Dead to Sin; Alive to God

Well, as we continue our journey through the Book of Romans, we have now come to Romans chapter six, and today we'll examine verses five through fourteen. Really we're looking at that section. This section is chapter six, verses one through fourteen. But it was important to break off those first four verses on last week to help get a basic grasp and theological understanding of how Paul is connecting chapter six to chapter five. Also, we need to reiterate again and again that as we move through the Book of Romans, a couple of things. One that the Book of Romans, like all the New Testament letters, was meant to be read in a single setting. It was not meant to be broken up into pieces per se. In order for us to understand it. Now, it's important for us to understand the component parts so that we understand the whole better. But you have to understand it in light of the whole, which is why it's important that we remember where we've been and where we're going now. The first section of the first movement in the Book of Romans is commonly understood to be the first four chapters. The entire book is about justification. In those first four chapters, we see our need for justification, and we also see the means by which we are justified. And so we see in chapter one that the Gentiles are in need of justification because they're sinful without the law. We see in chapter two the Jews need justification because they are sinful under the law. We see in chapter three that all men are sinful and in need of justification, and there in chapter three we see that God has made a way for that justification in the person and work of Jesus Christ. There at the end of the chapter, in chapter four, we see that this is applied to us by faith. Those are those first four chapters that condense our understanding of justification. We move then in chapters five through eight to this application of justification, and specifically in chapters five through eight, we get a better picture of the outworking of justification commonly known as sanctification. That's what's happening here in chapters five through eight. And it's important that we recognize what is happening here in chapter six by looking back and remembering what we saw in chapter five, and that is the distinction between the first atom and the last atom. We have to grasp that and understand the federal headship of the first atom and the federal headship of the last Atom. In order to grasp what's being spoken of here in what is one of the most complicated chapters in the Book of Romans, that is chapter six, we understand in chapter five the federal headship of Atom, and that because of the one man, sin entered the world and death through sin, so death passed to all of us. Send passed to all of us because our federal head, Adam, our representative, sinned. He was our federal head. He was our representative, and he's sinned. We've used this illustration before, but it bears repeating. Federal headship is best understood in the context of, say, for example, a monarchy. If we live in a monarchy, our federal head is the king. And if our federal head the king declares war on another kingdom, that means we, because we are under our federal head, are also at war with this other kingdom. Okay, that's federal headship, our federal head. We have federal headship in a sense here if our congress instead of a king declaring war, our congress. Now just forget all of American history after World War two in order to hold on to what I'm saying here. But our Congress is the only body that can declare war. I know what you're thinking. We've been in war since World War Two. We've never declared to war since World War two. But just leave that alone for a minute, all right. Our Congress is the only body. It's our federal head that can declare war. When our Congress declares war, we are at war because our federal head has declared war. Atam our federal head fell and sinned, and in him we fell and descend. But in chapter five we see the good news that we have a new federal head in the last Atom, who succeeded where the first atom failed. The last Atom is the federal head of all of those who belonged to him and who are therefore in him. By faith. You get under the federal headship of the first atom by birth. Amen, by birth. That's how you get under the headship of the first Atom. By birth. It is not some act that you commit later on in your life. You do not make a decision later on in your life that you will align yourself with the first Atom. You are born in sin and shaped in iniquity. It is your birth that aligns you with your federal head Atom. It is also birth that aligns you with your federal head Jesus. It is the new birth. It is being regenerate or being born again that unites you with your federal head Jesus Christ. This is incredibly important to understand because if we don't get this, we don't understand Chapter six. In chapter six, verses one through fourteen, we see the picture of what justification does in granting the believer victory over sin. I almost hesitate to say the words because there's so many caveats that need to be offered, but justification grants to the believer victory over sin both escatologically, there's that big word again. Remember eschatology, Eschaton, the end of the age, what we believe about the end of the age, ultimate reality. So escatologically we know that we will ultimately have victory over sin, but also in a temporal sense, in the here and now, we have victory over sin, and we understand what that means when we understand romans chapter six. This is crucial. But before we get there, let me help you for just