Alba 9-19-2021
BURIED WITH CHRIST, RAISED WITH CHRIST
Romans 6:1-14
Way back in 1854, the 61-year-old Sam Houston of Texas fame was baptized by a Baptist minister named Rufus C. Burleson at Rocky Creek near Independence, Texas.
Houston had been known in his younger years as a rough living man and a drinker. A church periodical reported his baptism this way:
“The announcement of General Houston’s immersion has excited the wonder and surprise of many who have supposed that he was ‘past praying for…’”
Houston reportedly joined in the joke. When a friend slapped him on the back and said, “General, now your sins are washed away!” Houston replied, “Well, then --- I pity the fish downstream!”
There is a hymn, O Happy Day, and the chorus says:
Happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away!
He taught me how to watch and pray,
And live rejoicing ev'ry day;
Happy day, happy day,
When Jesus washed my sins away.
That is the experience we have when we come to Jesus in faith, repenting of our sins, confessing His name and are baptized into Christ.
Because of our acceptance of and identification with Jesus in our baptism, we have reason to rejoice! That's what Romans six tells us.
Turn to Romans 6:1-14 as I read. 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.
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.
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. 10 For the death that He 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. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
As the apostle Paul writes these words to the Christians in Rome, there is something very apparent. He talks about baptism in a way that shows it was a given that all of them were baptized, immersed into Christ.
And you can look and be sure, the New Testament knows nothing about any “unbaptized” Christians.
The beginning of the church of our Lord Jesus is recorded in the book of Acts chapter two. There it tells how Peter shares the message about Jesus.
His audience hears it, many believe it, many are “cut to the heart.”
The Holy Spirit deals with their sin. It is a shattering realization that makes them ask, “What should we do?”
Peter’s answer? “Repent” (which means to turn from sin toward God) “and be baptized” (literally = immersed…completely covered) “in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”
Then it tells us that on that day 3,000 people were baptized, and the church began on that Pentecost Sunday.
Whether to be baptized or not has never been a question in scripture. What has been a question is how and when should one be baptized. There are those who sprinkle some water. There are others who pour water. And they all call it baptism.
The problem is that the word for baptism in scripture has but one meaning. It means to dip, or immerse.
If the original meaning of the word was translated in our Bibles, it would read, be immersed.
We go down into the water just as Jesus was buried in the tomb. We are under the water as Jesus was three days in the tomb. And we come up from the water just as Jesus came out of that tomb.
Our baptism allows us to participate in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection. So when Jesus was on the cross, in a sense, I was there with him.
When Christ was buried, I was buried with him. In Romans 6:4 the term “buried with him” in baptism is one word that means “to put two people in the same grave”.
And when Jesus arose from the grave, I arose with him. It is kind of like a three act Passion Play experienced in the baptistery.
But these verse make it clear, that is not all there is to this. Like the television commercials say, There is more!
There is a life change when we come into Christ. When Paul asks,
“Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound,” or increase? The question is this, “Does that mean that we should sin even more so that God will have a chance to show His grace all the more?”
His answer is Certainly not! God forbid! By no means! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
In other words, “No way, that’s just completely absurd.” That would be like saying that we should encourage our kids to disobey so that we’ll have more opportunities to show them we really love them.
Still there are those who have thought that way. A famous historical instance of such a view comes from the Russian monk Rasputin, who dominated the Romanov family in their final years.
Rasputin taught that salvation came through repeated experiences of sin and repentance. He argued that because those who sin more require more forgiveness, those who sin with abandon will, as they repent, experience greater joy. Therefore, it is the believer’s duty to sin.
But by verse 12 of our text it commands us, “do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” That is a command. We have been raised to walk in newness of life with Jesus. A walk happens step by step.
There are times that we still obey the voice of the old master, but as time goes on the old master’s voice will grow fainter if we keep listening to the Spirit’s voice, allowing it to grow louder in our lives.
How does the Lord help us overcome temptations of continuig to sin? Well first of all, He tells us that we don’t have to obey sin.
Does that mean that we never again want to sin? No, but what it does mean is that we don’t have to powerlessly obey sin, because it is no longer our master.
It is not that we are no longer troubled by sin, but in Christ we are freed from the power and dominion of sin over our lives. We are not fighting this battle alone. He is with us, and we have His grace to aid us.
And secondly, scripture says that when we are buried and raised with Christ, the old man of sin is dead!
Do you have anything that works with batteries? Flashlights, smoke detectors and TV remotes all work with batteries don't they. What do you do when the battery dies? (Wait for an answer.)
Of course, you replace it! You don’t put that old battery back in!
It may have given you the power you needed in the past, but after it dies, it is of no more use to you.
In the same way, the power of our old life of sin wears down and soon gives little satisfaction.
That’s why you and I became Christians to begin with. We wanted, and needed, something better than what we had.
