Thank you, Dick and Zoma, for reminding us of
the truth that we find in the last part of chapter
five in Romans. Where sin abounds, grace does
much more abound. It's good to look out and see
you here today, and I'm excited about that because
of the passage of scripture that we are going
to begin examining today. We today come to Romans
chapter 6, and we're going to read verses 1 through
3. You'll notice an outline in your worship file
folder. But I want to warn you in advance that
we're not going to get through the whole thing.
As I began to ponder the truth that is before
us here, it just seemed to swell up after the
outline was printed. And so rather than rushing
through, we're going to take our time and you
can hang on to your outline for a couple of weeks.
We're going to talk about the key to victory
in the Christian life. Did you know there was
victory? I bet I'm talking today to some people
who've almost given up that there is victory.
Ready to throw in the towel. That we have good
news for you. There's hope. There's freedom.
Look with me at verses 1, 2, and 3 of Romans
6. What shall we say then? Are we to continue
in sin that grace might increase? May it never
be. How shall we who died to sin still live in
it? Or do you not know that all of us who have
been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized
into his death. Heavenly Father, we approach
this scripture today with eager hearts, desiring
to be taught of the Spirit. And I know that if
there's any part of Romans that the devil does
not want us to comprehend, it's what we're about
to study. And so I pray that you would remove
any distraction. I pray that you will enable
us to stay alert, to have keen spiritual ears
to hear what the Spirit would say. In Jesus'
name, amen. One of the reasons that I have never
before preached through the book of Romans, quite
frankly, is that I have never been satisfied
as to how to handle Romans chapters 6 and 7.
I've never been able to quite get a handle on
these two chapters in between. Well, not that
I haven't studied them, I have. I've read the
comments of other men on them. But frankly, I've
never been satisfied that what I read and what
I understood was enough to present to other people.
And frankly, as I come to Romans chapter 6 today,
I do not stand here as a person who has all the
answers to every question that might be asked
about these chapters. But I do stand here before
you, having studied and having a heart that is
filled with some fresh insights that have meant
a great deal to me in my own life. Today we're
just going to get started in it. If you go away
today and never come back, you're going to have
an unbalanced picture of what we're going to
say about this part of Romans. If you go away
today and say, well, this is what Pastor Call
believes, and don't come back to hear the rest
of what we're going to say about these two chapters,
well, I guess I just hope that a herd of yaks
camps on your front lawn or something. Some terrible
thing. because you deserve it. You see, what
I'm trying to say is that today we're just going
to get started in a subject that is so important
that I hope you won't miss the weeks that we
will be in, this part of Romans. They are critical
to the Christian life. How critical? Today, as
I talk to you, there are some of us who are believers
in Jesus Christ and yet who appear to be enslaved
to sin. That's right. Because there are some
of us here today who have been overcome time
and time again with lust, for example. We begin
to toy with fantasies, and certain periodicals
and activities, hating it and yet finding something
within us that responded to that enticement.
And therefore I'm talking to some people today
who are so discouraged with a battle for lust
that you have decided that you must spend the
rest of your life battling it and never yet knowing
victory over it. And you may even rationalize
it to the point of saying that is normal for
the Christian life. I'm talking to some others
who perhaps have fallen to the temptation of
bitterness, not just once or twice, but something
has happened in your life and you find yourself
so bitter inside that that is now rooted and
it is producing all kinds of fruit that you hate
and yet that bitterness is there and you can't
seem to be free of it. The others would have
to say the same thing about anger. Most of the
time you're able to contain it. You have a plug
on it so it can't escape. But every now and then
there is something that happens to you. And it's
almost as though something else took control.
And you do things and you say things that you
don't mean because there is inside of you a raging
anger that you cannot always contain. And you
may not even know what you're angry at. Maybe
it's God, maybe it's circumstances or other people
or yourself. You're enslaved by anger. And though
most people in church don't know it, because
you come to church very pious and calm and cool,
boy, if people only knew what happened in the
car on the way to church, or as you were getting
dressed for church this morning in the family,
your kids could testify about it, your wife or
your husband. There may be somebody here today
who's enslaved by gossip. A thousand times you
have promised God that that's the last time that
you're going to get involved in a gossip session.
You have solemnly declared to God and yourself,
you have made a vow that you're not going to
tear down people anymore. And yet when you get
into a certain crowd or situation, you find yourself
drawn to that. And though you don't want to do
it, you do it, there's something that responds
to it, and you go away later and you weep and
you hate yourself because of what you've said.
I don't know if I've hit home or anywhere near
your home territory, but I bet I have. That's
why what we're going to talk about is so key.
Because you see, it is not the will of God that
we go through life defeated by sin or enslaved
to sin. Some of the things that we're going to
see in Romans chapters 6 and 7 will be new to
some of you, may be a refresher to others of
you. We're going to see that victory in the Christian
life is possible. Indeed, it is the norm that
God wants us to experience. Not that we ever
become sinless, but bless God it is possible
for us to sin less and less, and to know victory
over the temptations that have bound us and beset
us for years. Today we're just going to begin.
I hope that what I've said will whet your appetite
for what's coming. As we come to chapter six,
it would be good for us to look at the whole
before we look at particulars. I remind you of
the amazing statement the apostle made as we
closed chapter five last week when he said, where
sin increased, grace super abounded. He gave
us the ratio of grace to sin. He says, if there's
sin this high, then there's grace this high.
If there's sin this high, there's grace this
high. In other words, where sin may abound, God's
grace super abounds and is able to cover it and
care for it. The apostle was aware that there
would be those who would object to that kind
of teaching. They would object to the kind of
teaching that so clearly separates grace from
works as his does. In fact, I wonder if we've
really taught grace. to people as we ought to,
until we would be open to some of the objections
that could have been raised against Paul. He
gives us a clue to the objections that he anticipates
by a little phrase that we find in verse 1 when
he says, what shall we say then? And he asks
this question, are we to continue in sin that
grace may abound? In other words, if my sinning,
Paul, makes God's grace abound all the more and
be magnified, then why shouldn't I sin more so
God's grace can be even more seen and more magnified?
Logical? Twisted but logical? And so he answers
that question. Then in verse 15 we find the phrase
again. He says, what then? Shall we sing because
we are not under the law but under grace? In
other words, Paul, if I'm no longer under law,
as you have stated, then that means I am free
to live like I want to. I have no restraints
upon me. So Paul answers that objection. He says,
may it never be. And you'll see that phrase several
times in these chapters in the King James. put
God forbid, the word God really is not in the
Greek. But it was the way the translators brought
it into English to emphasize how strongly Paul
meant, may it never be so, brothers. It's impossible.
And then again, chapter seven, verse seven, he
says, what shall we say then? Is there no sin?
May it never be, he says. In other words, the
third objection was with Paul. If the law causes
my sin to increase and to be stimulated, and
that's what he said in chapter 5, we saw it last
week, if the Ten Commandments only cause me to
be agitated so that I sin more, then doesn't
that make the law sinful? And so in chapter 7
he answers that objection. When people have objections
like this, it reveals that they have not yet
arrived at a balance between law and grace. There
are some people who go to the extreme on law.
We call them legalists. They're all involved
in rule keeping. And if it's not about salvation,
then it's about how to be a better Christian.
You do it by keeping these rules, these laws.
The Bible calls that legalism. It doesn't produce
Christians, nor does it produce better Christians.
The other extreme is called license. I don't
have to worry about anything anymore. I can just
go out and sin and live the way I want to and
God's grace is going to take care of it all.
No restraints on me. And you see that's an extreme
also that is not biblical. And so the apostle
is bringing us here, I think, to a biblical balance
between law and grace. Teaching us how we relate
to both of them and how we can experience victory.
and freedom given to us by Jesus Christ. Now
before we go any further, maybe it would be wise
for us to set these chapters in the context of
our outline of Romans we began with, way back
yonder, whenever. The first three chapters are
essentially of Romans. God's righteousness needed.
