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 Romans chapter 6. Our primary focus will be verses 1 to 4, but we'll see some things in verses 5 to 11 as well, because I think that's where Paul amplifies or explains further what he says with reference to baptism in verses 3 and 4. So I'll read the chapter beginning in verse 1. newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not. Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness. But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now, having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, we thank you for this epistle of Paul to the Romans. We thank you for the glorious doctrine of Christ and him crucified and resurrected. Many ways summarized in Romans 4.25, he was delivered up because of our offenses and raised for our justification. And we rejoice in your loving kindness. We rejoice in your mercy to us. We rejoice in the benefits of the gospel of our salvation, all that Christ has wrought on behalf of those whom the Father had given to him. Again, Father, we pray that the Spirit would guide our thoughts, that you would illumine our minds and our hearts, that we would receive these things with thankful hearts. And for those dead in their sins, awaken them by your power and for your glory in the salvation of sinners. Forgive us once again, we pray, and we ask these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Well, as we come to Romans chapter 6, we notice that it's connected very intimately to Romans chapters 3 to 5. And basically what Paul does in chapters 3 to 5 is he deals with the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Remember that in Romans chapter 1 at verse 18 he says, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness. And then he highlights the wickedness of the Gentiles, the wickedness of the Jews, and he summarizes there in Romans chapter 3 verses 1 to 20 that all men are liable under God's just judgment because of their waywardness and transgression. But in chapter 3, verse 21, Paul moves from the wrath of God revealed to the righteousness of God revealed. And specifically, he speaks concerning the gospel of our salvation. So Romans 3, 21, the revelation of the righteousness of God is that righteousness of God that he demands from us. But in the gospel of his son provides to us. It is blessed. It is wonderful. And so in Romans 3, 21, all the way to chapter 5 at verse 1, he deals with the doctrine of justification by faith alone. In chapter 5, verse 1, he says, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. He deals with some practical matters. And then in chapter 5, verses 12 to 21, he shows how it is that Christ's death can be for us. In other words, how is it Christ's death satisfies, not just his death, but his life satisfies the requirements that we're owing to us or do to us. Well, he says that or he speaks of that specifically. And now in chapter 6, he turns direction just a little bit from justification to what we call sanctification. And essentially what we have in chapter 6 verse 1 is a question that Paul no doubt had heard when he preached justification by faith alone. If we are justified by faith alone in Christ alone, as the argument seems to be presented, and as I'm sure you've heard, perhaps you've heard it said, it doesn't seem fair that Christians who are just as bad as the rest of us can go to heaven. Well, it's not fair, ultimately. It's grace. It's mercy. It's abounding kindness. It's goodness. It is the mission of the Son of Man to seek and to save that which was lost. But those who kind of get a bit of it, but not the rest of it, reason thus. If we're justified by faith alone in Christ alone, and He is our whole and sole righteousness, then why does it matter how we live? And that is precisely what Paul is dealing with here in chapter 6 at verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? You see, that's man's logic. Man concludes, well, God loves to forgive sin. I love to sin. So this is a beautiful sort of an arrangement. But that is contrary to the logic of the gospel. That is contrary to grace through faith in Christ, salvation. As what the apostle is doing is showing the inextricable link between justification and sanctification. As Charles Hodge says, as the gospel reveals the only effectual method of justification, so also it alone can secure the sanctification of men. The apostle shows how unfounded is the objection that gratuitous justification leads to the indulgence of sin. Again, you can see man's logic, unaided by the spirit of truth, might conclude these things. God loves to forgive. I love to sin. So why should I stop, it's then a vehicle for God to forgive, and we see the abounding grace of God. Our confession deals with the interrelationship between, or the interrelatedness of justification and sanctification, when after a sort of defining paragraph in 11.1, then goes on in 11.2, this very simple, brief, but powerful statement, faith thus receiving and resting on Christ and his righteousness is the alone instrument of justification. Yet it is not alone in the person justified, but is ever accompanied with all other saving graces and is no dead faith, but works by love. That's a good summary statement of the connection between Romans 3 to 5 and Romans 6 and following. In other words, justification inevitably leads to sanctification. We've got Christ's work for us and then we've got the Spirit's work in us and those are inseparable. You don't get part of the Godhead as if there were parts of the Godhead. You get all of God in the salvation of his people. So I want to look first at the absurd question in verse 1 and probably just give a bit of background as to why persons would have asked this question. So the absurd question in verse 1, Secondly, the emphatic rejection in verse 2. And then thirdly, the soteriological foundation. Kids, that just means salvation. Salvational foundation of his argument with reference to the refutation of the objection. So note first in terms of the absurd question. This is a pattern in Romans. Paul asks a question and then he answers it. Again, I don't think Paul's sitting up in an ivory tower trying to hatch out potential questions that may come as a result of his preaching. I'm sure he heard these questions many a time in the back of a Jewish synagogue. Having preached Jesus as the end of the law, having preached Jesus as the sum and substance of all the promises of God, having preached Jesus as that one in whom we have forgiveness and a righteousness by which we can stand in the presence of God. Paul probably heard these objections regularly. Paul probably heard Romans 6, 1 on more occasions than we could imagine. But again, it's a tactic that he employs in the epistle. Turn back to chapter 3, specifically at verse 5. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust to inflict wrath? I speak as a man, certainly not, for then how will God judge the world? For if the truth of God is increased through my lie to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? And why not say, let us do evil that good may come, as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just. So you see, it's a vehicle by which the apostle sets forth truth concerning the gospel of our salvation. Again, 6.1, but note 6.15 as well. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? Certainly not. Notice in chapter 7 at verse 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. Notice in 9.14, we're talking about God's sovereignty, God's electing purposes, God's predestination. What's the likely conclusion when you hear that God is the potter and we're the pots? Why does he find fault with me? And that's exactly what Paul counters. Notice in 9.14. What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. And then again in chapter 11 at verse 1. Chapter 11. I say then, has God cast away his people? Certainly not. Of course, he explains, defines, and describes who his people are covenantally and in light of the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is a particular tactic that Paul employs in the book of Romans to counter objections and to set forth truth. Now in terms of the question in 6.1, what shall we say then, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Again, I would submit this is man's logic unaided by the spirit of truth. This is that idea that, you know, God loves to forgive, I love to sin. That's a great arrangement. I'll continue in sin and his grace may abound. Well, I think it's brought about by the doctrine of justification by faith alone. It just seems contrary to the way things ought to be. You mean I'm going to go to heaven based on the work of Christ and him alone? I'm going to go to heaven based on Christ as my whole and sole righteousness? It's kind of like those ads you get in the mail that says, you know, call now and you get your free trip. And then you call and you find out there ain't no such thing as a free lunch. There's always a price attached. There's always a condition. There's always some sort of an additional supplement by which you get your free gift. Well, that free gift that comes by God's grace is really free. What is justification? Justification is an act of God's free grace wherein he pardons all our transgressions and accepts us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone If you not a believer here this morning we going to talk a bit about sanctification, conformity unto Jesus, how the fact that you've died to sin is the impetus for you now to live under righteousness. But before we get there, if you're not a believer in Christ, I want to emphasize what Paul has declared in Romans 3 to 5, on the heels of Romans 1 to 3. You're a sinner. The problem around the world isn't that we just lack a bit of education. It isn't that we've just had not as many benefits perhaps as others. It's that our hearts are dark. It's that we're deceitful. It's that we're wretched. It's that we're lawbreakers. We take the Ten Commandments and transgress every one of them all the time. That's your problem this morning. That's what Paul details in Romans 1.18 to Romans 3.20. That's why he summarizes in 3.20, therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in his sight. You may be justified in the sight of parents. You may be justified in the sight of a spouse. You may be justified in the sight of your children, but it's justification before God that the apostle Paul is treating. And he says, by the law comes the knowledge of sin. And then he turns direction. The righteousness of God is revealed. And what is that righteousness? In summary, it's Christ. Remember the prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 23, 6 gives him the title by which we will know him, the Lord, our righteousness. 