How to Live in Christian Victory
The Book of Romans
Romans 6:1-14
Sermon by Rick Crandall
Grayson Baptist Church - June 19, 2016
(Revised December 2, 2020)
BACKGROUND:
*Please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 6. In the first 5 chapters, God's Word lays out a compelling case that all of us are guilty of sin, and we all deserve the righteous wrath of Almighty God. But the Bible also explains the forgiveness and eternal life we can have through the cross of Christ.
*Jesus died on the cross for our countless sins. This is the central part of God's plan for mankind, and it was foretold many times in the Old Testament. One great example is Isaiah 53. This Scripture was written about 700 years before Jesus was born, and the whole chapter is about the promised Savior.
*Isaiah 53:5-6 talks about the sufferings of Christ and says, "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
*Jesus died on the cross for our sins, but He's not dead! Jesus is alive because three days later He rose again from the dead! That's why Hebrews 7:25 says Jesus is "able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them."
*The boundless blessings of this salvation all come from the boundless love of God. Romans 5:8-10 explains that "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life."
*Jesus Christ has given all Christians everlasting victory over sin and death. Now He wants us to live in the victory He has provided for us. Tonight's Scripture shows us how. Please think about this as we read Romans 6:1-14.
MESSAGE:
*Don't you like to be a winner? Surely you do.
*Of course, some corrupt athletes throw games. Sometimes parents will let their children win a game, and I imagine some women have done the same thing for their men.
*But most everybody plays to win. You will never hear a football player going to the Super Bowl say, "Man, I hope we lose tomorrow!" No! Everybody wants to be a winner.
*So, let me ask you: How much victory do you have in your Christian life? How much victory do you want? -- More! We want more victory! And we can have it. Right here God gives us 4 keys to a victorious Christian life.
1. THE FIRST KEY IS LEARNING THE TRUTH OF OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.
*We have to thoroughly learn the truth about our new life in Jesus Christ. Paul stressed this need three times in these verses. And God wants us to learn this truth so well, that twice He uses the same word for "know" that He uses to describe the oneness between a husband and wife.
[1] CHRISTIANS: WHEN WE LEARN THE TRUTH OF OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST, WE FIND THAT IT STARTS WITH A DEATH AND A BURIAL.
*Paul began to explain in vs. 1-3, where he asked:
1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2. Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3. Or do you not KNOW that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
*God wants all Christians to know that we have been baptized into the death of Jesus Christ. But don't make the mistake of thinking Paul was just talking about water baptism here. We are not saved by water baptism. Being put into the water is an outward sign of an inward reality. So, the thing we can see with our eyes is a symbol. And the thing that we can only see by faith is the spiritual reality.
*The spiritual reality is that when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, by His Holy Spirit, Jesus literally and spiritually comes into our spiritual hearts. But at the same time, the Holy Spirit also puts us into Jesus as part of His spiritual body, the Body of Christ.
*That's why in vs. 3, Paul says that we believers have been baptized or submerged, not into water, but into Jesus Christ.
*This is also why in 1 Corinthians 12:12-13, Paul said:
12. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.
13. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.
*Christians, we are in Christ, and He is in us. William Barkley helped me understand it by comparing it to the air we breathe. He said, "We cannot live our physical life unless we are in the air, and the air is in us. Likewise, we cannot have God's spiritual life unless we are in Jesus, and He is in us." (1)
*This is extremely important, because vs. 3 says that when we were baptized into Jesus, we were "baptized into His death."
*Years ago, Pastor R.G. Lee went to the Holy land. And they went to Calvary to see the place where Jesus was crucified. It was the first time that Dr. Lee had ever been to Israel. But when the guide asked, "Have any of you ever been here before?" Dr. Lee raised his hand. The guide asked, "When was that?" And Dr. Lee replied, "2,000 years ago." (2)
*Christians, we were miraculously, spiritually there too, in Jesus Christ! So, vs. 4-7 say:
4. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection,
6. knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.
7. For he who has died has been freed from sin.
*Part of this new freedom has to do with the fact that if you execute someone for a crime, you can't put them on trial again.
*And vs. 6 clearly tells believers that our old man, our old sinful, selfish, lost nature was crucified with Christ. Jesus was executed for our sins, and we were executed with Him, so in Him, our sin debt has been paid in full.
*But there is another way that we have been set free by our death in Him. First you have to know that before we came to Jesus, we were slaves to sin.
*Paul mentioned this in vs. 6, and sin is a cruel slave master. But sin can't kill us anymore, and sin can't force us to be a slave for him anymore. Why? Because we are already dead in Jesus Christ! In vs. 7, "For he who has died has been freed from sin."
[2] OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST STARTED WITH A DEATH AND BURIAL. BUT IT ENDS WITH A RESURRECTION!
*Christians: We are alive because Jesus is alive! And His resurrection belongs to all believers because in vs. 5 Paul said: "If we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection."
*In vs. 8-9, Paul also said:
8. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9. knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
*Thank God for the resurrection of Jesus Christ! You know, that symbol of water baptism would be pretty rough, if it wasn't for the resurrection.
*How long can you hold your breath? The good news is I don't have to keep you under the water, because Jesus rose again from the dead!
*God brings life out of death for all who put their trust in Jesus Christ! And if we have trusted in the Risen Christ, then we have the power of His resurrection working in us right now. So, the first key to victory is learning the truth of our new life in Christ.
2. THE SECOND KEY IS COUNTING ON THE TRUTH OF OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.
*God wants us to know the truth in the deepest part of our hearts. But that is not enough for victory. We also have to intentionally start counting on the truth. By faith, we have to start taking our new life into account.
*We see this need in vs. 10-12, where Paul said:
10. For the death that He (Jesus) died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11. Likewise you also, RECKON yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
12. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.
*That word "reckon" is a bookkeeping term. It means to count on something, to bank on it. And Christians, the new life belongs to us because we belong to Jesus, but we have to start taking the new life into account.
*A small example is the time change we go through twice a year: "Fall back -- Spring forward!" I don't like that Spring ahead. I love the extra hour of daylight in the afternoon, but I hate moving our clocks one hour forward.
*Have you ever forgotten to do it? You got up on Sunday, and you thought, "It's only 7. I've got plenty of time to get ready for Sunday School." It felt like 7, all the clocks in your house said 7, but a new time had come.
*Then you turned on the TV and it said 8. You turned on your computer, and it said 8. You called your best friend and he said, "It's 8:00!" It sure didn't feel like 8. But if the TV, your computer and your best friend say, "It's 8," you better set aside your feelings and go by what you know to be true. You reckon.
*Well, Jesus Christ is our Best Friend, and what He tells Christians in His Word is this: We were crucified with Christ. We were buried with Him. We were raised again. Now, therefore, reckon it, start counting on it every day. Or as Paul said in vs. 11, "Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord."
*The second key to living in Christian victory is counting on the truth of our new life in Christ.
3. THE THIRD KEY IS YIELDING TO THE TRUTH OF OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.
*This is the hard part, because in vs. 12-14, we find that we are pulled in two different directions at the same time.
*In vs. 13, the key word to show what we should do is translated "present" in the NKJ and "offer" in the NIV. But I like the translation "yield" used in the KJV. I like that word "yield" because it helps us understand that we are being pulled in two directions.
*Let me plug "yield" into vs. 12-14 in the NIV:
12. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
13. Do not (YIELD) the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather (YIELD) yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and (YIELD) the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.
14. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
*The problem in vs. 12 is that our old slave-master, sin, is still trying to reign in our mortal bodies. It's as if sin hasn't gotten the message yet that Jesus is our Lord, so sin tries to pull us down with many kinds of sinful desires.
*This can be a most difficult battle. In the next chapter, Paul will tell us about his own struggle with sin. And 1 Peter 2:11 says, "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul."
*Not yielding to sin can be a difficult thing, a great struggle, even a war. And we all will lose some battles with sin along the way.
*But thank God! The war has already been won by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! And thank God that 1 John 1:8-10 tells Christians:
8. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
*On some level, all Christians have to struggle against sin. But vs. 13-14 assure us that we don't have to give in to sin anymore, because the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ have broken the power of sin in our lives.
*Now we can "yield" or "offer" ourselves to God, because in vs. 14, "sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
*Imagine for a moment what it would have been like to be a slave before the Civil War. You would have been under the total control of your master, no matter how cruel he was. You had to work wherever he told you to work, whenever he told you to work. You had to eat whatever he gave you, even if it wasn't fit for the dogs. He could beat you for any reason or no reason at all. And he could split up your family with no warning at all.
*But on January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation and the cancer of slavery in the United States began to be healed.