a moment, see why it is difficult for us. This goes to the heart of our understanding of the Gospel. And as we've said before, we have a worped understanding of the Gospel because of the culture in which we live. We do not understand what the Gospel is. We do not understand what the Gospel requires, We do not understand what the Gospel produces. We don't speak Gospel language. And because of that, when you get to the ideas presented in Chapter six and our victory over sin, we don't understand sanctification because we don't understand justification. Now, what do I mean by that? Here's what I mean. When you ask a person what is the gospel, most people in our culture will immediately begin to give you the Plan of Salvation, not the Gospel. They give you the Romans world to get the planet of salvation, to give you something like that. Not a pronouncement of the redemptive work that God has a accomplished in the person, in the work of Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. The gospel is an announcement of what Christ has accomplished. That is the gospel. That is the good news. Okay, it's Christ and his work, not you and your work. That's the message of the gospel. Now, if we don't understand that, we don't understand sanctification, how does a person come to be in right relationship with God? Ask the average person in our culture, and you'll hear phrases like this. You'll hear phrases like they make a decision for Christ. Or you'll hear phrases like they invite Jesus into their heart. Or you'll hear phrases like I have decided to follow Jesus, or you'll hear phrases like I gave my life to Christ. Do you notice the consistent theme running through all of this. Okay, it's Frank Sinatra salvation. I did it my way. Okay, it's what I did. I decided, I invited, I opened, I gazed, I I That's the way we understand justification. Justification is achieved by me doing something in order to get in the right relationship with God. That's the classic armeny and understanding. It's synergism, synergy, two forces working together, as opposed to understanding that justification is something that is granted to us by God by grace, apart from anything that you or I could ever do. That's how we're justifying. God saves sinners. But that's not the way we talk about salvation. And the reason we don't talk about salvation that way is because we do not believe that we are saved that way. We are Pelagian to the core. Again, Pelagianism the idea that in the fall, there is part of us that is untainted enough for us to be able to reason our way back to God, for us to be able to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, for us to be able to decide for God, not that we must be born again in order to even see the Kingdom of Heaven. Listen to this from Loreen Bettner. I've quoted Louren Bettner's classic work, The Reformed Doctor of the Predestination the number of times I would hope that you would get this, that that you would have this, that you would read this. But listen to Betner. He's quoting here, but he says the contrast between Calanistic and Armenian basis for morality is clearly stated in the following section of Mcphetridge. The two great springs by which men are moved are, on the one hand, conviction and idea, and on the other, emotion and sentiment. As these control sol the moral character will be shaped. Don't miss this. If we believe that you are justified or you are saved by you deciding, you, committing, you, giving you opening, whatever the case may be, then what do we have to believe about how you're sanctified, you deciding, you committing. That has to be it. So if there is a sin problem in your life, how do you deal with sin on the larger scale as in going from death to life? While I dealt with it by making a decision and devoting or dedicating my life to Christ. So if later on in my life I have another sin problem, what I need to do re dedicate my life to Christ? Do you follow that I did it the first time? It didn't take So I need to do it again. I need to redouble my efforts. I need to dedicate myself again. This alters everything. This alters the way we evangelize. If I believe, for example, that man is saved by his own initiative and inclination, then how do I evangelize. I have to get to that place in that man where I can motivate him to make the right decision. How do you help someone who's fall into sin? Well. From an Armenian perspective, Let's take, for example, someone who is violent. If someone is violent, what do you do? Well, maybe you give that person a proper outlet. What would that look like? A punching bag or miss martial arts class. You need to go somewhere where you can get that aggression out. Your problem is that you don't have the right outlet. So you get the right outlet that'll take care of your violence problem. Is that sound familiar? How about this a proper understanding. You're violent because you don't understand. And what you need to do is learn how to sympathize with your victims. If you knew how your violence affected other people, you wouldn't be violent. Perhaps you need a proper technique, learn how to count to ten, learn how to take the time out, learn how to do whatever again. Or finally, perhaps you need a proper environment. You need to avoid the triggers that make you violent. This all ought to sound very familiar. And I'm not talking about outside the church, talking about inside the church. All these things have one thing in common. We believe that this is something other than a sin problem. Or worse, we believe it is a sin problem. But the way you overcome sin is by technique, understanding, will, etc. Etc. But if, on the other