1 Corinthians 1, he is our wisdom from God. That is our sanctification, our righteousness, our redemption. The bad news is, if you're not in Christ this morning, you're not in Christ this morning. The bad news is you are liable to God's wrath, God's fury, God's judgment. The scripture says God's eye is too pure to look approvingly upon any evil. And if you've heard anything that I've said, that's bad news. because everything is evil in us by nature. We have died in Adam. We, like sheep, have gone astray. We have sought out our own devices. So the bad news is, is that you're amassed before a holy God. The good news is, is that his son assumed our human nature, lived in obedience to the Father's law, died as a sacrifice and a substitute on the cross, and was raised again the third day. not just as a model for us to go out and follow, not for some moral example as to how we ought to try harder. No, no. He did that as our substitute. He did that as our surety. He did that as the one who satisfies God's wrath and fury that is liable or that is justly directed at all of us liable to it. And then that same one, that same Christ, not only brings forgiveness, but he gives us that righteousness. Isn't that amazing? You ever think about that? I was reading Psalms this morning. And Psalm 78 ends on the integrity of David's heart. How could that ever be said apart from the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ? How could it ever be said apart from what we sang there in Psalm 32? Who does David bless for his station before, status before God? blessed is the man to whom God does not impute iniquity. Paul points to David in Romans chapter four. Paul points to Abraham in Romans chapter four. So you see, the problem is you're a sinner before a holy God. But the answer, the remedy is Jesus Christ. And here's where it just gets amazing. So what do I have to do? I got to live like Jesus. I got to sell everything. I got to go, live under a bridge. I could eat locusts and wild honey. No, that's the federal government that promises that. Jesus doesn't do that. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Isn't that beautiful? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Jesus uses that very analogy, that concept in John's gospel. He says, just as Moses lifted the bronze serpent, or the brazen serpent in the wilderness, so must also the Son of Man be lifted up. When that serpent was lifted in the wilderness, those bitten Israelites were told to look and live. Look and live. Believe on Him and live. That's gospel. That's good news. That's glorious truth. That's freedom from sin. That is freedom from the condemnation of sin. That is freedom from the stinging power of God's law. That is freedom unto God and righteousness. Believe on him and you shall be saved. So it's that very truth of justification by faith alone that led men, unaided by the spirit of truth, to conclude, what shall we say that? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? It's the federal headship of Adam in the covenant of works. Romans 5, all of us died in him. The federal headship of Jesus in the covenant of grace. In him all shall be made alive. and the conclusion concerning the structure of covenant theology itself. Notice in Romans 5, 20 and 21, he says, Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So I'm furnishing this to kind of show where the absurd question came from. I mean, it's absurd because it's theologically deficient. It's absurd because it's not gospel logic. But it's not absurd if you've been following along and you're not aided by the divine spirit. Wait a minute. Notice what he says in 520 and 21. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more. Right? Romans 6.1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? There seems to be a manward logic and unaided by the divine spirit logic involved in all of this. The causal connection isn't because of sin grace abounded, but because of sin God forgave it based on the work of his son according to the riches of his grace. It's not grace abounding in the act of sin. It's grace abounding in the overcoming of sin, in the provision of the son of God in his mission to seek and to save that which was lost. Now then secondly, notice his emphatic rejection in verse 2. He says, certainly not. The old King James has, God forbid. Don't let it well up in you for a moment to start going down this path. And Christians, this is where we need to make sure we're paying attention. Because if we've imbibed a bit of this thought life, well, you know, Jesus paid my debt. I've got the righteousness of Jesus. A bit of internet pornography isn't going to kill anybody. In fact, it's an occasion for the grace of God to abound. Don't do that. Or, you know, Jesus paid my debt on the cross and I have his righteousness, so me submitting to my own husband or honoring him the way Paul tells me, I can get away with a lot before I actually have to start to worry about that. Don't argue that way. Paul's whole point in Romans chapter 6 is that you live in light of what Christ has done in raising you from the dead. you live in light of the gospel of your salvation vis-a-vis justification by faith alone. So the specific rejection is very clear. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Spoiler alert, that's the point in the following verses. That's the central affirmation. It's assumed based on what he's already said in chapters three to five. Again, look at verse two. Certainly not. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? This is his point. This is what he's going to prove. This is what he's going to demonstrate. You've died to sin. Why would you even begin to think that you would continue in sin that grace may abound? It's absolutely ludicrous. It's absolutely contrary to the ethic involved in gospel salvation. Why would that even suggest itself as a possible model to you? You've died to sin. So the central point in his following explanation, he asserts the truth, verse 2, he explains it in verses 3 to 10 by pointing to their baptism and then highlighting the significance of union with Christ, symbolized, pictured, emblemized, represented in Christian baptism, and then he confirms it in verse 11. Notice that it's just one long section stating the same thing over and over and over again. I wonder why that is. Because we're dense, and we're thick, and we're stubborn, and we don't always get things like we ought. And so we've got the benefit of the Spirit-inspired apostle to take us by the hand and lead us theologically to a consideration of what God has done in the gospel, that the power of Christ for us is always connected to the Spirit of Christ working in us in the life of sanctification. But before we move to the particular soteriological foundation, the logic of his strategy here, we just need to consider this for a moment. I'm going to lean on Michael Horton. I think he says this very well. I'm sure somewhere Michael Horton is beaming with joy, knowing that I approve of the way that he said something in a small book on justification. He says sometimes, he's dealing with Romans 6, and I really think that if you get what he's saying here, it makes a lot of sense. Because I think as believers pursuing holiness without which no one will see the Lord, we try to do it by pulling on our own bootstraps. We try to do it by knuckling under. We try to do it by setting up and structuring our lives in such a way that we can't sin. We're kind of like wearing crash helmets and putting bubble wrap all around us so that we won't sin. Brethren, I'm not against that. Put a crash helmet on and bubble wrap yourself if you're a woman that doesn't submit to her husband, if you're a man that's looking at internet pornography, or a man that isn't loving and leading his wife, or you're a child that is, you know, disrespecting your parents, or godless with reference to your parents. But by all means, take those outer means. But for the believer, what's the primary strategy. It's the gospel. It's what Christ has accomplished. It's reckon yourselves to be dead to sin. He's going to get personal, practical, and what we call hortatory or exhortational in verses 12 to 23. He's going to do that. Look at 12. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. Verse 13, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. Put your crash helmet on, surround yourself with bubble wrap, do all that, but that's not what comes first. Listen to Horton. Sometimes we forget that Paul was accused of being an antinomian, that is, of inviting people to sin that grace may abound. But instead of retracting the doctrine of justification, Romans 3 to 5, that he knew would provoke that question again, the apostles simply explained how the gospel is the answer to the tyranny of sin, as well as its condemnation. The gospel of free justification is the source of genuine sanctification, not its enemy. Yet that is counterintuitive to us. It is gospel logic, not the logic of works righteousness. The old Geneva Bible has the benefits of justification and sanctification are always joined together inseparably, and both of them proceed from Christ by the grace of God or Hodge. Deliverance from sin as offered by Christ and as accepted by the believer is not mere deliverance from its penalty, but from its power. That's Paul's point, the penalty satisfied in the life, death, resurrection of our Lord Jesus. us. God made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He breaks the power of reigning sin. He frees us from the penalty. But in that self-same gospel, wherein justification inevitably leads to sanctification, in that self-same gospel where the Christ for us gives the Spirit to work in us, he breaks the power of sin. He helps us. He guides us. He directs us. He informs us. He convicts us. He shows us Christ He shows us the Word He shows us the demand of God not as a covenant of works but as that normative declaration of what God demands and calls us to in the gospel of our salvation Not so that we may be saved, but because by grace we are saved. So now note the soteriological foundation, verses 3 and 4 primarily, but just to kind of give you an overview, at least of how I understand this section. He starts with the picture of our union with Christ. The picture of