Buried with Him
Romans 6:1-11
Good morning,
There was a man named George who attended a church service and heard a message about Jesus and the cross, which convinced him he needed to receive forgiveness of sin and eternal life.
George went to the pastor after the sermon, who led him in the sinner’s prayer, and George believed he had accepted Christ.
But that was a long time ago and now George doubts he is saved because he does not feel any different than he did before he said the sinner’s prayer.
George now wonders if his confession was simply an emotional response to a well-orchestrated speech by a polished speaker.
George wonders why he is the only one in the world who doesn’t hear from the Lord or why he is the only one who does not have all the cool stories he hears other Christians have.
Please open your Bibles to Romans 6, as we take a couple of week break, from our Gospel of Mark series.
Even though our Christian faith can be backed up by historical, archeological, and even scientific proof…
…Christianity is not about head knowledge; it is about having a real-life relationship with the Almighty Creator of the universe.
At the moment someone receives new life in Christ, they receive the Holy Spirit, Who comes to live inside of them and also provides the supernatural power they need to live for the Lord!
I. New life begins with death.
Read Romans 6:1-2
Paul spoke about the Law and Grace within Romans 5 as he explained that Grace was not an addition to God’s plan but that it was a part of God’s plan from the very beginning of creation.
Once the Law was made known, sin increased and man’s awareness of sin increased as well, along with the reality that sin separates man from God.
Isaiah 59:1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear.
Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. NKJV
Warren Wiersbe said, “But as the law made man’s sins increase, God’s grace abounded even more. God’s grace was more than adequate to deal with man’s sins.
Even though sin and death still reign in this world, God’s grace is also reigning through the righteousness of Christ.”
Up until now in Romans, Paul had been teaching that believers are justified by faith in Christ, not by the Law or by good works.
As Paul started Romans 6, he began to answer some potentially illogical, rhetorical questions. Some things Paul addressed are:
1. If God’s grace overflows (abounds) when we sin, then why shouldn’t we continue in a sinful lifestyle and allow His grace to overflow more?
2. If we are no longer ruled by the Law of Moses, then we can live any way we see fit.
Paul addressed the Law of Moses in Romans 6, but we still should always use scripture to interpret scripture, as well.
Paul also said in Galatians 5:13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. NKJV
The question in verse 2 if we should continue in sin, Paul says, certainly not, or may it never be. This is a very strong reaction!
It was as if Paul was saying, how could you even think that way.
The third illogical question comes up in Romans 7.
3. Some thought that Paul was claiming it was the Law’s fault sin abounds so, Paul was claiming God’s Law is sin.
Romans 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."
Romans 7:8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. NKJV
Of course, Paul knew that prior to us going to heaven, Christians will still sin at times, but what he was talking about within these verses, was a lifestyle or an unrepentant heart towards sin.
In fact, John said in 1 John 1:8, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. NKJV
II. Baptized into His death.
Read Romans 6:3-5
There is a lot of doctrinal truth in these verses, and we could probably teach a month on the Biblical truth of these few verses.
What I would like to concentrate on our new position in Christ!
Warren Wiersbe said, “The basic truth Paul was teaching is the believer’s identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection.”
“Just as we are identified with Adam in sin and condemnation, so we are now identified with Christ in righteousness and justification.” (Wiersbe)
Today there will be 2 baptisms so this is an appropriate subject.
Paul starts with a rhetorical question to those who have trusted Christ for salvation, “Do you not know as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?”
The word baptizo in Greek means to immerse, to submerge or to overwhelm. That is why we practice immersion when we baptize believers who publicly identify themselves with Christ.
There are 3 Baptisms in the NT: John’s Baptism of repentance which became obsolete once Jesus was crucified, there is a Believers Baptism, and there is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Water Baptism is for someone who has previously been saved, by faith in Christ. Water Baptism represents the washing away of sins, dying to our "old self", and leaving the old way of life.
A Believer’s Baptism demonstrates what happens when a person is saved. The Christian died, was buried, and rose to new life. So Water Baptism is an outward representation of a Spirit Baptism.
Who receives the baptism of the Holy Spirit? When does Baptism of the Holy Spirit take place? What does Baptism of the Holy Spirit do in the life of a believer?
1 Corinthians 12:13 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. NKJV
1. Who receives the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?
1 Corinthians 12:13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized.
Who was Paul speaking to when he said we were all baptized?