Man's sin. All have sinned. All are enslaved
to sin. I read the righteousness of God in order
to get to heaven. That's about God's righteousness
provided, man's salvation. God provides righteousness
for us so that we can be saved. He provides perfect
righteousness and we get it because Jesus took
all of our sin upon Him at the cross. And because
He died in our place and bore our sin, which
was imputed or reckoned to Him, and because we
believe that truth and have trusted the Savior,
then all of His righteousness is given to us.
God's righteousness provided. We say that it
is a legal declaration on God's part that we
are righteous in His eyes. That's the definition
of what key word. That's right. I hear somebody
whispering it. justification. That's the key
theme in those chapters. Now as we come to chapter
6, and then through chapter 8, we're talking
about God's righteousness experienced. Man's
sanctification. That is right down where I live.
How can I experience the righteousness of God?
Because I seem to be so dominated by sin. How
can I know right living and not yield to temptation
that seems to overpower and overwhelm me so much?
That's what these chapters are all about. How
can I experience God's righteousness? Well, first,
I can experience it because of my union with
Jesus Christ. That's what chapters 6 and 7 are
all about. We'll talk about that again later.
Secondly, I can experience the righteousness
of God in my daily life because of my being indwelt
by the Holy Spirit. That's chapter 8. So why
can I experience the righteousness of God? Two
reasons. Because I am in Jesus Christ and because
Jesus Christ by his Spirit is in me. That's Romans
6, 7, and 8. look at a book, we chop it up into
chapters. It's almost like a piece of meat the
butcher takes a hold of and he slices off a slice
and lays it aside and he's done with that and
then comes to another slice. And we make a mistake
if we look at the Bible that way. As you know,
Paul didn't finish chapter five and stretch his
finger and take a break and come back and say
chapter six, verse one, and begin writing. The
chapters and verses We'll put in hundreds of
years later, simply for our convenience, to find
locations in the Bible. I hope that doesn't shock
some of you, but that's the way it is. And so
when we see divisions like this, we ought to
remember that actually the apostle is flowing
on with his thought. In chapter 6, there's been
a flow of chapter 5. It comes from one right
into the other. I think perhaps the best way
to look at this part of Romans is to see chapters
6 and 7 as a parenthesis. Not that it's unimportant,
not at all. But as Paul closes chapter 5, notice
what he says. That a sin reigned in death even
so grace might reign through righteousness to
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now
if you were to go to chapter 8, I think you would
find the thought continues right on beautifully.
Therefore, there is now no condemnation to those
who are in Christ Jesus. And he goes on to talk
about the fact that sin's been dealt with. Why
chapter 6 and 7 then? Well, because as he closes
chapter 5, there are a couple of things that
come up that he wants to talk about a little
more before he goes on with his main theme. So
I think if we were to read through the book and
see the end of chapter 5 connecting with chapter
8 verse 1, we'd have a better flow of it. And
then we realize how chapter 6 and 7 fit in. Now
in chapter 6 verse 1, He refers back to what
he has just said at the end of chapter 5. Dr.
Martin Lloyd -Jones emphasizes this in his book
on Romans 6. By the way, that's an excellent
book if any of you want to have a commentary,
a book of sermons, helpful comments about this
chapter. That is probably one of the finest.
He emphasizes this fact, and you notice that
he talks about sin increasing and grace abounding
all the more. And then he asks the question,
what shall we say then? Are we continuing sin
that grace might increase? Do you see that? And
how it flows and fits together there? This is
Paul's concern. I think Paul had in mind, especially
his Jewish readers, of course he would be sympathetic
with them. He is talking about grace. He has
separated it from the law. And these people were
so bound up in their thinking by the law that
they could stumble over what Paul is saying.