our union with Christ in verses 3 and 4. What's that picture? It's baptism. Terry Johnson says in worship we read the Bible, we pray the Bible, we sing the Bible, we preach the Bible, and we see the Bible. How do we see the Bible? Baptism and the Lord's Supper. They're pictures of what God does in terms of the salvation of his people. So verses 3 and 4 is the picture of our union with Christ. Secondly, the power of our union with Christ is seen in verses 5 to 10. Third, the point of our union with Christ is seen in verse 11. And then the perseverance necessary in union with Christ in verses 12 to 23. Again, I doubt we're going to get there, but just to kind of give you an overview, at least so I understand the construction of the section. But note with reference to the picture of our union with Christ, the reference to baptism. Verse 3a, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Now, I think Paul is assuming something here. Paul is not assuming that every baptized person is necessarily saved. That's not his assumption. Paul is not assuming that everybody who's ever been baptized is necessarily saved. Simon Magus in the book of Acts shows us a classic instance of one who believed, or at least outwardly professed, but wasn't saved. So we're not to take from Romans 6.3 that everybody who has been sprinkled or immersed with water is necessarily converted. I think Paul's assumption is he's writing to a church, he's writing to the blood-bought children of God, He's writing to the elect of the Lord who formed together in local bodies called churches in this present evil age, who seek to be faithful influences in their society by preaching the gospel, administering the sacraments, being places of worship and honor to God. He's assuming that. And he's assuming that they were baptized on their profession of faith in the Savior. As Hodge again says, baptism was the appointed mode of professing faith in Christ, of avowing allegiance to him as the Son of God, and acquiescence in his gospel. Those, therefore, who were baptized are assumed to believe what they professed and to be what they declared themselves to be, what we might call the judgment of charity. Paul is assuming that those to whom he is writing are those who have confessed faith in Jesus, and on that confession of faith in Jesus have identified with him publicly in the waters of baptism. So he's showing how that works as a means of grace. You need to think back to that. You need to be reminded of that when we see our brother get baptized in just a few moments. You're going to probably conclude that just a few moments doesn't really mean anything to Jim Butler. And you're probably going to conclude right. It's a means. It's that entry. It's that initiatory right. It's that public declaration and affirmation that Christ is mine and I am Christ's. That's what he's doing. That's what he's appealing to. Notice that he moves to the significance of their baptism in verses 3b and 4. He speaks of the believer being baptized into his death. Verse 3, or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? In other words, what Christ went through on our behalf, we believe that, the significance of his death for us men and for our salvation. But that tank represents well what we have in Jesus. He died, he was buried, and he was raised again. I've got to say, my favorite commentator on the book of Romans, and I have a few, is Charles Hodge. Now, he disagrees, of course, with baptism by immersion and that it best pictures the death, burial, resurrection motif, but I'm okay with that because his comments are excellent. But, brethren, doesn't that get at it? Somebody's dying with Christ, somebody is buried with Christ, and somebody is raised with Christ. It sure does. That's what Paul is appealing to. That's what Paul is stating. Again, the argument. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? May it never be. Verse 3, do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? In just a moment, we'll look at the explanation in the verses that follow. He then speaks of the believer being buried with Christ through baptism into death. Again, 4a, therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death. I think it functions well in his larger argument. You want this idea to continue in sin that grace may abound? No, there's been a definitive breach. There has been a fundamental change. There has been a fundamental break with the old man. In fact, the old man, according to Paul in verse 6, is crucified. crucified. He's developing the theology of baptism, locating it in the doctrine of sanctification, and telling us as God's people to think about that tank from time to time. Not this one located at 45592 Wellington Avenue in Chilliwack, BC, but the one that you were plunged in. Think about it. You died with him. You were buried with him. You've been raised with him. Why, oh why, would you continue in those things that are contrary to him? That's the argument. So then he moves from death, burial, to resurrection in 4b. Notice in verse 4b, that just as Christ was raised from the dead, by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. Similarly, in Galatians 3, 27, for as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, or Colossians 2, 12, buried with him in baptism, in which you also were raised with him through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead. So the picture of our union with Christ is seen in the Baptist tank. It's seen in what we're going to witness in terms of our brother. It's seen in what we've witnessed in terms of our own baptism. We've died, we've been buried, and we've been raised anew. And since those things are true, and since we have a verse 11 to tell us to reckon ourselves to be dead to sin, then why would you ever think that it's somehow okay to sin so that grace may abound? Why would you ever try to justify disobedience as a professing believer? Why would you ever be okay with cutting corners? Why would you ever be okay with cheating somebody? Why would you ever be okay with functioning like a practical atheist when you have died, been buried, and been raised again? He then moves to the power of our union with Christ in verses 5 to 10. And again, quickly, we're not going to spend a lot of time here, but notice the 3B reference, you were baptized in his death. He explains that, 5A. 5a, for if we have been united together in the likeness of his death. Notice in verse 6, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him. Verse 7, for he who has died has been freed from sin. And then verse 8a, now if we died with Christ. So he explains this baptized into his death in verses 5 to 8. He then explains this believer's burial with Christ, verse 4, in verse 6. Again, note verse 6, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. The apostle's argument is impeccable. Not just to uphold the doctrine of justification, wherein God is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, as the one who justifies the ungodly, but it's impeccable for the life of sanctification for God's people. Brethren, today it's probably going to arise. Some fork in the road. You can be a jerk or you can do what God tells you to do. You can be unsubmissive. You can be a tyrant as a husband. You can be disobedient as a child. You can be a wreck and a mess to everybody around. or you can consider death, burial, resurrection, crucified old man, power now by the grace of God, through the spirit of truth, working by, through, in, and with his truth, the written truth, for the glory of the incarnate truth, I can do those things that are pleasing to God. I don't have to present my members as instruments of unrighteousness. So it's impeccable to uphold the doctrine of justification by faith. It's also impeccable to hopefully help us to live our lives in a manner that is consistent with what God has done in the saving of us. We're actually supposed to be obedient. Again, not for salvation, but because we have been saved. We're really supposed to obey. I know that just seems weird. What? Yeah, huh? Yeah. Yeah. I refer to husbands and wives a lot because that's where a lot of us are fighting the battles of the day. I don't mean that as bad as it sounds, but we're in the home or in your workplace or in your business practices or in the way that you conduct. You know, we all have those rubber meet the road moments. And Paul is saying that for you as a believer, one who has been justified freely by God's grace, one who has the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ. You have the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit as well. Therefore, you have the ability to not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness. You have the ability to actually do that which is pleasing to God. And I think Paul's point, yes, to shut down the objection, but to encourage the people of God. Later on, he'll say, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lust. How can he say that? Based on what God has done in and through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Then notice the reference to the believer's resurrection with Christ from 4b. He explains it in 5b. Certainly, we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. 8b, now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him. And then, of course, in verses 9 and 10, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. So he draws out the power of our union with Christ to shut down the objection that is faulty and absurd, 6-1, with the affirmation, may it never be, how shall we who died to sin continue any longer in it? And he explains that in a gracious, loving way to show the significance of our union with Christ, which is pictured by water baptism vis-a-vis the life, death, burial, resurrection. We died with Christ, we've been buried with Christ, we've been raised with Christ, and we walk in this resurrection life, empowered by the Spirit, and more on that later, specifically in chapter 8, but with reference to his argument, he shuts it down. And then the point of our union with Christ, verse 11. He makes a doctrinal assertion in verse 2. Verse 11 is the practical consequence. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Is that how you usually fight sin? Is that usually how you fight sin? I'm not picking on you at all, because that's not usually how I fight sin. If I've got a particular sin, I don't want to get too personal here, but you know, well, I've got to put this in place so I don't commit that sin. I got to put the crash helmet on. I got to get the bubble wrap. again crash helmets and bubble wrap Paul is for it Romans 6 12 and 13 Not specifically literally What's the first way to deal with a particular sin in our lives? consider yourself reckon yourself to be dead to that sin. It's not usually where we start. We just go from 6 to verses 12 and 13. It's gospel logic not works righteousness logic. It's gospel logic that the Christ who died and lived for us sends the Spirit to work in us. And with that gospel logic, the Apostle Paul sets the foundation for our daily combat relative to those remaining corruptions that we all face. In other words, think about your justification. Think about your union with Christ. Think about it specifically in terms of Christian baptism. Death, burial, resurrection. it. As a result of that, therefore, verse 12, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. John Gill says, for since they are become new creatures and have new hearts and new spirits given them, new principles of light, life, grace, and holiness implanted in them and have entered into a new profession of religion, of which baptism is the badge and symbol, they ought to live a new life and conversation. That's where Paul starts when it comes to countering the objection. Not just from an unbelieving Jew in the back of a synagogue who couldn't imagine justification by faith alone for the life of him. But it's for us as God's people who face various trials, challenges, assaults. A devil that roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. A world that is contrary to our Christ. A world that is contrary to our ethics. A world that is openly, avowedly in opposition to Yahweh and his Christ. We preach pro-life. They scream pro-death. We preach sexual fidelity. They preach and scream sexual perversion. We preach respect for property, and they tear all that down. So we've got the devil roaming about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. We've got this world contrary to us, but then we've got the most pesky of all in the unholy trinity of the world, the devil, and the flesh. We've got our own remaining corruption. Paul's going to deal with that in Romans 7. Paul's going to deal with that in length in Romans chapter 7. And just spoiler alert, Paul is not immune to the challenges involved in pursuing the holiness that Paul sets forth in Romans 6. Paul is honest enough to admit in Romans 7, the good that I wish to do, I don't do. The evil I don't want to do, I find myself doing. The strategy Paul employs for us is that we reckon ourselves to be dead to sin. And it's in that reckoning that we then move and live and have our being by the power of the Spirit at work in us according to the revelation of God given to us that we walk in that newness of life. So just in conclusion, I want to repeat the benefit of the gospel in case you missed it. First, the satisfaction of the penalty for sin. Justification by faith alone in Christ Jesus means he is our whole and sole righteousness. We have the satisfaction of the penalty of sin, but we also have the destruction of the power of sin. You got to see the close connection between Romans 3 to 5, Romans 6 to 8, grounded in the sovereignty of God in Romans 9 to 11, the practical sort of exhortations in Romans 12 to 16, all in response to the plight of man that is set forth so clearly in Romans 1.18 to Romans 3.20. Paul's letter is a finely tuned piece of theology, and it all hangs together. And with reference to the gospel, we have freedom from the penalty of sin, freedom from the power of sin. And again, the two-fold work in terms of justification and sanctification. I have said it many times this morning, the work of Christ for us in justification and the work of the Spirit in us for sanctification. They are inseparable. In an extended treatment on the object, objects of satisfaction in the mediatorial work of Jesus, Francis Turretin notices this. He says, you don't get Christ without the Spirit. You don't get the Spirit without Christ. So again, a little bit of a different sort of arena, but I think he shows the inextricable link between the ministry of the Spirit and Christ. Turretin says, from the inseparable connection between the gift of the Son and the Holy Spirit. For since these two gifts, the most excellent of all, are given by God to us for salvation and are always joined in scripture as cause and effect. John 16, 7, Galatians 4, 4, and 6, Romans 8, 9, 1 John 3, 24. They must be of equal extent and go together so that the Son is not given to acquire salvation for any others than those to whom the Spirit was given to apply it. Then if you've come by God's grace to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and you have been justified freely by that grace, and Christ is your whole and sole righteousness, guess what Christ gives you to guide you, to help you, to assist you, and to aid you along the pilgrim way? His Spirit. The Spirit is at work in us. We've died, we've been buried, we've been raised, and part of that blessed resurrection is the on-board presence and power of the Holy Spirit. Paul's argument, again, he's shutting down weird objections to the gospel, but hopefully he's encouraging weary saints in the pilgrim way. Brethren, never forget the