[Transcript may not match broadcasted sermon word for word, and contains extra material that was cut from the broadcast due to time constraints]

       We are really starting to move into the epicenter of Romans today as we arrive here at chapter 6. Of course, our last chapter was a marvelous one. It’s a great thing to know that we have peace with God, that we have that legal standing with him, and that we can exercise peace in our minds because of our newfound position. At this point, we understand what sin is, how we have failed to follow God’s laws, but how that can be rectified through faith in Jesus Christ. Paul has told us that the faith we have in Jesus, for those of us who have believed in him, the faith we have gives us three things. It gives us redemption, justification, and, as I just stated, peace (or we could say, reconciliation).

       Really, it is as if Paul introduces us to the person who has just accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior at the beginning of Romans chapter 6. I think those are good eyeglasses to put on when coming to Romans as a whole, or at least through chapter 8. Paul takes us step by step, in a straightforward process, of what our problem is, which is sin, how to deal with the problem, and what the results of dealing with the problem are. Well, we have dealt with accepting Jesus, and we have learned up to this point some of what the positive consequences are, but now Paul is getting into the area of how should we live as new Christians. How should one go about practicing his or her newfound faith in Christ? That’s where we begin today.

       Romans chapter 6, starting in verse 1: “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?” (1-2, ESV).

       Last week Paul had told us how “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more” (Romans 5:20, ESV). So, we can see that the greater the sin from us, the greater the grace from God. Note, however, that this is how any person, no matter how great your sin is, can come to God and become a Christian. One could say, “But you don’t know me. I’ve done a lot of bad things.” And those bad things you have done could even be in private. People may not know what all the bad things a person has done. Assuredly so. But that’s not the point. The point is that anyone, no matter what the sin, no matter how much it was done, no matter what you personally think, anyone can come into relationship with Jesus. Boy, that’s good news for us today. That’s good news for many out there, even some at the sound of my voice. God’s grace is so great that any and all sin can be forgiven by him. Anyone who will willingly come to him can have all their sins blotted out. God takes the whiteout to your list of sins.

       Paul also said, back at the end of Romans chapter 5, that “as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness” (21, ESV). How does grace abound? How does God’s goodness abound to us? It abounds through righteousness. It abounds through us, as believers in Jesus Christ, living righteously. And see, there it comes again, we see that sin is not our friend. It’s not something we should be proud of, something we should want in our lives. We come to Jesus because we realize we have a sin problem, right? Definitely so. In no way, after coming to Christ, should willingly follow or live in anything that we have come to realize is sin. It definitely is true that people live in certain sins after coming to Christ when they don’t realize they are sins. All of us, listen, all of us to some degree, no matter who you are, even myself, are harboring areas in our lives that need improvement. Those things have registered in the forefront of our minds yet. That’s called Christian growth.

       The point here, in our text today, is that we should not willingly follow and live in anything that we have come to identify as sin. If we believe something is sin, we shouldn’t live in that sin. And that becomes a problem for certain individuals. For some people, the problem isn’t that they think they have sin and need to turn from it, for some the problem is that they don’t believe that what they are practicing is in fact sin. They don’t see anything wrong, for instance, in living with their partner before being married to that person. They think that’s ok. Well, at some point, you are going to have to realize that that is not ok. You are going to have to come to the place where you are willingly to call sin for what it really is, sin, and turn from that sin. God can’t help you if he has shown you something is sin, but you are not willing to see it as sin. His hands are tied in that case. You’ve rejected the truth. And if you keep rejecting the truth, you risk becoming deluded by a spirit of delusion.

       The true born again Christian has his or her drive to please God. Doesn’t that seem like a reasonable marker for a Christian? We often call Christian’s Christ-followers, right? Isn’t that the definition of a Christian? If we are a Christ follower, we are following Christ. If we are following Christ, then we must believe in him and agree with what he says. We must be seeking to be doing what our head, who is Christ, is pleased with. And bringing this back to our discussion on sin, that means that if Christ thinks something is a sin, shouldn’t we? Shouldn’t we be seeking to eliminate any sin in us that Christ says is a sin? Our goal is to please Jesus. That’s what we want to do. That’s one reason we have decided to follow him. That doesn’t mean there won’t be struggles. That doesn’t mean either that their won’t be a time when you disagree with him about something. That’s only normal. There are going to be things you don’t see eye to eye on. But our goal is to bring our thoughts into alignment with his thoughts. Our goal is not to please others, whether Christian or non-Christian.

       Recently my Mustang was having a problem where the driver’s wheel would shake at high speeds. When I would drive around in town, at low speeds, there wasn’t a problem. But when I took it on freeways, and would get it up around 60 mph, then the wheel would start to shake. Well, like most of us do these days, I googled the problem to see what I could find out in order to try to fix it. I have found that taking my car to a mechanic with a mystery problem can sometimes lead to the problem not getting fixed correctly. So, I decided to google it. The consensus seemed to be that the wheels were out of alignment. They weren’t lined up like they should be, and this was causing the shaking in the steering wheel. Sure enough, when I took the car to the shop and told them to do an alignment, that solved the problem. No more shaking at high speeds. You see, my wheels had to come into alignment for my car to drive properly. Without my wheels in alignment, there was a problem. And that’s the way it is with us and Christ. Our thoughts have to come into alignment with his, or there is going to some shaking, some friction. We have to be in agreement with him so that things move about smoothly. That’s the way we live life to its fullest.

       Continuing on. Verse 3: “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 in newness of life.”

       A transformative thing happens at the time we come into personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Some ministers and theologians have used the example of time travel when coming to this passage, and I want to make use of that same idea, that same theme, today. So, sticking with our car theme, here, let’s talk about another great car. The one I have in mind is a Delorean. And not just any Delorean, but the Delorean time-machine from my favorite movie of all time, ‘Back to the Future.’ Now, what does the Delorean and time travel have to do with what we are learning today, with what Paul is talking about here?

       You see, when each of us became a Christian, when each of us was born again, we were united with Christ is his death. The only problem is, how is this possible? Christ died 2,000 years ago. Well, one way to look at it is that, at the time we believed in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins, at that very moment in which we believed, it is as if God himself, acting as Doc Brown, came to us, and we, as Marty, got into the Delorean time machine with him, and he took us back to 30 A.D. or so, at the very moment in which Christ was dying on the cross, and somehow united us with Christ in his death. And not only this, but he united us with him in burial, and then, of course, his resurrection from the dead. And then God brings up back to the exact moment of which we left, in the present time, and drops us back off as if we never left. And he flys away in the Delorean. That’s pretty much what Paul is trying to convey to us here.

       Verse 4 again, “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 in newness of life.”

       Here it is again. Christ was raised from the dead by God’s glory. We were raised from the dead by God’s glory. Now what? We, just as Christ does now, might walk in newness of life. Newness of life means there must be a difference between our new life and our old one. Paul has drawn a line here. He has said that as Christians we walk in a way that is dramatically different than the way we used to walk. A positive change is present. Those who used to live with their partner before marriage don’t do that anymore. The person who used to steal things had decided that she doesn’t want to do that any longer. The person who used to be extremely negative and hard to get along with, is becoming more hopeful and optimistic and friendly and nicer. The old is out, and the new is in. A noticeable change exists in the person. They now have a new life, and they are seeking to make good come out of that new life, that new character. That doesn’t mean they’ll be perfect, but there is a change.

       And this is where there has to come a change in a person’s ways. For the person who is still living with their significant other and isn’t married, and doesn’t want to change their situation, that person is going to have to make a choice. If you have accepted Christ, you need to follow what Christ thinks on the matter. Refusing to follow him in this area, there’s going to be a point where either you’re going to have to do what is right and either separate or get married, or you’re going to have to stop calling yourself a Christian. If you continue to call yourself a Christian, but continue to do what Christ has shown you to be wrong, you’re going to run the risk of being a false Christian, a false brother or sister. And believe me, that’s not a place where you want to be. As Peter has told us elsewhere, “For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. What the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit, and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire” (2 Peter 2:21-22, ESV).

       I would encourage anyone today, in these shoes, to do what is right. Follow what Jesus says. If you say, “I know we should get married but my boyfriend won’t marry me.” Well, it’s time for a new boyfriend then. I know it’s hard to break that off; I don’t want to be insensitive. But you need to find a man who will really love you, and a man who will really love you is one who will marry you. He’s one who will commit his life to yours, for real. Not one who just wants to live life with no commitment. Jesus will lead you, and anyone else, in the right direction. It may be hard at first, and it may be unpleasant. That’s because you’ve been living the incorrect way, and making correction isn’t always comfortable. After you make that correction, though, you’ll feel awesome. You’ll be living in your new life, and one that’s done right, one you’ll get more happiness out of, and one in which Jesus will be pleased.

       Next verses in Romans 6: “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.” (5-7, ESV)

       Remember, this life isn’t all there is. We don’t just live for this life. We are often entangled and saturated in the thoughts of this life, even for us Christians, but that’s not the way it is supposed to be for us. We have to learn, and I myself have been trying to do this recently, we have to learn to focus on the things outside of this life, to try to gain a different perspective. Paul told the Colossian church the following: “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:1-4, ESV). To set our minds on things which are above, that takes a concerted effort.

       Now, what is this that Paul is talking about in regard to sin. We have already talked out how our bodies of sin have been brought to nothing. We said that when we died and were buried with Christ. But Paul says something interesting here, “so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.” Wait, what’s that? Then he says, “For one who has died has been set free from sin.” Wow. These are two very dramatic statements. You mean to tell me that Christian no longer has to sin like everyone else? You mean to tell me the Christian is free not to sin? Yes, both of those statements are correct. We are no longer enslaved to sin, and we have been set free from sin.

       Again, Paul said, “We know that our old self was crucified with him.” So, this is the marker of a believer, one who has had their old self, the way they were before becoming saved, they have had that self crucified (put to death). If our old person is now dead, we should not seek live like we did beforehand, right? I mean, that’s only common sense. We shouldn’t be seeking the perspectives of the world, the views of unbelieving friends. There should be a clear change of character, on the shows there is something different about us. Paul told the Galatian believers, “those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24, ESV). (Now, he is talking about evil passions and desires, not just any passion or desire). Of course, this is something that has to happen overtime, as we bring our flesh into subjection to what God wants.

       I want to provide an illustration of us to try to grasp what Paul is saying here. Let’s get back into the Delorean and take one more trip for today, this time going back to the 1770s. In America, during the 1770s, there were those who the Loyalists and those who were Patriots. The loyalist was one who remained committed to British rule—hence the name loyal. They wanted to be governed by Britain and didn’t want a new form of government to be established in the colonies. The Patriots, as we all know, were those who rebelled, or favored rebellion, against the Crown. They didn’t want Britain ruling anymore. The Patriots undoubted went through ups and downs, as battles in the Revolution were won and lost on the American side. I have no doubt, at times, that there were those Patriots who were tempted to go back to the ways of the Loyalists, to think, “Maybe this cause of fighting for freedom isn’t worth it. Maybe we can work things out with England.” They were tempted to go back, but I’m sure most never went back.

       This is what it is like for us as Christians. We are like the Patriots. We broke from the old ways, the old way of thinking, our old identification, for a new way of thinking and a new identification. We believed in Jesus Christ. We are no longer like the Loyalists, who stick with the old ways, with the tyrannical and oppressive government. This doesn’t mean times are always easy for us. