He responded by saying that he was not feeling good. He went on to say, “In fact. I felt so bad this morning, that I looked in the obituary column to see if my name was there.”
He said this as a joke, but the fact is, many Christians have not yet come to understand that their name is in the spiritual obituary column. That is, when they were born, they were born into the human race, of which Adam is the head.
That means, when Adam sinned, we sinned because we all were in the loins of Adam when he sinned.
But, praise the Lord, that is not the end of the story. THERE IS THE GOOD NEWS for all who have placed their faith in Christ.
Though we once were IN ADAM, we are now IN CHRIST.
That means:
• When Christ died for sin, we died to sin.
• When Christ was buried, so were we.
• When Christ was resurrected SO WERE WE!
When The Lord saved us, He justified us. That is, He declared us righteous because of what He did for us on Calvary.
However, after He justifies us, (declares us righteous) He starts the process of sanctification to make us righteous.
Illus: The perfect picture of ourselves as believers in Christ, can be seen in the ordinance of baptism by immersion. The symbolism represents everything that has happened to us as believers. The symbolism shows the death, burial and resurrection that takes place in our lives when we accept Christ.
The question arises then, IF WE HAVE DIED TO SIN, AND NOW HAVE THIS RESURRECTED LIFE, WHY DO WE STILL FIND SIN IN THE LIVES OF CHRISTIANS?
Even though every one of us who has received Christ has been declared righteous, we still find sin in our lives.
IlIus: The Corinthian church was one of the most sinful churches that Paul wrote to.
• The people argued
• They had divisions among themselves
• They were irreverent in the house of God
• They abused the Lord’s Supper
• They abused the gifts of the Spirit
In that church, as in many churches, you could find about every kind of sin imaginable.
Probably anyone observing those Christians would not even have thought they were Christians, except for the fact that they professed to be.
Paul, who knew them well, recognized they were Christians, even though they had a great deal of sin in their lives.
But look what he says to them in 1 Cor. 6:11, “And such WERE some of you: but ye are washed. BUT YE ARE SANCTIFIED, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of God.”
Paul recognized that the Corinthians were Christians, but he did not overlook the fact that they had sin in their lives.
Look at 1 Cor. 6:9,10 “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
But as soon as he recognized their sins, he states these astounding words in verse 11, “And such were some of you…”
Notice, this is past tense. They are no longer this.
Illus: AA does a good work with alcoholics in many ways. But one thing we Christians disagree with them about, is that those who have this problem, stand up and say, “I am an alcoholic!”
But listen, when the Lord saves us, we can say, “I once was an alcoholic!”
• Paul said, “And such were some of you…”
• But then he tells them what they are now. He said to them, “Ye are sanctified.”
That is, they were POSITIONALLY SANCTIFIED.
Illus: Their life was once set aside for the devil’s use, but now God says, “I have saved you, and have POSTIONALLY SET YOU ASIDE FOR MY USE.”
The moment they had received Christ, they had been placed IN CHRIST.
We are justified instantly, but sanctification takes a lifetime. That is why Paul could say that those sinful people were POSTIONALLY SANCTIFIED.
There are two more phases of sanctification in the lives of the believers.
Paul starts this chapter off by stating in verse 1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?”
Then Paul answered his own ridiculous question, in verse 2, with another question, “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”
The answer to the question Paul asked, is found in Paul’s question. Look at the word, “Continue.” Notice how he uses that word, “...shall we continue in sin...”
Before the Lord saves a sinner, THAT SINNER’S LIFE IS A CONTINUANCE OF SIN.
However, once we accept Christ and have this wonderful POSITION in Christ, we do not CONTINUE TO LIVE LIKE THAT.
Let us look at the next step of sanctification in the life of those who have been justified, and are POSITIONALLY IN CHRIST. It is referred to as...
II. PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION
Look at verses 6-8, we read, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ. we believe that we shall also live with him.”
There is not a Christian on this earth that does not have sin in his/her life from time to time. For that reason, we can all be thankful that we are saved by God’s grace, and not by something that depends on us.
WHY SHOULD WE BE THANKFUL WE ARE SAVED BY GRACE?
Remember, it was the one offence of Adam that plunged the whole human race into sin.
The Bible speaks of that offence in the singular form. Look at Romans 5:15, “...For if through the offence of one many be dead….”
One sin not only made Adam a sinner, it made us all sinners.
We, who understand that the Bible teaches salvation by grace, often talk to people who do not understand that salvation is by grace alone.
They need to be asked, “How many sins, as a Christian, must you commit before you loose you salvation?”
Illus: As you know, in baseball you get three strikes, and then you are out, but they cannot come up with a number of how many sins they would have to commit before losing their salvation.
Since they can’t tell you, the Bible does. The one sin of Adam plunged the whole human race into sin. ONE SIN!
If salvation depends on us, all you have to do is commit one sin, and you are lost.
Illus: And if this is the case, every Christian would have to get saved day after day. And some would have to get saved perhaps as many as a dozen times a day.
That is why we can all be glad that we are saved by grace. If it wasn’t for the grace of God, there would not be a child of God on this earth.
Illus: How many cancer cells do you have to have before you have cancer? The fact is, all you have to have is one cancer cell, and you have cancer.
Now we all can strut around like we do not have any sins in our lives. But if we are honest, we who have been declared righteous positionally, recognize we now need to be MADE righteous.
This process of us becoming like Him, is called PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION.
As we live this Christian life, we who are in Christ sometimes forget that we are supposed to be dead to sin.
So, some who are “dead” do not appear to be “dead.”
Illus: It is said that in a small town where everyone knew each other, some of the men at the local funeral home decided they would play a trick on a certain fellow named Tom, who was known for not being very bright. Each morning, Tom would get up and put on his dress clothes, and go for a morning walk, which always included walking by the local funeral home. This particular morning, one of the men decided he would lay in one of the caskets, and pretend he was dead. Another man stopped Tom as he walked by, and asked him if he could do him a favor. He explained that he had an emergency, and had a family coming to view a body, and asked Tom if he would just sit in the parlor and greet them. The man seemed delighted to do such a noble task. He was sitting in the parlor, reading a newspaper, waiting for the family that he had been told was to come, when the man in the casket threw his arm out of the casket. Tom walked over and placed the arm back in the casket. A short time later the man in the casket threw his leg over the edge of the casket. Tom walked over there and placed it back in the casket, and said to the corpse, “Quit that!” He went back to reading the newspaper, when all of a sudden the corpse sat up. This time he walked over to the casket, pushed the man back down in the casket, and said, “Stop that, you are suppose to be dead!”
Whether the story is true or not, it does get across the point that we Christians are suppose to be dead to sin, but that is not always the case.
We were POSITIONALLY SANCTIFIED when we gave our heart to the Lord. And we are now being PROGRESSIVELY SANCTIFIED to become like Him. PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION deals with the sin in our life each day.
Illus: A young man, who was somewhat obnoxious, came to J. Vernon McGee one day in a meeting. He asked Dr. McGee, “Are you living the victorious life?” Dr. McGee said ,“I think I shocked him when I said. ‘No. I’m not!’”
1 John 1:9, was written to saved people. It says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
John certainly was not trying to encourage those Christians to sin, but he was letting them know, that as Christians, sometimes we find ourselves in sin.
All Christians have this in common. We all must fight the sinful nature that is within us. We do not always win every battle.
Illus: The Christian life is somewhat like most boxing matches. One boxer might win 3 rounds, and lose 7. In the next fight, that same boxer may win 7 and lose 3. I know some Christians who seem to be losing every round, but they are still POSITIONALLY SANCTIFIED by the Lord’s marvelous grace.
When Christians get knocked down, we do not stay there. We get up, assess the situation, and go for the knockout! We who are being progressively sanctified, can be victorious over sin when we discover two things:
A. WE KNOW OUR POSITION IN LIFE
Look at verse 5. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.”
Notice the word “PLANTED.”
Illus: Paul had in mind the idea of grafting. Those who know something about grafting, know that you take a limb from one tree and place it beside another tree in a certain fashion, and over a period of time the two become one.
A Christian may lose a ROUND every now and then to the devil, but he won’t stay defeated, because he knows he has been grafted into the body of Christ.
WE SHARE THE LIFE OF CHRIST, THE SAME WAY A LIMB THAT HAS BEEN GRAFTED INTO A TREE SHARES THE LIFE OF THAT TREE.
We cannot live in sin as Christians, because the very life of Christ that sustains us will not tolerate such a lifestyle.
Look at verse 6, “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. That henceforth we should not serve sin.”
Paul had this in mind when he said, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”
We have been placed into the position of belonging to royalty, and now God has vowed He would teach us to live like children of royalty!
WE KNOW OUR POSITION IN LIFE. But also-
B. WE KNOW OUR POSITION IN DEATH
Look at verses 6-7, “Knowing this. that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. that henceforth we should not serve sin. .For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
Notice, our old man (The Adamic nature within us), is not being crucified day by day. The Bible says it “IS CRUCIFIED”. It was crucified almost two thousand years ago at Calvary.
We who are IN CHRIST were crucified with Him. As Christians, we can have victory day by day over sin, when we recognize our position in Christ.
His death for sin, provides us victory over sin. Paul says, in verse 7, “For he that is dead is freed from sin.”
Illus: Here is the problem of overcoming sin. The devil attacks a Christian the same way a fisherman goes fishing. He has a fishing box full of all kinds of artificial worms and lures. He knows one lure will not attract all kinds of fish, so he has a variety in his box.
Through Christ we are able to overcome one sin, but before we know it, Satan is before us trying to tempt us to sin in another way.
That is, once we become dead to one sin, he is there trying to tempt us into another sin.
When we are placed IN CHRIST, we are given the new nature of Christ. That does not mean that the old sinful nature is completely eradicated.
We can have victory over sin when we put the Lord first in our lives and realize four things:
(1) GOD SANCTIFIES
Look at John 15:2, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it. that it may bring forth more fruit.”
(2) CHRIST SANCTIFIES
Look at Gal. 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live: yet not I. but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God. who loved me. and gave himself for me.”
(3) THE HOLY SPIRIT SANCTIFIES
Look at 2 Corinthians 3:18, “. . .are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord.”
(4) THE WORD OF GOD SANCTIFIES
In John 12:2, we read, “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
Conclusion:
I. POSITIONAL SANCTIFICATION (Verses 1-5)
A. WE DO NOT CONTINUE IN SIN BECAUSE OF HIS DEATH
B. WE DO NOT CONTINUE IN SIN BECAUSE OF HIS BURIAL
C. WE DO NOT CONTINUE IN SIN BECAUSE OF HIS RESURRECTION
No # 2 (Why Christians Do Not Continue in Sin)
II. PROGRESSIVE SANCTIFICATION (Verses 6-7)
A. WE KNOW OUR POSITION IN LIFE
B. WE KNOW OUR POSITION IN DEATH
No # 3 (Why Christians Do Not Continue in Sin)
III. PERFECT SANCTIFICATION (Verses 8-19)