So I think in chapter six, he's answering the
Jews who would say that, Paul, if you emphasize
grace like this, it means that people are going
to sin. And so he tells them, no, in fact, it
means that we're free from sin. We're no longer
under its domination. Then in chapter 7 he can
hear them say, but Paul, what purpose does the
law have then if we're not saved by it? What
does it fit in? What does it function? Chapter
7, he answers that question. I'm now forced to
focus on our text for today, which we're going
to just get started in before we have to close.
He says, are we to continue in sin that grace
might increase? May it never be, how shall we
who died to sin still live in it? In verse 2,
I think we have the key thought for this whole
chapter. It's in those words that say, we died
to sin. If you and I can get a hold of that one
truth. and get it down into reality in our lives,
it will change the way most of us are living
today. We died to sin. In that statement, I want
to focus this morning on one word, and that is
the word we, because I think it's the key to
what Paul is saying here. Are we, considering
who we are, to continue in sin? He says, How
shall we, considering who we are, continue in
sin? We died to sin. Don't you know that all
of us who have been baptized in Christ Jesus
have been baptized into his death? What he's
really talking about here is our identity. and
who we are, and what's happened to us. And folks,
if only we can get a hold of that, it will revolutionize
us. Let's ask that question, who are we that
he talks about? Well, we're the ones who've been
justified by faith, back in chapter five, who
have the seven blessings we talked about in verses
one through 11. We are the ones who were in Adam,
in sin and in death, but who now are in Christ,
and in grace, and in righteousness. That's who
we are. Dr. Martin Lloyd -Jones has this statement
in his book. We are in Christ. And because we
are in Christ, all that belongs to him will become
ours, even as all that belonged to Adam has already
become ours. This goes back to the basic concept
of our union with Adam by our natural birth that
we talked about last week. But that by supernatural
birth, we have now been united to Jesus Christ
so that we can say whatever has happened to Jesus
Christ. has happened to us. Another book that
I would recommend to you, though it's not just
on Romans, is one that has been published recently
by Multnomah Bible College in Portland in their
press. It's called Birthright. You may not agree
with everything that you read in here, but I'll
guarantee you a stimulating session every time
you sit down to read a chapter in this book.
It's written by David Needham. It is a book that
gets a handle on some of the truths that we are
talking about today. I suppose the basic thesis
of Needham's book is that you and I need to find
out who we are and what our purpose is in this
world. And if we will learn that, then we will
live the kind of lives that we want to live down
in our deepest selves. I believe that the basis
for holy living is discovering who we are and
our meaning for being here. Who are you? Well,
someone says, I'm a sinner saved by grace. Well,
that's got a good sound to it. There's even a
hymn written by a great theologian, man of God
James Gray, with that statement in it. But did
you know that statement, as it appears there,
is not found in the Bible? God never identifies
you as a sinner saved by grace. You are identified
as a sinner and you have been saved by grace.
That is true. But did you know that's not how
God looks at you? Did you know that? God does
not see you as a sinner. God sees you as a what?
A saint. Go back to Romans chapter 1 for a moment.
Look at verse 7. What we're talking about here
is our basic identity, who we really are in our
deepest self. In Romans chapter 1 verse 7, he
says, to all who are beloved of God in Rome,
called as saints. What are saints? Saints are
holy ones. It doesn't refer to a select group
of people who have been appointed as saints by
some religious body. The word saint in the New
Testament refers to every child of God, every
one, and it simply means a holy one. Did you
know that's how God sees you? Did you know that's
who you are, a saint? Your real identity is not
in your flesh. It is in your spirit as a child
of God. You see, the new birth made you an entirely
new person. Needham says, a Christian is a person
who has become someone he was not before. When
you have saved a radical change, took place in
you. I think we can say that you are not what
you were and you are what you were not. Does
that confuse you? I hope not. All I'm simply
saying is that what you were before in Adam is
not what you are now. Before you were a sinner
in Adam. All you say, but Paul says, He talks
about sinners and he says, of whom I am chief.
