Dying To Live

Title: “Dying to Live” Script: Romans 6:1-11

Type: Expository/Series Where: GNBC 4-25-21

Intro: "BJ" had a smile that was contagious and a heart that was bigger than he was. The youngest of five brothers, he was a gentle giant at 6’3” at 14 yrs. BJ loved music, but football was his passion. His favorite team was the Oakland Raiders. There is no doubt that BJ would have made it to college playing football, said his mother, Marilyn, and his dream was to play professionally. But on Halloween night in 2005,year-old BJ went trick-or-treating with family members. The next morning, he woke up for school but complained of being dizzy and said his head hurt. Collapsing, his mother called 911. After an emergency craniotomy, BJ was put on a ventilator for 7 days, but tests revealed that he was brain dead. However, out of this horrible tragedy, four other people lived who would have died. You see, BJ’s mother had his heart, liver, kidneys, and pancreas. Four people lived directly because one young man died. Each of those individuals expressed undying gratitude for his life-giving gift. (HRSA Organ Donation Website).

Prop: Romans 6:1-11, we’ll see 4 Reasons why Believers are to Live Differently from the World.

BG: 1. Romans, Paul, Corinth, 57-58 AD.

2. Overview: 1:1-17 Intro, 1:18-5:11 Justification, 5:12 – 8:39 Sanctification, Romans 6:1-23 is the rationale for Sanctification and this section, Romans 6:1-14 Our Sanctification is based on the Believer’s Union with Christ.

3. Justification and sanctification are two different realities, but they must never be separated and isolated one from the other. If they become totally separated, the logical end is license. If they become merged together, a “works” oriented salvation results. Sanctification results in lifestyle more like Christ and less like self.

Prop: Rom. 6:1-11 we’ll realize 4 reasons why believers are to live differently from the world.

I. 1st Reason: We Died to Sin. Vv. 1-2

A. Paul Begins by Denouncing Certain “Christians” Abuse of Grace.

1. Let’s consider the background to this statement.

a. Back in Romans 5 Paul teaches that God gave the Law, not to defeat sin, and not even to reduce it, but to cause it to increase. The Law made sin more evident, and it increased the problem faced by mankind. But it also meant that the grace by which sin was to be dealt a death blow was also to increase. Since grace always surpasses and exceeds sin, the greater sin is, the greater grace must be. Increasing sin through the giving of the Law served to increase the grace bestowed to rid God’s creation of sin.

b. There is however, a second corollary to this truth: “Sin always takes the opportunity to turn that which is good into something evil.” Illust: Internet is a good thing. #1 use of the internet is search for pornography. Many pharmaceuticals have been created to alleviate pain and suffering. Yet unprecedentedopioid crisis in our nation. Virtually any hobby can be turned into a destructive obsession. Money is morally neutral by the love of money is the root of all sorts of evil. (I Tim. 6:10)

2. Paul Sharply Denounces this Cancerous Attitude that was infecting the Church.

a. Paul’s initial remarks are addressing the “antinomians” of his time. Anti- against, Nomos – law. This was the argument, put forth by certain false teachers in the early church that encouraged believers to sin so as to receive more grace. Argument: “Hey, if grace covers a multitude of sins, then let’s sin all the more so there may be even more grace.”

b. Paul’s response to errant mindset was to ask this rhetorical question: v.2 (Read). The reply is one of abhorrence. “May it never be!” GK 1 word “me” (may). Literally, “God forbid.”

B. Paul responds with an Argument Emphasizing a Preposterous Possibility.

1. What is True of Christ is to be Equally True of the Christian.

a. As Christians we are united to and in Christ. Thus we too, have “died to sin” in the sense that union with Christ. The fact of the believer’s death to sin is the fundamental thought the apostle has in mind in this section. Everything he writes is to support that claim.

b. Illust: When someone dies, that person is dead. Dead people have died. Not a hard concept to grasp. What Paul is saying here is when one comes to faith in Christ and repents of sin, he/she is making a once for all definitive breach with sin which constitutes the life and identity of the believer. Illust: I Cor. 6:9-11 (Read). The Corinthian Church had people from all sorts of sinful backgrounds. That’s what they once WERE. Came to Christ they broke from that in a once and for all commitment to Christ.

2. If We Have Died to Sin in Our Commitment to Christ it is Inconceivable to Continue to Live in that Sin.