Remember in Acts chapter two the command was to repent and be baptized. Those who repent are those who are truly sorry for their sins and wants to change.
Augustine, who was an early Christian leader and was converted as an adult, was once approached by the woman who had been his mistress.
He turned and walked away quickly but she called out after him, “Augustine, it’s me! It’s me!” Quickening his pace, this new believer called back over his shoulder, “Yes, I know, but it’s no longer me!” He showed evidence of repentance.
By the way, what does that say to people who baptize babies? How can a baby repent? Of what do they have to repent? First of all, when a baby is born it is innocent; it has not committed any sins.
It has not conceived sin in its heart nor acted upon it.
Secondly, even if a baby had sins, how can a baby consciously decide it wants to turn away from its sins? It is an impossibility. Scripture shows that repentance comes before baptism.
Our reason for being baptized should come from a desire to have the righteousness of Christ, to turn from and be forgiven of our sins, and to rest in His promise of salvation.
Jesus said in Luke 13:3 “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” And we need to remember, repentance is not a once for all event for a Christian.
Repenting is an ongoing process of adjusting our life by turning it toward God’s will. We all need that kind of change. We need to put off the old ways. We need a new wardrobe.
Galatians 3:27 says, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Baptism is putting on Christ and being clothed in Christ.
If you are not clothed in Christ, you have to stand before God on Judgment Day dressed in your own righteousness, which scripture tells us is filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).
But if you were immersed, baptized into Christ, you stand before God, and He sees you as He sees Jesus, because you are in Christ and clothed with Him.
Perhaps you remember the story Jesus told in Matthew 22:11-13 of the man who came to the wedding who did not have on a wedding garment. He was bound and cast into outer darkness.
You see, those not wearing the robes of Christ will not be allowed into the wedding banquet. Baptism is putting on Christ. Without Christ on you cannot be saved.
The Roman Christians are told that baptism is baptism “into Christ.” So before baptism they were not in Christ. After baptism they are in Christ. That’s what the word “into” implies.
So in baptism we don't just identify with Christ, we come into Christ, into His death and resurrection. And just as Jesus rose from the grave, we rise from the waters of baptism.
How many of you –when you were baptized came back up out of the water? Good thing! Cause otherwise you wouldn’t be sitting here would you?
The Christian who buried us in that water - didn’t keep us there. We were lifted back out of the water – RESURRECTED, if you will, from the dead.
Now, because of Christ's victory over death, we who believe have been made alive through him. A poem by Annie Johnson Flint expresses it well.
“If the Christ who died had stopped at the cross,
His work had been incomplete.
If the Christ who was buried had stayed in the tomb,
He had only known defeat,
But the way of the cross never stops at the cross
and the way of the tomb leads on,
To victorious grace in the heavenly place
where the risen Lord has gone.”
Jesus’ death on the cross was a once for all sacrifice. And it was sufficient to permanently move us from being God’s enemy to being a member of His family and give us the hope of heaven.
Through His death and burial and resurrection, He has paid the price, taken our place, and forgiven all our sins. There will only be frustration to try to live the Christian life apart from the resurrection life of Jesus as our source of life.
Scripture tells us that in our baptism it was the burial of an old life and an old body, an old spirit, an old love, an old lust, an old sin. We can consider ourselves dead to sin.
But just because we are to consider ourselves dead to sin, that doesn’t mean we are act dead. Rather, the Lord wants us to consider ourselves “alive to God in Christ Jesus” (6:11).
Since we are alive to God, we are to present our bodies to God as “instruments for righteousness” (6:13).
We didn’t just die, but we now live. We are alive. Death couldn’t hold Jesus down, and death doesn’t threaten us anymore. We are alive with Christ.
Colossians 3:1-3 proclaims, “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.
2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
And then verse four of that chapter gives us this wonderful promise, “When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.”
Oh yes indeed, “if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”
(v. 5 KJV)
Hallelujah!
CONCLUSION:
Bob Beasley, a minster in Ontario, Canada told the following true story: Our three-year-old daughter, Rena, sat with us during the baptismal service last Sunday night, which was a new experience for her.
She exclaimed in surprise, ‘Why did he push that guy in the water? Why, Dad, why?’ My wife tried to explain briefly and quietly, but Rena just wouldn’t be satisfied.
Later that night we tried to provide an answer that a child’s mind could comprehend. We talked about sin and told Rena that when people decide to live for Jesus and ‘do good’ they want everyone to know.
We then explained that water symbolizes Jesus’ washing people from sin; when they come out ‘clean,’ they try to be ‘good.’
We quickly realized we’d have to work on our explanation a bit when she immediately responded, “Why didn’t the Pastor just spank him?” (Source: www.sermoncentral.com)
We all probably need a spanking now and then. But instead, we should look back to our baptism and thank God for the change that made in our lives and walk in the newness of life He gives.