hand, we believe that salvation is a monergistic work, synergistic God and Man working together to save man, monogistic God's saving man by himself without man's health. If we believe that salvation is monogistic, that also changes the way we evangelize. If God saves sinners and God uses the foolishness of preaching and the foolishness of the gospel, what's my goal? My goal is to be as clear with the Gospel as I possibly can, because that's what God uses. Is my goal to somehow manipulate the man into making a decision No, because I realize I cannot do that. Salvation is a work of God. So I proclaim the gospel knowing that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, not my manipulation of man. It also deals. It also affects the way you help people deal with sin, because if you were justified by Gun and his work in the Gospel, you are also going to be sanctified by God and his work in the Gospel. And that's Paul's argument here in Romans chapter six, but he gives us the theological basis and foundation for it. This also, by the way change is preaching, it does it changes preaching. I was taught preaching from an Armenian perspective, not from a reformed or a Calvinistic perspective. So from an Armenian perspective, if man gets saved by him, you know, taking initiative with that part of him that's not affected by the fall, my job is to affect that part of him that's not affected by the fall. If man gets sanctified and gets better by him learning techniques or changing his environment and things like that, what do my sermons sound like? Five ways to have a happy life, Ten ways to reduce stress, four ways to overcome depression, techniques, techniques, skills. Some of those things may be good, by the way the things that we talked about. You know, it might not be bad to have a punching bag, might not be bad. To learn sympathy or empathy, might not be bad at all, to learn to avoid certain circumstances or surrounded. Those things are not inherently bad. But if I believe that they are the answer, I've missed the mark. So with that in mind, let's look here, we'll go back to verse one. We'll read all the way through verse fourteen, but we'll concentrate on five through fourteen. What shall we say then, By the way, as we read here, we're going to read this a couple of times, but as we read through the first time, because I want you to understand that there are two themes going on here, Paul is talking about two separate ideas, two separate themes, two separate ways. And I want you to see how many times he reiterates this. So the first time we read through it, every time you see death or dead, I'm reading the ESV. So if you have the SV, every time you see death or dead, would you read that aloud with me? Okay, would you just read that aloud with me every time you see death or dead? What shall we say? Then? Are we to continue in sin? That grace may abound by no means? How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, we too might walk into this of life. For if we have been reunited with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set feet from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God. In Christ, Jesus, let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but grace. Do you think Paul's making a point here? Over and over and over and over and over again. Death death, death, death. Now, when we read again, we're not going to look for life, because pretty much when you see death, the opposite of that, you see to life. Here's what I want us to look for as we read through it again. We're going to start again at verse one. And when you see in him or in Christ, would you read that with me again? What shall we say, then? Are we to continue in sin that grace man? By no means, how can we who died to sin still live in it? But excuse me? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism and to death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again, that no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and a life to God. In Christ, Jesus, let not sin, therefore, reigning your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who've been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Do you see that there's a definite pattern here. There's the idea of death and the idea of life. By the way, that last statement in verse fourteen also sums up the concept of death and life, but it gives you under law versus under grace. Under law, death under grace life. So this is all about death and life. It's all about Christ and his relationship to death and life and sin. But it is about us in Christ and with Christ, and what that has to do the implications thereof for our relationship to sin. Let's grasp this number one. Our victory over sin rather is impossible for those in Atom. Victory over sin is impossible for those in Atom. That's important to understand. Look at verses six and nine. Look at verse six. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So before before we were in Christ, we were in Atom, and when we were in Atom, we were enslaved to sin. Look at verse nine. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. So death had dominion over us because we were enslaved to sin. So, as one commentator writes, death and sin are sort of co regents, and one cannot reign without the other. So death has dominion over us because we're enslaved to sin. That is the lot in life for those of us who are under first Atom and his federal headship, which is everyone who has not experienced the second birth. That's everyone. All of us apart from Christ, are slaves to sin and under the minion of death, every last one of us. Now, as we say this again, it's very important for us to understand this doctrine of total depravity. What it means to be a slave to sin. Does that mean that a man is as bad as he could possibly be. No, by the mercy and common grace of God, men are not as bad as they could be. Amen, Hallelujah, Praise the Lord. Okay, every time you see some crime that is just absolutely heinous, and you ask yourself, how could anyone do something like that? You know what, There are a whole lot of things that you just learned, But here's one thing that you just learned. People are not as bad as they could be because that's not common. People are not as bad as they could be because that's not common. You hear about something so horrendous that you can't you can barely wrap your mind around it. Listen, if one human being could be that sinful, all of us could be that sinful. But it is by God's grace that we are not and as bad as whatever it is that you heard about is, it's still not as bad as it could be. So if we're slaves to sin, what does that look like. Let's go to our confession London Best Confession, Chapter nine, on free will. Number one, God hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty and power of acting upon choice, that it is neither forced, nor by any necessity of nature, determined to do good or evil. Okay, man, it's not determined that man will do good or evil. Number two. Man, in his state of innocence, he had freedom and power to will and to do that which was good and well pleasing to God, but yet was mutable so that he might fall from it. Number three, man, by his fall into a state of sin, have wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation. So as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good and dead in sin, is not able by his own strength to convert himself or to prepare himself thereunto, it is impossible for you to please God. Apart from regeneration. It is impossible. It is impossible. You are fallen in your sin, and you do according to your will, but your will is absolutely bent toward sin, evil, and self gratification. It's like the classic illustration of the carnivore and the herbivore. You think about the herbivore, you know he only eats plants. Is he free to eat meat? Is the cow the cow's and herbivore? Is the cow free to eat meat? Yes, the cow is free to eat meat. However, the cows will will not choose to eat meat. Why because it is contrary to his nature. So though it's there, he's not going to choose it, because it's contrary to his nature. It's the same thing for those who are falling in at them. You are a slave to sin. Righteousness is there, but will you choose it? No, because it is contrary to your very And even when you do things that appear to be good, because lost men do things that appear to be good. It's sort of like you know a cow who's an herbivore who's going through and eating some grass, and there happens to be, you know, a worm on the grass or an ant on the grass or whatever they might get eaten. Did it eat meat? Yeah, that wasn't his intention. Did the man do something that outwardly looked good. Yeah, but righteousness wasn't his intention? Righteousness to the glory of God wasn't his attention. Two soldiers both fall on a grenade and save their perspective units. Did they act out of righteousness? Was it necessarily a good act and a righteous act? You can have one guy who fell on the grenade because literally he valued the lives of those around him and desired that they be saved and rescued, And by God's grace, he did that act to the glory of Almighty God. You can have another guy who was just tired of the war. Can a man do something, a man who is in adam, a man who is completely lost? Can he do something that looks like a righteous act? Yes, does it all the time. But if his motives are self glorification, self gratification, and not the glory in honor of Almighty God, that act, though it appears righteous, is actually sinful. Victory over sin is impossible for those who are in Adam. There is none righteous, no, not even one. Turn with me to the right. We'll get there eventually. In chapter eight. Look at chapter eight and let's begin at verse five for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed it can not. Indeed it can not. Those who are in the flesh can not please God. I don't write the mail, I just deliver it. The Bible says that if you are in atom, it is impossible for you to please God. There's nothing that you do that is righteous. Nothing, absolutely nothing. By the way, this is why it is such a travesty to preach moralism and not the Gospel. You have a man who's lost in his sin. He is in the first atom, he is not in the last atom. There is nothing that he can do to please God. But you set him in a church and give him five ways to have a happy life, ten ways to reduce stress, six ways to be a better husband, so on and so forth, so that he then goes and attempts in the flesh to do that which is impossible, and feels better about himself while he's on his way on the express train to Hell, because we somehow communicate it to him. And all God's interested in him is you following the right steps. The only thing that matters is for you to be good in these ways. No, if you have not been born again, it is impossible for you to please God. Nothing that you do is pleasing to God. On your best day, you deserve hell and the grave. Hear me on this, for the sake of your soul. Hear me on this. It is just as true, however, that victory over sin is inviable for those who are in Christ. Look at six through ten. Look first at verse five. Verse five is the connector between the first paragraph one through four and the second paragraph, and so verse