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to the Christians at Corinth; to both carnal and sold-out Christians, Paul said, we were all baptized.
If Water Baptism was necessary for Salvation, then the Bible contradicts itself. But we know our Salvation is not based on our works of righteousness.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
Ephesians 2:9 not of works, lest anyone should boast. NKJV
2. When does Baptism of the Holy Spirit take place?
gotquestions.org, “The Spirit of God places the believer into union with Christ and into union with other believers in the body of Christ at the moment of salvation.” (gotquestions.org)
Some people believe there is a “second work” of grace or a second Baptism of the Spirit after the initial Baptism that happens at Salvation.
Paul issued a command to the Church at Ephesus…. Ephesians 5:18 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, NKJV
Filled means controlled by…Wiersbe, “The verb fill has nothing to do with contents or quantity, as though we were empty vessels that need a required amount of spiritual fuel to keep going”.
There is a two-fold admonition in Ephesians 5:18:
• don’t be controlled (drunk) by alcohol or the old life.
• instead, be controlled (filled) by the Holy Spirit.
There is a positional and practical truth about being filled with the Spirit. Positionally we are baptized by the Holy Spirit once and for all at the moment of salvation.
Practically we are to surrender to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit moment by moment, for the rest of our physical life until Jesus comes for us and gives us a heavenly body.
Scripturally, we are told to put off of the old and the put on the new person in Christ. The old person is controlled by the world.
The new person in Christ is admonished to be filled or controlled by the Spirit. The tense this verse uses in the original language teaches us to be continuously controlled by the Spirit.
3. What does Baptism of the Holy Spirit do for a believer?
1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us that the Baptism of the Holy Spirit makes us members of the body of Christ, and because we are members of Christ’s body, we also receive newness of life.
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. NKJV
At the moment someone receives new life in Christ through faith, they receive the Holy Spirit Who comes to live inside of them and also provides supernatural power to live for the Lord!
The new person in Christ is to be filled or controlled by the Spirit. Again, to be continuously filled with the Holy Spirit.
Romans 6:4, “Since we have been identified in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, we walk in the newness of life!”
We are dead to our old life by the Glory of the Father and identified with a new life in Christ.
David Guzik said, “Something dramatic and life changing happened in the life of the believer. You can’t die and rise again without it changing your life. The believer has a real (although spiritual) death and resurrection with Jesus Christ.”
And notice Romans 6:5 says we have been united together.
Leon Morris said, “This expresses a close union. The phrase exactly expresses the process by which a graft becomes united with the life of a tree.” (Leon Morris)
III. If you are in Christ, you died.
Read Romans 6:6-11
The words “done away with” in Romans 6:6, means to render idle, unemployed, inactive, or inoperable.
Paul is communicating that a change of relationship has happened at salvation. The Law was not done away with. It may still exist but it has no effect on the life of a Christian.
Once saved, we go from being guilty under the Law of God, to being set free and becoming a new creation in Christ.
Sin used to be our master, but we have a new Master who loves us and gave Himself as a sacrifice for us, Jesus Christ!
Again, we still sin at times, but sin is not our master any longer so, we can, by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, have victory over sin.
If we are saved, we have received the Holy Spirit and when we revert to the old ways of life, we are behaving like a dead man.
We have been given the Holy Spirit Who gives us all of the power we need to live holy and separate from the old sinful life.
A foundational truth of Christianity is a person must die to live.
John 3:1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
John 3:2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him."
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said to him, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
John 3:4 Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"
John 3:5 Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. NKJV
Wiersbe said, “The only way to enter God’s spiritual family is by a spiritual birth, through faith in Jesus Christ. “The new birth gives to us a new nature as well as a new and living hope.”
Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. NKJV
When a person places their faith in Christ for salvation, something remarkable happens to them on the inside that may not be detectable to others around them immediately.
What Jesus does at the moment we become a member of the family of God, is He kills the old sinful man on the inside and replaces it with the Spirit of Christ.
The death of the old you, the person you were spiritually before you received Christ, is not a dream, it is a reality.
We may not see it on the outside, but it happened spiritually when we were identified with Jesus’ death at our salvation.
You see, the old man is connected to the sinful fall of Adam in the Garden, back in Genesis. Before salvation, we were deeply ingrained in rebellion against the Lord.
