Are We DEAD to Sin?
Romans 6:1-14
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
We have been given so many great gifts from our Heavenly Father; we will never truly be able to grasp the depth and width of His Love for us…. That’s the truth.
I want to make it clear right off the bat this morning, that everything that we claim that we can do with God’s help…is because of Jesus living in us… it is not how good, or how strong we are within ourselves…. Jesus through the Holy Spirit is the reason we can live in Victory.
This morning, I’m going to give you the Answer right off the bat, then I’ll tell you why it’s true…
The answer is… Yes, we can be FREE from Sin and Live in Victory, no longer a slave to sin! Do you believe that? Are you experiencing that victory is the question?
So let’s see what Romans 6 says about the question of Can a person be Free from Sin… Free from this sinning lifestyle?
6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Just for a little context, we have been studying Romans on Wednesday nights online, so let me quickly tell you how Paul has arrived to this argument in Chapter Six.
Ch. 1-2 Paul explains how all of humanity will be accountable to God, no one will be excused from the Judgement, because God has made Himself known and has provided a way to be saved, through the Cross… Through Jesus and his death and resurrection, we have a pathway to salvation if we choose to accept it.
Ch 3-4 Paul reminds us that no one is Righteous on their own merit… in other words, none of us are good enough to meet the requirement of Holiness that God demands, we can only meet this requirement when we accept Jesus… and He becomes our Righteousness…He alone Justifies us and literally moves us from a place of Condemnation to a place of Forgiven, at peace with God. Aren’t you glad for that?
Ch. 5 Paul tells us that before we accept Christ, while we are living in sin…we are actually enemies of God because of our sin…but when we accept Christ, Christ living in us moves us to a place of Peace and Hope with our Heavenly Father.
Throughout Chapters 1-5 we are painted a very important picture of who God is and what He thinks about Sin.
He is Holy and Righteous. He hates sin and what it does to his creation; we were not created to live in rebellion to our maker.
He has provided a means for us to be set free through Jesus and to live as He intended us to live when He created us… Free to serve Him with all our hearts…
So this brings us back to our question and Chapter 6. 6 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
God instituted marriage and has used this special relationship to illustrate the type of relationship that God has with his Church, the Bible calls the church… Christians… the Bride.. in Ephesians and in Revelations.
When we enter into this Special Relationship with our Heavenly Father, we do so by Accepting Jesus Christ, His Son, through Faith. What we are actually doing is we are Dying out to ourself, our old way of living, our old way of thinking… just as Christ died on the Cross for our sins…we are nailing our old life to the Cross… letting it go.
Just as Christ resurrected from the dead, and won the victory over sin and death for us, we when we accept Jesus are raised with Him to new life, to a new way of thinking… the Bible declares us a New Creation.
So Paul, with all that as the background… brings us to this passage. Some are arguing that since God’s Grace covers our sins, that we can keep on living in sin and God’s grace will just keep increasing….
v.2 “By no means? We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?”
This relationship with God is special and God has brought you out of that destructive way of living…He does not expect us to go back to it.
For those of you who are married, Can you imagine allowing your spouse to bring back an old flame to live in your house with you?
Barb, how would that work in your house?
Don, do you think Eyvonne would be ok with that kind of set up?
Annette, we all can see that Pastor Rusty is a real catch… would you be ok with any of his ex-girlfriends coming to hang out in your home every week?
So far it’s unanimous, we don’t even need to ask Nola what the answer is…
Have you ever heard of the 10 Commandments? Do you know what the 1st Commandment is?
Exodus 20:1-3
20 And God spoke all these words: 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before[a] me.
The very first commandment is telling us… nothing else goes in His spot.
You know what Sin is… you can name anything that is a sin, when you boil it down to the heart of it all, it’s Selfishness. Sin is doing what you desire, regardless of what you know is the Right thing, or what God has instructed you to do.
Sin is Me Over You. Me and my way over what I know God wants for me.
The biggest idol in our world today is “Me, Me, Me” attitude.
Maybe you have seen this playing out in our world.
I’m offended, so you need to change.
I don’t like how God has created me, so I’m going to change my gender.
I don’t accept God’s rules for sex… so I’m going to do whatever makes me feel good.
I don’t like the rules, so I’m going to cheat.
Have you seen the Riots? We don’t think we are being treated fairly, so we are going to destroy, kill, and Rob as a remedy…
Bring it down to home…. I don’t like that person, so I’m going to gossip about them.
I didn’t get what I wanted, so I’m going to throw a fit like a 2 year old, even though I’m 45….
Selfishness is at the core of all sin. God hates sin… Sin will separate us from God if it is not dealt with.
6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
Now we all have been slaves to sin, we know what it means to serve ourself first…that’s why we knew we needed help to get out of that bondage where selfishness ruled our lives.
So what has changed? Christ came into our Hearts… He forgave us and cleansed us from our past, and He has taken that Old Heart, filled with Self centered desires, and He has given us a New Heart… One that beats for Him.
As a Christian who has this new heart given to us from God, can we still sin? Yes, we can, and from time to time we will fail because we are not perfect… but that won’t be the normal lifestyle of a Christian, it will be the exception, not the normal way of life.
Again, back to the marriage Relationship…
I love my wife, I’m committed to her 100% and I chose her and no one else for that relationship. Will I do dumb stuff from time to time that could potentially hurt or even end our relationship if it’s not dealt with quickly. Yes. But just as Christ forgave us, we learn to forgive each other, we deal with things as they come up, whatever was done, it’s changed, and we keep growing together.
This is the same in our relationship with God, we live for Him, if we sin, we quickly deal with it, ask forgiveness and then let God help us to steer clear of that choice again.. it’s a growing and maturing relationship.
But, we don’t willingly invite sin into our relationship with God and then let it live there as a 3rd party.
If you were diagnosed with a deadly cancer, God cured you and set you free of that cancer… would you ever choose to invite that cancer back into your body to stay?
Of course not, Sin is way more deadly than cancer could ever be. Cancer can only kill your body. Sin will kill you spiritually and will cost you for eternity.
So lets see what Paul says about our past… look at verse 11
11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Count yourself dead to sin….
Do not let sin reign in your mortal body…
Do not offer any part of yourself to sin…. It all starts in our minds…
Great news… “Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.”
Are you Free today? Have you accepted the Free Gift of Salvation through Jesus?
If you have, are you still inviting sin into your life… The Bible is clear… Don’t do it, Don’t offer any part of yourself to sin…. You can learn to live a life that walks in obedience and in peace with God… No Fear, No Condemnation… Just a Peace and Hope even in this world of turmoil.