Paul is not saying there that he's the chiefest
of sinners at that point in his life. He is looking
back at what God's grace has done in his life
and in his past. He can't see anybody who was
worse than he was. That's what he means. He's
not saying he's a sinner now. You see, a radical
change took place on the road to Damascus when
he was saved and born again to God's family.
Paul became a new person, a new creation in Jesus
Christ. So did you. Now sit up just a moment
and pay attention, because I'm going to say something
that will be different for some of you. Frankly,
it's different for me. Because I was steeped
in a theology that taught that as a person, I
have two natures as a Christian, an old nature
and a new nature. Once one has learned a particular
doctrine like that, it is very difficult to objectively
examine it. I have tried to do that and to be
honest with what the Word of God says, and I
must confess to you today that I no longer can
accept that position. as being consistent with
the Word of God. You see, when we were born into
God's family, such a radical change took place
in us that it means that a righteous nature was
not added to our sinful nature, but rather a
profound change took place and something happened
to your old nature. We'll talk about that in
the weeks to come. But it is no longer present
in you. Now please, I am not saying that you
can't sin. We all know better than that. And
Paul clearly says that in the Word of God, as
do other writers. But what I am saying is that
in the essence of who you are as a person, you
are not some kind of a spiritual schizophrenic
who is at one time the old man and the new man.
Who is the old man anyway? That's what I was
in Adam. That's the old me. It's the unregenerate
me. Isn't that right? Who is the new man? That's
the regenerate me. That's the me that I am now
since I have become a Christian. How can I be
unregenerate and regenerate at the same time?
I never wanted to ask that question before because
I couldn't answer it, and there isn't an answer
to that that's consistent. Again, I repeat, I
am not saying that we cannot sin because we do
sin, but I am saying that in the deepest, part
of you. You are a completely righteous being.
That is your identity, and that is why God calls
you a saint. I want to read just a paragraph
from Needham's book in which he says, contrary
to much popular teaching, regeneration, being
born again, is more than having something taken
away that is sins forgiven. or having something
added to you, a new nature with the assistance
of the Holy Spirit. It is becoming someone you
had never been before. This new identity is not
on the flesh level, but on the spirit level,
one's deepest self. This miracle is more than
a judicial act of God. It is an act so real.
that it is right to say that a Christian's essential
nature is righteous rather than sinful. All other
lesser identities each of us have can only be
understood and appreciated by our acceptance
and response to this fact. This morning, that's
the one thing I want you to get if you get nothing
else out of this message, that if you are a Christian,
You are a brand new person. You have a new identity
and your essential self. What you really are
is different than what you were before you were
saved. Now, does that have any effect on the
way that we live? Sure ought to. For example,
over in 1 Corinthians, the apostle addresses
those believers. He calls them brethren. He reminds
them of who they are, and then he rebukes them
for the divisions in their church. He says, you
fight over personalities. He says, you're acting
like mere men. What's he saying? He's saying,
you have a new identity that you're not living
up to. You're acting like mere men. I am fundamentally
a spirit being, not a physical one. My meaning
is found in that realm of reality. The last statement
takes some thinking about. I want to make it
again and I have to go on. Because I am fundamentally
a spirit being, not a physical one, my being
is found in that sphere of reality. What is my
purpose in life? Why am I in this world anyway?
The answer to that is that we are here to reflect
God's holiness and his glories to the world around
us. Turn back to 1 Peter chapter 2. I want you
to notice verse 9 of this chapter is very significant,
no matter what we've said this morning. I want
you to notice that in this verse, in 1 Peter
2 .9, the first thing Peter does is to tell us
who we are, and then he gives us our meaning,
our purpose in life. He says, but you are a chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people
for God's own possession. That's who we are.
Notice he doesn't anywhere say there that we're
sinners, saved by grace. He uses exalted terms.