five, and we'll talk more about verse verse five in a minute. Verse five says, for if we have been united with him and a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in the resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. So we were slaves to sin. But now, because of the death of Christ, in which we are united, we're no longer slaves to sin, for one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died, he died descend once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. There is the truth and the reality about us that Paul is communicating. He's also communicated this earlier. If you look in verses one through four. What shall we say? Then? Are we to continuan send that grace may bound by no means make ganoia? May it never be? How can we who die descend still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were buried with him in baptism into death. In order that justice. Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. It's impossible, it doesn't work. It is inevitable that those who are united to Christ will have victory over sin. It's inevitable. First John, Chapter three. Let's go there. First John chapter three. Look beginning of verse four. First John chapter three, beginning verse four. Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning. No one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous he as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, For the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Born of God makes the practice of sinning. For God seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. It is inevitable that those who have been born again, who are in Christ, will be victorious over sin. It's inevitable. That makes us uncomfortable, and I don't mean it makes us uncomfortable just because we don't understand what it means. And the one sense, it can make uncomfortab because we can say, well, wait a minute, are you saying that their sinlessness. We heard on last week that that's not what Paul's communicating here. But even beyond that, even if we know that Paul's not talking about sinlessness in this life, it still makes us uncomfortable. One of the reasons it makes us uncomfortable is because this little fact we've heard this gospel the wrong way for so long, and the gospel the wrong way is you are the one that did the work. Now, some people will go so far, you know, they'll say, now God does ninety nine percent of the work, but you do the one percent. That's, you know, the deciding factor. That's been A. Graham's famous line, D. L. Moody famous line, and D. L. Moody's famous tract. He had this tract and on the outside of the tract was this. It was a ballot, and it was God Satan and you. God has cast his vote. Satan has cast his vote. Now it's time for you to cast the deciding vote. That's how we understand salvation. I cast the deciding vote. I do the deciding work. How do we understand sanctification sanctification is God has made it available for me, But I've got to go learn the steps and work the steps so that I can do the sanctification thing. Because we've been in that soul. When people talk about victory over sin, there's a little alarm that goes off in the back of our minds, and that alarm that goes off in the back of our mind says, oh, no, no, no, don't do that, because then you get into that one saved, always saved, and people won't strive for righteousness. Danger, danger, danger. People won't strive for righteousness. You only worry about that if you believe that sanctification is the result of people striving for righteousness. I don't believe that your sanctification is not the result of what you strive for. Paul is making clear that your sanctification is a result of what Christ has done and applied to your life. So my hope is not that you would leave here with a worry on your mind that it's significant enough to keep you worse in the steps. It works if you work it. That's not my worry. My worry is that you leave here remembering the source of your righteousness, the person and work of Jesus Christ, that you keep him in the forefront of your mind, because that's your only hope of victory over sin. It guarantees it. It guarantees it smart mindset. Thirdly, victory over sin is guaranteed by the work of Christ applied to believers. It's guaranteed by the work of Christ applied to believers. Let's look a little more closely here at this text. Three types of hope, our forensic hope, our eschatological hope, and our or temporal hope. First of all, our forensic hope when you talk about justification from a forensic perspective, that is when we talk about justification as in God has declared us righteous, that forensically or legally, God has justified us. He has put us in right relationship with himself. So that's the first hope that we have. We saw that in Romans chapters one through four, and really we saw it in Romans chapter three, that our hope, our forensic hope, is in God declaring us righteous by the finished work of Jesus Christ. That's our forensic hope. Our forensic hope, by the way, gives us freedom or deliverance from the penalty of sin. That's our forensic hope. I have freedom from the penalty of sin. I'm not going to die and go to hell because God has declared me righteous. There's also how our eschatological hope. Our eschatological hope is hope that we will one day be delivered from the very presence of sin, not just the penalty of sin, but the presence of sin, that sin will be no more. Where's that hope come from. Well, there's that connector verse five. For if we have been united with Him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. That's our escatological hope. There