Ephesians 2:1 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,
Ephesians 2:2 in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.
God’s Law cannot make us righteous, it can only tell us what God’s righteous standard is. Grace is the only thing available to make us into a new creation and acceptable unto the Lord.
The old man has to be crucified in order to be righteous before God so, the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
It is the Lord who does the crucifying of the old man, we cannot fix the old sinful man inside of us, by any act of righteous deeds.
Richard Lenski said, “In us there was nothing even to sicken and to weaken our old man, much less to murder him by crucifixion; God had to do this.” (Richard Lenski)
Re-read Romans 6:10
Notice, the death of Jesus only had to happen once, to take care of the world’s sin problem and provide us with the opportunity to have new life in Him.
And notice, “The life that he lives, he lives to God”. That means we were given a new life to live for the Lord, and not for self.
We were not freed from the power of death and sin to use our new life to live carnally for self.
C. H. Spurgeon said, “If God has given to you and to me an entirely new life in Christ, how can that new life spend itself after the fashion of the old life?
“Shall the spiritual live as the carnal? How can you that were the servants of sin, but have been made free by precious blood, go back to your old slavery?” (C. H. Spurgeon)
But there is another truth I want to share with you this morning. So many times, we hear messages like this and believe we have to somehow make sure we are worthy of such a great salvation.
1 Peter 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
1 Peter 1:4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you,
1 Peter 1:5 who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. NKJV
The question for us is, “If it was the Lord who saved us, and it is the Lord who keeps us, what can separate us from His love?”
Romans 6:11 The word reckon does not to mean to think or to suppose, like some people in the South use it.
Reckon means to place into someone's account, or to impute.
This is telling us that the Lord has removed our old sin life and deposited into our account His righteousness, in its place.
The Lord gives us new life and He keeps us. Our part is to surrender to His Spirit and allow the Lord to live out His righteousness in and through us.
IV. Practical Application.
Once we are saved, we have to change our clothing. Colossians 3:8 But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth.
Colossians 3:9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds,
Colossians 3:10 and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
The verbs “put off” and “put on” are a one time and complete action. Salvation naturally leads us to the process of becoming more like Jesus Christ which happens moment-by-moment.
Merriam Webster said, “Hypocrite is from the Greek, and it means to be “an actor” or “a stage player”, actors wore masks to depict a character they were playing.
Once in Christ, if we continue to allow the old behavior in our lives, we are actually being hypocritical and acting like someone who has not been crucified and no longer exists.
The 1st Adam is the old man we should be put off, because now we are created after the image of the second Adam, Jesus Christ.
In order to put on the new man, the action step the Christ follower must do, is to display different actions and have different attitudes, by surrendering control to the Holy Spirit.
Now the new outfit is Colossians 3:12 Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering. NKJV
Since the Lord tells us we are to be set apart from the world as holy, our response to His great love is to put on these things:
1. Tender mercies.
This means having a heart of compassion; Adam Clarke said, If something is tender, it is sensitive to touch. “The apostle would have them to feel the slightest touch of another’s misery.
Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. NKJV
2. Kindness. (Goodwill, understanding, charity, grace, humanity, affection)
When we live surrendered lives, we will be tenderhearted and kind to one another.
When we are hardhearted and bitter, we don’t hurt the person who hurt us, we are actually hurting ourselves.
3. Humility.
The world celebrates arrogance but, Jesus honors humility. Christianity is backwards according to the world’s standards.
Think of the time Jesus washed the Disciples feet. By washing His disciples’ feet, Jesus taught the lesson of selfless service.
“Humility is not thinking poorly of oneself. Rather, it is having the proper estimate of oneself in the will of God. (Wiersbe)
The person with humbleness of mind thinks of others first and not of himself.”
4. Meekness.
Meekness is described as strength under control. Think of a stallion that is finally able to be saddled and rode. All of the strength remains, but the stallion is now controlled by the rider.
A Christian has the same power that rose Jesus from the grave living inside of them but the awesome power a Christian possesses is controlled by the same Spirit as well.
5. Longsuffering.
Longsuffering is the exact opposite of the short-tempered person; it describes a person with a long fuse. Ephesians says to be angry; not “avoid anger” but be angry, without sinning.
All of these characteristics come from a new identity in Christ and is displayed in personal relationships, first with the Lord and then to others.
We are no longer slaves to sin, we are to put on Christ.