That's who we are. Then he says that, you may
proclaim the excellencies of him who has called
you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Do you realize that is your single purpose in
the world? That you may reflect the glory of
God? And the reason you can do that is because
of who you are. You're a saint. Now that you
always live saintly, all of us know better than
that. I mean, this morning, if God somehow would
pull back the curtains on the minds of some of
us, it would be X -rated. If God would reveal
some of the motives in the hearts We would all
run out of here in shame and shock and embarrassment.
We don't always live saintly. But what I am saying
to you is that fundamentally you are a saint
and that your purpose in the world is to live
saintly. So that you can reflect the glory of
God. Have you ever seen a prism? I suppose that's
part of basic elementary science. That's where
I learned it. A prism is a piece of glass that
has been especially designed to receive the light
of the Sun and then to reflect the spectrum of
the colors on a surface. Isn't that right? That's
why it exists. That's why it is polished and
pure. Because it must take in the light of the
Sun and reflect it accurately in all the spectrum
of its colors. May I suggest to you today that
that's what you are, your prism. God has made
you something very, very special in this universe.
As a saint, you are a prism, and your purpose
is to receive his life, which you have done,
and then to allow that life to be reflected in
all the colors of God's character. And what's
the surface that reflects on all the people around
you? All those various relationships you have.
The character of God is to be seen in all of
its beauty in your relationships to them. That's
your purpose. Is that who you're living? I would
dare say not many of us are. I think I would
have to say, because I know me, and I think I
know a lot of you, that most of us are living
as clouded prisms that have yet to figure out
how the life of God can really be manifested
through us, and that we can know God's holiness,
God's righteousness in our lifestyle. how we
can know victory over temptation and sin. Dear
Christian friend, that's where God wants you
to be. One fellow came up after the service the
first hour and said, you know, Pastor, I'm going
to get two prisms, one for my office and one
for home, to remind me that that's what I am
to be for God. Maybe something for all of us
to do. Now please, we have only begun to understand
Romans chapter 6. It begins with who we are.
If you go away today and you never come back,
you're going to have such a distorted, unbalanced
view of all that we're going to say that you're
going to be mistaken if you try to quote me on
anything. So may I encourage you to be back here
regularly with us in our study in the book of
Romans. I think I can promise you that if you
will be here, you will open your heart to what
God has to say. You're going to find your Christian
life enriched beyond what you may now even believe
is possible. Because I know very well I'm talking
to some people who are so bound by sinful habits
that you think you can't possibly ever escape
it. But bless God, I want you to know there is
freedom in Jesus Christ, and that freedom can
be yours if only you will learn how to reflect
it as a good prison, a pure prison. Heavenly
Father, we have so many needs today. There are
some of us here who are on the verge of tears
and who are aching inside. Because in our deepest
self we want to do what is right, we want to
live holy, and yet we find temptation so quickly
overcoming us. We find ourselves overpowered
by the urge to sin. I pray that as we dig further
into this truth that you will reveal it to us
and open our hearts to understand it. so that
we may begin to experience, maybe for the first
time in our Christian walk, what it is to be
free from the dominion of sinful habits. With
our heads still bowed and as the Spirit of God
searches our hearts, I just believe that there
are some of us today who though we may not understand
what it's going to take with the truth that's
coming, nonetheless feel the impulse of the Spirit
of God to respond this morning. So that we should
go forward and by faith we are saying, I'm staking
my flag here. This is my claim. That's where
I want to live by the grace of God and I want
to learn this truth. I want to be free. Dear
Christian, will you today make that statement
as we close this service? Maybe you're here without
Jesus Christ as your Savior. You're still that
old man, still in sin. Your need today is to
trust the Savior so that you can have freedom.
Maybe there's another spiritual need that God's
been talking to you about or a commitment perhaps
for membership that you want to make public as
we have the invitation in a moment. It's an opportunity
for you to respond right then. Will you come?
Father, have your way in this invitation now.
and seal in our hearts those decisions that should
be made this morning. Let's stand together and
sing the second verse of number 284. Everyone
standing please, I want you to notice the words.
I've selected the verse carefully.