is a time coming when I am going to be free from the very presence of sin. I will sin no more. That time, however, is not now. It is a future hope. This point right here in verse five clearly demonstrate that Paul demonstrates that Paul is not teaching that believers come to a place where they are perfectly sanctified before their glorification. That is not true. That is, it's an eschatological hope. We don't have what's called an overrealized eschatology, and overrealized eschatology is one that brings those things that are future into the present as though they are complete realities. Now that's an overrealized eschatology. But I do have a hope that I will one day be delivered from the very presence of sin. But hold on, why look carefully at verse five, For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. If someone had asked you before coming in here on what do you base your hope for resurrection? What was your answer? Have ben Just think about that for a moment. What would your answer have been? Who is based on Well, let's give ourselves a benefit of doubt. We would have given the right answer. It's based on Christ and his finished work. No, it's based on because Christ and his finished work got him a resurrection. Amen. How do you know it's gonna give you one? Well, because I believe in Christ and his resurrection. So does the devil he was there. Amen, what's the difference between you and him? You are in Christ. That's your hope of resurrection. You are in Christ. We read it earlier, did we not in him with Him? In Christ? Jesus with Christ Jesus, you are united with Christ. You are in Christ. The most beautiful picture of this. You know where I'm going Go to Ephesians chapter one. We've got to go to Ephesians chapter one and listen to the language of the same author here in Ephesians chapter one, as he explains this picture Ephesians chapter one, beginning at verse three. This is critical. It's the key to unlocking this doctrinal issue that can be so confusing. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. By the way, we were elected unto what holiness. Holiness. If there's no holiness, you're not on the elect So we do we get uncomfortable when we say, oh, wait a minute, I get that our victory over sin is guaranteed. And wait, you know it's inevitable for those of it. Yeah, it is. It is in love. He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will to the praise of His glorious grace with which He has blessed us in the beloved. In Him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of grace, which He lavished on us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. You are in Christ. You are united with Christ. The closest picture that we have to it is marriage. By the way, if thetres five makes that clear, doesn't it. Here's what's interesting. When I die. I've said this before, but let me just let me say it again. I die, and they notify my next of kin. They are not going to notify the woman who bore me in her womb, the woman who nursed me from her breast, the woman who cared for me, clothed me, fed me. But they are not going to notify my mother because my mother is not my next of kin. My wife is. How does that happen through that covenantal union that we have that mirrors the union between the Church and Christ. We are in Him, which is why all that is his is ours, because we are united with Him. Therefore, I'm going to have a rest of the resurrection, an eschatological hope, but I also have a temporal hope. Why follow through in verse six? Follow the logic. Now, in verse six he says, we know that our osa again, we have hope of resurrection. When I die, I'm going to heaven. Hey man, that's great. I'm glad you believe that. But what we have a harder time believing is that we're going to have victory over sin and that we're going to live in righteousness. But the same principle that gives you hope of resurrection is the principle that gives you hope of righteousness. Believe verse six, We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to enough so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Who died Christ, where were you when he died in him? Which means that that accrues to you. His resurrection accrues to you. But also this freedom from bondage to sin accrues to you as well. We know that Christ verse nine, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. Why do we believe that we're gonna have a resurrection because we believe that death no longer has dominion over us, because we're in Christ. Next verse for the death he died, He died to sin once for all, but the light he lives. He lives to God. He did not just give you an eschatological hope. He gave you a right now hope that right now, because you are in Him, you live a life to God, which is a life of holiness and righteousn that you did not earn for yourself, but it was earned by the person and work of Jesus Christ. That's your victory over sin. It is a theological reality. It is a theological truth. It is as real as you're a hope of a coming resurrection. So okay, so uh what I do? Just sit there and let it happen. Here's the beauty of Paul's writing. Those are the indicatives. Now come the imperatives. The indicatives. That's what's true about you, the imperatives. It's what you do in light of and because of what's true about you. In light of and because of what's true about you. So now we get to verse eleven. So you all so must. There's four things here. Number one, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. Now, before we go here, let's just back up for a moment before we look at these four imperatives. Let's back up for a moment so that we don't undo what we just