September 10, 2017
Morning Service

Romans chapter 5 was quite a spiritual meal for us last week.  It had a lot of things that I hope stuck with you through the week and you chewed on it over and over.  Paul explained to us that through our faith in Christ and the work He did on Calvary, we have been given a peace from God that we cannot even understand.  We know that He is our Savior, anchor, and firm foundation that when troubles come we can stand firm in Him.  He then challenged us to put that into action by looking at our trials in a whole new way; to rejoice in them because they help us to grow.  Paul told us that our afflictions help us to learn patience which in turn strengthens our character and that builds our hope.  He then told us that hope never disappoints us.  As we tried to digest that, Sunday evening we saw that God loved us so much that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.  He then revealed to us how it was through Adam that sin and death entered this world and it is through Jesus and the shedding of His blood that allows us to escape both of them.  His grace abounds to us in that our sins are forgiven.

 Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?  (2)  Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

·         Paul raises a question that some even said that he was teaching.  Since God is so merciful and full of grace, why don’t we keep sinning as much as possible so that His grace can flourish even more?  “Certainly not" is the emphatic answer to that.  He then asks another question that he will explain as we go.  “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?”

 

Romans 6:3-4  Do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death?  (4)  Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so we also should walk in newness of life.

·         In our baptism class, we try to show that this scripture is the key to understanding baptism.  Baptism has a physical side, the water, and a spiritual side of death, burial and resurrection.  The sinful person that we were spiritually dies as we are buried in the waters of baptism.  It is then that we arise and are resurrected to “walk in the newness of life.”  There is a change when we come to God with a repentant heart and surrender it to His will. 

 2 Corinthians 5:17  So that if anyone is in Christ, that one is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

·         The term “born again” certainly makes sense with that doesn’t it?  God offers us a second chance to start over.  He forgives us of our past sins and allows us to arise from the waters of baptism and “walk in the newness of life.”  Paul continues his explanation.

 

Romans 6:5-7  For if we have been joined together in the likeness of His death, we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection;  (6)  knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin.  (7)  For he who died has been justified from sin.

·         Because we have joined Jesus in the likeness of His death, our evil desires and bondage to sin died with us in those waters.  That is what he means when he says that “our old man is crucified with Him.”   Having died in the waters of baptism we are now united by faith with Christ in His resurrection giving us unbroken fellowship with God and freedom from sin’s hold on us.  

 

 

·         The power of sin was broken (destroyed) as we, spiritually, died with Him.  We are no longer under sins control and power as before. We were slaves to sin because there was no way to break free.  We could not do it on our own, the price was too high.  But now we are declared “not guilty” through faith in Christ before God.  The debt we owed for our sin has been paid in full by Jesus upon the cross and by faith we stand justified before God.

 

Romans 6:8-11 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, (9)  knowing that when Christ was raised from the dead, He dies no more; death no longer has dominion over Him.  (10)  For in that He died, He died to sin once; but in that He lives, He lives to God.  (11)  Likewise count yourselves also to be truly dead to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

·         Christ died once upon the cross to pay for the sins of all.  We likewise die once in the waters of baptism to free us from the bondage of sin forever.  Does that mean we will no longer ever sin?  No, it doesn’t, as long as we are in this fleshly body we have the capacity to sin.  It means we have been forgiven and now also have access to the God to seek any further forgiveness that is needed. (I John 1:9)  It is that relationship (grace) that frees and justifies us from sin.  We have been given the Holy Spirit to teach lead and guide us.  We are dead to sin, but alive to God through Christ.  What does that look like?

 

Romans 6:12-13 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.  (13)  Do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but yield yourselves to God, as one alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

·         Paul has just finished explaining the spiritual side of our salvation.  We are dead to our sins, but alive to Christ.  Now he begins the explanation of how that spiritual experience must now show itself in the physical form.  We are to be aware of what sin is and avoid it, not allowing it to become part of our lives.  We must recognize it as sin, repent of it, and remove it from our lives. 

·         When we first began this letter we spoke on how God has given us each free will to choose whether to serve Him or to choose not to.  It is one way or the other.  Are we yielding ourselves to be “instruments” or tools of righteousness or to unrighteousness for good or for evil?  Our “old sinful selves” would naturally desire us to be used tools of unrighteousness.  It is only through the surrendering of our hearts and the gift of the Holy Spirit that we are able to yield ourselves to God as tools for His use.

·         Picture God with a giant tool pouch.  When He needs to accomplish something in this world, He must find a tool (person) that can and will do the job.  If He wants someone to receive a word of encouragement, He needs a tool that can do it.  If there is a work to be done, He needs a tool to do it with.  We can be tools in the hand of God that He uses to build up His kingdom.  Are you ready and willing to be used?  If we are not yielding ourselves to God, then who are we yielding ourselves to?  Sin needs tools too, are we allowing ourselves to be used for that?

·         Being dead to sin and alive to God means purposely seeking to be that tool that is willing and able to do whatever needs done.  We should be reading, praying, attending and looking for God to use us in His work.  When God needs something done and He uses you to accomplish it, there is no greater feeling of contentment that I have ever found.  It is not pride because what honor does a hammer have in a house being built?  The glory will go to the Carpenter who used that hammer.  Here I am Lord, use me.

 

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your perfect plan of salvation that places us in a position of being dead to our sin, but alive to You.  Please allow us to be instruments of righteousness in Your hands.