were moved into the realm of grace you're now under the reign of grace you say okay and wait a minute John if that's true then why do we still sin and why are we tempted to sin and Romans 6 answers that whole question so I can't tell you now if I don't lay the foundation you won't you won't get it teasin Paul's point here is we died this sin we died to the rule send the reign of sin when we became a Christian so if it's if I sin it's because I've forgotten what Christ has done he said now how did I die to sin and that's really the issue that we're gonna deal with here in the next few moments it's very simple how did I die to sin look at it verse verse three do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into were baptized into his death now what throws a lot of people when they read this they're just reading through it when they see the word baptized what do people think what kind of baptism do most people think water baptized water baptism correct but in the New Testament there are there are three baptisms and they're all different if you don't understand this then you'll be thrown when you see the word baptism you think oh that's water baptism and it may or may not be in fact you could technically say there are four baptisms but I don't want to I don't want to split hairs but I want to be accurate with you there's John's baptism which was a baptism of repentance John the Baptist it's not a Christian baptism it was a baptism of repentance for Jewish people before the death of Christ but the three baptisms that concern us would be first of all water baptism so once you're saved you are to be baptized if you're a believer you need to be baptized in water you need to be immersed and that's the clear teaching of Scripture it's the second baptism and this is the baptism with the Holy Spirit or Holy Spirit baptism now listen to this in Luke chapter 3 in verse 16 this is John the Baptist crowds are coming out to him to hear him preach and they're asking if he's the Messiah here's what he says John answered them all saying i baptize you with water but he who is mightier than I is coming who is that Jesus the strap of whose sandals I'm unworthy to untie I'm not worthy to untie he that's Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire so on water baptism you have a pastor baptizing in the Holy Spirit baptism you have Jesus baptizing people with the Holy Spirit in fact when you go into Luke chapter 1 Jesus is getting ready to ascend into heaven has already died been resurrected he spent 40 days with the disciples teaching and he tells them this right before you sins while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem but to wait for the promise of the Father which he said you heard for me for John baptized with water but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit so there is the Holy Spirit baptism which is for every believer but then there is a third baptism and this baptism is the baptism into the body of Christ it's it's that moment you become a Christian it Paul likens it to being baptized like you're your move like you there it's a you're placed into the body of Christ look at it in first Corinthians chapter 12 as Paul is talking about the body of Christ and how all of us together were individuals but corporately we become the body of Christ we become Christ to this community here's what he says the body is a unit though it is made up of many parts and though all of its parts are many they form one body so he's talking about our human body God you got hands without feet got eyes you got a head all of those parts together create one body so it is with Christ for we were all baptized by one spirit who's doing the baptism here the spirit is in a spirit in the Holy Spirit baptism Jesus does the baptizing when you and I become a Christian the Spirit of God he's the one who draws us he is the active member of the Godhead in changing you into a whole new person so we were all baptized by one spirit into one body whether Jews or Greeks slave or free Paul likens with this work of the spirit let me give you just another scripture to help you understand it and Titus when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared he saved us Noby has the righteous things we had done but because of his mercy now watches he saved us how through the washing of rebirth and renewal how by the holy spirit so the Holy Spirit were baptized in to one body so the baptism that Paul is talking about in Romans chapter 6 is this baptism by the spirit into the body of Christ at salvation were baptized into Christ were placed in Christ we were in Adam and when we were in Adam It was as if what happened to him happened to us but at Salvation now you're no longer in Adam you're in Christ and because you're in Christ it's as if what happened to him happened to you now look at it Romans 6 and verse 3 do you not know that all of us who have been baptized in to Christ Jesus so I'm baptized into him now Paul's gonna tell us three things very basic very simple from here on out to understand three things that happened to Jesus and because it happened to him when you and I got saved we're now in him therefore what happened to him is as if it happened to us okay number one because he died we died because he died we died look at this do you not know that all of us who've been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized in to his death now let me just say something to you this is not experiencial this is not something you feel it's something that happened it's a fact when you got saved it was as if you died your old man died just like when Jesus died on the cross you were it's as if in Christ you died with him some Christians are like I just need to die just need to die just need to crucify my flesh know that already happened you can't crucify your flesh most of us are too selfish were too soft we're like no no not the nail you know you know the problem with the living sacrifice it keeps trying to crawl off the altar you know I mean there's something in our own selfish humanity that doesn't want but Jesus took care of that when he died we're in him so when he got it's as if we died he died completely now what does it mean when he died on the cross he died completely with his relationship or to Israel he died completely to his relationship with sin so he never sinned but he entered the world where sin ruled right where Satan ruled in that time though he never sinned he was tempted and could have sinned he could have been tempted to sin but he was stood that temptation but on the cross what did he what did he yell out right before he died it is finished remember that he cried out it is finished and breathed out his last he was finished with sin when he died when you and I died this is good news when we died with him you're finished with sin you finished your sin you're done with it you say but I still sin we're gonna get to that later just kind of soak it in and say well that feels really good I'm done with sin that's a great that's great news I'm finished with sin sin I'm done with it you said what do you mean you're done with it I I have my sins are already forgiven they're covered they're gone I'm finished with sin I'm done with it it has it does not rule me I'm not in its realm I'm I'm in the realm of grace sin doesn't rule grace rules do you follow what I'm saying there so when he died you died we died second because he was buried we were buried look at it in Romans chapter 6 we were buried there for with him by baptism in to death so when you and I became a Christian we died because he died and just like he was buried we were buried say what's the point I mean if he died didn't enough to say he's that well what is burial burial is the proof of death I mean if you see a body that is lifeless you don't bury it until you know it's dead right you don't want if you're comatose you don't want somebody burying you until they know for sure right burial the act of burial is proof that the