*That great document was supposed to free every slave, but the sad truth is that every slave was not immediately freed. One reason why is because some of them didn't know it. They never heard the good news.
*Other slaves heard the truth, but it seemed too good to be true. They had been slaves for so long that they just couldn't believe it. They didn't know how to count on it in their hearts.
*Others kept living as slaves because they were still bullied by their old masters. They would yield to them even though they didn't have to.
*Do you see the great parallel with the good news about Jesus Christ? God signed our spiritual "Emancipation Proclamation" 2,000 years ago, when Jesus died on the cross for our sins and rose again from the dead!
*This new freedom becomes ours on the day we believe in Jesus and receive Him as our Lord and Savior. But we have to learn the truth, and by faith, we have to take the truth into account. We have to count on the truth, and that gives us the strength we need to yield our lives to our Lord.
*Learning, counting, yielding: These are three of the keys to victorious Christian living.
4. THE FOURTH KEY IS WALKING IN THE TRUTH OF OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.
*We have to start walking in the new life we have in Jesus Christ. Paul told us this back up in vs. 1-4:
1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
2. Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
3. Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
4. Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should WALK in newness of life.
*Walk in newness of life. That's the fourth key to victory, but Christians: How has your walk been going lately?
*Guy McGraw found this description about how we might walk, -- if we walked the way some people drive:
-We'd suddenly race one another down the sidewalk.
-If someone stepped out in front of us, we'd start walking two inches behind them.
-We'd make faces and yell at people who didn't walk like we want them to.
-And we'd growl while waiting for the light to change at a crosswalk. (3)
*How's your spiritual walk going, Christians? We have a different life: God's eternal life. We are headed in a different direction: To Heaven! And now our Lord wants us to be walking in a different way.
*As Paul said in vs. 4: "Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."
*But what does it mean to "walk in newness of life?" Ephesians 5:1-2 explains: "Therefore be followers of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma."
*Walking in newness of life means walking as followers of God. And that word "follower" means to be an imitator of Christ. The original word is where we get our word "mimic." God wants us to mimic Jesus Christ. And when we look at the Lord's life, there is no doubt that we've got somebody worth following! So, we are to do the things we see Jesus do, living and giving our lives as an offering to God.
*Walking in newness of life also means walking in love as Christ loved us, walking in the same kind of agape love that we have received from God, walking in the incredible love we see on the cross of Jesus Christ.
*Walking in newness of life is also walking as dearly loved children of God. We pay a lot of attention when our children first learn to walk. A loving mom might have recorded the day of your first step.
*But you know how it is when a baby learns to walk. They stumble and stagger all over the place. And there's Mom or Dad, following right behind to catch them when they fall. That's the way I see our Heavenly Father. We're not always paying attention to Him, but He is always paying attention to us.
*And it takes a while for a child to learn how to walk. The same is true for our spiritual walk. In fact, it takes a lifetime for us to fully learn how to walk in the newness of life. But Christians, we are dearly loved children of God.
*Parents: Remember when your children were first learning to walk? You would stand there with your arms stretched out, calling them, coaxing them, encouraging them, "Come on. -- You can do it! Come to Daddy. Come to Mommy. Don't be afraid. You can make it!"
*It's not too hard for me to think of our Heavenly Father doing the same thing: "Come on. -- You can make it! -- Child of God, you can walk in newness of life."
CONCLUSION:
*Yes, we can live in Christian victory! -- Learning the truth, counting on the truth, yielding to the truth, and walking in the truth of our new life in Christ.
*But do you have the new life? That's the place to start. You get this new life by turning to God and opening your heart to receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Do that right now as we go back to God in prayer.
(1) Adapted from BARCLAY'S DAILY BIBLE STUDY SERIES (NT) by William Barclay, Revised Edition (C) Copyright 1975 William Barclay - First published by the Saint Andrew Press, Edinburgh, Scotland - The Westminster Press, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. - "Dying to Live" - Romans 6:1-11 - https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/romans-6.html
(2) SermonSearch.com - Abounding Victory through Amazing Grace - Adrian Rogers - Romans 6:6-7 - 2/6/1994
(3) SermonCentral sermon "Walking Like God Walks" by Guy McGraw - Ephesians 5:1-7
*This message was inspired by a sermon by Adrian Rogers, "Abounding Victory through Amazing Grace" - Romans 6:6-7