did, because we could. We could undo what we just did. And here's a list of four things that you gotta go do. Go work hard for your sactification. Okay, hold on, these things we do because of what Christ has done. These things we do as a result of what Christ has done. So when he gives us these imperatives, it's sort of like I'm gonna use to it. There's two illustrations here. It's sort of like, in order to understand this, and I'm going to use these two illustrations because of words and phrases that the apostle uses. Okay, one is military illustration, because he uses military terms here when he says that we offer ourselves to God just tools for righteousness. It's a military term, it's weapons for righteousness. So it's a military term. And so we've all seen the films. It's d Day, World War two, greatest military assault in the history of warfare. And we've heard the speeches. There's always the speech that happens right before you storm the beaches, or the speech that happens right before Easy Company goes and jumps out of the airplane. They get the speech, and in the speech, there's always that moment where the commanding officer says something like, remember your training. You are ready for this, you are prepared for this. Remember your training. Now is the commanding officer saying that the act of you remembering your training, this is what really makes the difference. No, training is what makes the difference. He's just trying to encourage these soldiers to rely on that thing that matters most, rely on the training that we get. Now, for us as believers, it's not remember your training, it's remember your victory that you have in Christ. So here in verse eleven, look at what he says. He says, so you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Remember your training. Don't be afraid, don't worry about the outcome. Do what you've been trained to do. That's what the commanding officer says. What we're being told is Christ has won the victory. You consider and you reckon yourself in him. That doesn't make you in him. It just reminds you of what is true. Remember what is true. Your victory over sin comes when you remember what is true. The other illustration is the illustration of slavery illustration. It runs throughout this whole chapter, the idea of slaves to sin. We have in our nation's history a vivid illustration of this truth. Amendment thirteen slavery abolished December sixth, eighteen sixty five, ratified December sixth, eighteen sixty By so, we just passed the one hundred and forty fifth anniversary of the ratification of the thirteenth Amendment. And by the way, it was the thirteenth Amendment, not the Emancipation Proclamation that ended slavery. The Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave. It was the thirteenth Amendment that ended slavery. But listen to the thirteenth Amendment. By the way, thirteenth Amendment only into certain types of slavery. Listen to the thirteenth Amendment. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, wherefore the party shall shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude. Now, if you take that middle clause out, then you do get a complete abolition of slavery. It reasons like this, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within any United States or any place subject or his jurisdiction. But there's that clause, except that somebody's convicted of a crime, then they can be put into involuntary servitude or slavery, which we call pensentiary. Okay. Now, December sixth, eighteen sixty five, you're a slave, your slave on a plantation in Mississippi, Alabama, or New York or Pennsylvania. Okay, And it's December sixth, eighteen sixty five. And in that moment, you have your forensic freedom from slavery. It's the law. You're no longer a slave. But every bone in your body knows nothing else. Every fiber of your being that was born on the plantation. Born into slavery and spent every day as a slave, knows nothing else. So if somebody would then say to you, then you're free, live like a free man. Consider yourself free. Is you're considering yourself free? What made you free? No, it's this declaration that made you free. But if someone says consider yourself free, they're just saying you need to think about yourself in accordance with that which is true, regardless of what you feel or regardless of your circumstances. Secondly, look at verse twelve. Let not sin therefore rain in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. There's the second one. Don't let's sin rain in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Don't let's sin rain in your mortal pipe. Don't do it. Don't let's sin rain in your motibile Now again, is this saying your victory over sin really comes as a result of you girdening up your loins and not letting it be. No, go back to the illustration the commanding officer. When those doors open up, everything in you is gonna want to stay on those boats. Stay there, you die when the door opens up, Do not listen to your fear. Move forward toward the beach to the slave. All you've ever known is slavery. All you've ever known is yourself as a second class citizen. But you are free. Remember that you are free, and do not act like a slave anymore. Why am I reminding you because this is the source of your freedom. No, I'm reminding you because everything in you has been conditioned in the opposite direction, And so I'm reminding you of what's already true, because you're conditioning in the opposite direction. Same thing with sin. You were born in the first atom. Paul's reminding you consider yourself according to what God says is true. He's reminding you, do not give