person is dead that they are finished with this life when Jesus was buried it was the end of his living in the realm of sin he was finished with this life he was finished with his battle with the rule of sin Paul is saying this when you and I came to Christ when we were baptized into the body because he died it's as if we died because he was buried it's as if he was buried and we are done with the realm of sin we're done with the rule of sin in fact in Romans chapter 7 he's going to explain not only we done with the realm of sin but we have a totally different relationship to the law we're done with the law this is amazing number three because he was raised from the dead we are raised not will be our he died we died he was buried we were buried he was raised were raised look at it Romans chapter six we were buried therefore with him into baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father which you could translate the power of the Father we too might walk in a newness of life when Jesus was resurrected the power of God raised him up and he was now in a new capacity a glorified body a resurrected body a body that could appear in this appear a body that could do different kinds of things it was a new realm of life now when you and I became a Christian we died with him we were buried with him we were resurrected with him it's as if what happened to him has happened to us so now we died to the Dominion of sin we were buried to the Dominions we're done with sin and now we are resurrected and we have a new life and the power that raised Jesus from the dead is at work in us listen to this ephesians chapter 1 i also pray that you'll understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe in him or believe him this is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead in other words the same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work in you it's at work in me when you believe so now the sudden there is a power of God working in you and what's the purpose of it Romans chapter 6 in verse 4 that we too might walk in a newness of life so that's not something you hope to achieve it's something you have now that you and I are walking it's a brand new you walking in a whole new way with a whole new power you are no longer under the Dominion of sin you're under the Dominion and the reign of grace you're no longer under the Dominion of Satan he is the he was the Prince of this world but now you are a part of the kingdom of God and of his Savior Jesus Christ and he is the king and we will rule and reign with him because he's made us a generation of kings and priests to the praise of his glory so think about this I mean let me just give you some scriptures and then we wrap sup Colossians chapter 1 and verse 13 for his rescued us from the Dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the son he loves listen to this in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 therefore if anyone is in Christ there you see it again in in in you were you're baptized in the body you're in him therefore is as if what happened to him happened to you he is a new creation it's a brand new you the old has passed away it's gone he died you died he was buried you were buried it it has passed away behold the new has come he you are resurrected to a newness of life all of that happened the moment you were safe and when you understand it it changes the way you live it changes the way you think it changes the way you process sin it changes how you understand the grace and the working of God so many times people as believers sin and then they're like wow you know man how I feel like I got to start over in you and so they spent their entire they sin and then the next several days they're just trying to get back to where they were just trying to get back to where they're the rackets good between them and God just trying and for most Christians that describes their struggle and none of that scriptural and so people spend all their time trying to get back to where they were instead of going forward from day by day growing in grace understanding the grace of God understanding their dead to sin they've been buried they've got a new life there's grace and grace is working and grace is functioning and there are new creation the old man has passed away makes a big difference Ephesians chapter 2 verse 6 and God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus that has all ready that happened today you were saved you say you say that but I didn't I didn't feel anything this is not about what you feel this is about what you know and and until you know it to the point that you know it until you know it to the point that say you know what that is true I I can't go about what I feel and I can't go by what I see but I gotta go by what I know I died I was buried I'm a new person the oldest passed away I've got a new life and I am seated in the heavenly places you will walk differently as a believer when you understand that and grace reigns and grace isn't just something God did praise God for what he did but grace reigns means grace is working 24/7 all the time grace reigns Grace reigns means it's moving in you it's changing you it's shaping you it's directing you it's disciplining you so you said what do you mean by that well Hebrews chapter 12 you know it talks about no discipline is president at the time talks about a father disciplining a son and how father's discipline sons they love so let's say you let's say you you give in to sin grace disciplines but every time I disciplined one of my kids I never for a minute wasn't loving them and I wasn't for a minute thinking there was a gulf between me and them in fact when they need a discipline I made sure I was closer than ever I've thought about but that's funny you know with my kids when my kids seem to be struggling you know what I did as a parent I didn't say well they're struggling and so until they get it together huh no I said they're struggling they need more of me not less of me they don't need me farther they need me closer you see they have a tendency to somehow put in our heart and in our mind because we understand the devastating nature of sin but if we don't understand how sin was dealt with on our behalf at the cross and how it affected us and our standing then we'll not be able to process when we have the battle what's been done and effectively live in victory and the enemy loves it so he loves to make his fill like you know what I I'm with God with you I don't know why God would want anything to do with you and he comes and validates uninformed foolish human wisdom God has given us insight into what happened that his grace as it work 24/7 and he's not letting you fall to the bottom of the mountain now you're attached to a scarlet cord called grace and he's gonna keep you now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and present you spotless before his glorious throne that's grace surely this is what Paul means when he writes this and I'll close with this Philippians chapter 1 Paul says and I am certain I'm absolutely convinced that God who began the good work within you before you were born God was not only willing your creation he was planning your salvation the minute you were born in his providential love he was working all things together that you might hear that you might know that you might receive that salvation that is all from him and for him and ultimately for his glory and the good work within you that he began will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns your Christian growth your Christian development if it were just dependent on you and I would all be in deep weeds we'd be in trouble but there's grace 24/7 working moving shaping preparing strengthening and if all of that's true how could you or I continue in sin

Channel: James River Church

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Id: cEk2dpSf7LY

Length: 45min 6sec (2706 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 06 2018