gospel in your fighting against sin. Never forget the gospel in your resisting of temptation. Never forget what Christ has done and what the Spirit is now doing in your fight against sin. And then put your crash helmet on and then surround yourself with bubble wrap and then set up perimeters and set up sentries and guards and all that stuff. But you know, pagans can wear crash helmets and bubble wrap. That doesn't mean they're going to heaven if they avoid certain sins. We're in Christ, brethren. And that's Paul's point. You're in Christ, brethren. So don't continue on as if you're not in Christ. In terms of the symbolism of Christian baptism, the doctrinal emphasis, justification and sanctification. Right? It's beautiful. In terms of the union with Christ emphasis, the death, burial, resurrection motif. And in terms of our confession, I'm going to read it again in just a few moments. There's that phrase again. 2nd London 29.1, It's a beautiful summary statement of the significance of Christian baptism. Beautiful. This is biblical. Because it's what we find rooted in Holy Scripture. And I want to end here by saying to my dear brother Hans, I have been blessed and privileged. I usually try to say this. If I didn't at your baptism, it's not because I can't stand you. Please don't conclude that. As Zuby says, if you tweet that I love apples, everybody will ask, why do you hate oranges? But as I typically say, I count it a great privilege to be a minister of the gospel on behalf of this particular church to get the joy of talking to people that want to be baptized and want to join our church. That's fantastic. that's a good thing, right? I'm sure you all in your jobs or, you know, life callings have those things that you really like. I really like that. It's great. And it's been a delight to get to know this brother. It's been a delight to see him embrace truth with the ferocity of a pit bull, I might add. In fact, he's going to give a testimony, and then he texted me yesterday, can you ask the questions too, because it's more like an oath, and can I answer absolutely possible? Yeah, brother, sure. That's good. I'm not going to stop you. You're 10 feet tall. Brother, live in light of this day. Live in light of the reality that got you to this day vis-a-vis the death, burial, resurrection of our Lord. But remember this day. You are publicly testifying and publicly declaring and telling everybody that I am Christ's and he is mine. Don't ever forget that. And pursue the things that Paul enjoins in this particular chapter. Faithfulness, holiness, righteousness, knowing that you're not in it on your own. You have the Holy Spirit, you have the grace of God, and you have that death to the dominion of sin. So please, be encouraged, rejoice, and always make much of Jesus in your daily life. I think it's a good reminder for all of us. I remember one time many, many years ago, being at a church service in Montville, New Jersey, Pastor Albert Martin was baptizing someone that morning. Pastor Martin just passed away recently. He's in the presence of his blessed God, faithful servant, champion of the faith for many, many, many decades. But I remember that. He was baptizing a particular individual and he says, brethren, it's days like this. I want to get baptized all over again. There's something about that day. There's something about that memory etched into our minds and in our hearts. There's something about that public declaration and affirmation that I am Christ's and he is mine. That death to sin, burial with Christ, and resurrection from that watery grave is now my portion and lot. Let us live in light of these things and let us by God's grace pursue the things set forth in the rest of Romans, in the rest of Paul's epistles, in our homes. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. Wives, be submissive to your own husbands as unto the Lord. Children, obey your parents. Honor them. This is right. Natural law teaches it, but it's also a special revelation. Obey your parents. Honor them and you will live long in the land. In our workplaces, let us not be the drag. Let us not be the one that pulls everybody down. Let's advance the cause of our employer. For the preacher says, whatever your hand finds, to do it with your might. As the blood-bought, spirit-filled child of God you are, live in light of this reality. Pursue the things that are pleasing to our God. And if you're not a believer, Paul's words specifically in Romans 10 is where I want to end. He says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture says, don't miss this, please don't miss this, don't let bad theology close your ears, don't let, you know, godless logic close your ears, Listen to what Paul says. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. Ask any believer in Christ. Are you sad that you came to Christ? Sad to come to Christ? What are you kidding me? I'm sad that I don't live in light of coming to Christ as I ought. But sad to be with the altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. Sad to be with the champion of my salvation. sad to be with the one who will bring me on to everlasting glory? Oh no, no sadness at all. No sadness whatsoever. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved. Let us pray.