yourself to that to which you no longer belong. Thirdly, verse thirteen, do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness. It's militaristic terminology here. You're a weapon of righteousness, not a weapon of unrighteousness. There's a connection here. It's not just don't give yourself over there, but give yourself over here. Don't let sin reign in your mortal body. Give yourself to God. That's how you don't let sin reign in your mortal body. Give yourself to God. You come to the cross again and again and again. That's how victory. It's the Cross. Remind yourself, consider it to be true. Don't give your members over there, but give your members to God. How do you give your members to God? Those ordinary means. That's why you need to come to church and hear the gospel preaching again and again and again. That's why we have the Lord's suffer to remind us of his death and resurrection again and again and again. That's why the goal of our singing is to remind you of that which is true again and again and again. That's why you worship and your families on a regular basis, because you need this again and again and again. And to the degree that we give ourselves over and over and over to God and remind ourselves again and again and again of that which is true, there's victory. Dan. Here's the fourth thing. I love this. You get those imperatives and justin you're about to run off the deep end and think that this is just about you, that is not about the indicatives. How does he sum it up? In verse fourteen, He goes back to the indicatives. Look at verse fourteen. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Sin will have no dominion over you because you're not under law, you're under grace. You don't live there anymore. That is not your hope. This is not works righteousness. You're not Israel under the old covenant. Your covenant is not based on you standing here and say all these things we will do. No, your covenant is based on this. This is the new covenant in my blood. Christ has accomplished it. So does this mean that we're free from the law. No, the law's good, we'll see that in chapter seven. But we're free to obey. We weren't before. We didn't have what it required. Before we were under the old atom and everything in us was herb before. Now our nature has been changed. And you're a cow that can each think your nature's changed. You're not the same. So here's what Paul does. Here's all the theology to help you understand who you are in Christ and the victory that you have now here's what you do with it. First thing he tells you to do with it, it's consider it to be true of you. Secondly, don't give yourself to the camp that you don't belong to anymore. But thirdly, give yourself to the one to whom you belong. And right after it, he says, because all that theological truth that I told you before is truth. Here's the truth. Here's what you do with it. And oh, by the way, you do it because it's true, the indicatives and the imperatives. You do it because it's true. When the door's open, you get out and your head toward the beach. Your body's going to be saying, but wait a minute, that's where the guns are that are shooting at me. Don't listen to your body, to your training. You do what we've taught you to do, not what your own reflexes tell you to do. Doing what we taught you to do is your only hope of survival. You're free now, you're not a slave anymore. Wait, wait a minute. I was born a slave. All I've ever known is slavery. I'm in a different class of people than this person. I belong to this person. No, no, you don't. You're free. Don't act like a slave anymore. Although every fiber of your being has been conditioned to act like that, and like nothing else. There is another truth and another reality that overrides. Live in accordance with that truth and that reality. Those are the two illustrations that run through this passage, and Paul uses them both to say, to you and to me, you are no longer under the last Atom. You are no longer a slave to sin. You are no longer under death's dominion. You are no longer under the law. You are now under the federal headship of the last Atom, Christ, And in him you have been victorious over death. In him, you will ultimately be free from the very presence of sin in your own bodily resurrection and in Him. In the meantime, you live a life unto God. And whereas every fiber of your being has been conditioned for your whole life to go in the opposite direction. You believe what's true, not what you were used to. You live in accordance with what's true, not with what was necessarily comfortable for you at a time. In his book The Mortification of Sin, John Owen uses this illustration Owen says, when a man is being crucified, at first he yells out and his cries are great, but eventually they become fewer and farther between, not as noisy anymore. Oh, there may be moments when he musters up the strength to cry out again in agony, but they won't continue. Eventually, when blood and life is gone, who will lie? They're dead. This, Owen argues, is what the mortification of sin is like. When there is a sin that's used to controlling your life and you nail it to the cross, it will cry out in agony, and its cry will be great. But if you leave it there, eventually let's cries become fewer and farther between. They have less steam in. Them, less energy in them, less power in them, and eventually their life force is gone and they die there on the cross. That's the reality. Those of us who are in Christ. Your sin is nailed to the tree, don't have pity on it. Leave it there, let it die, because you are in Christ and that's not yours anymore. Let's pray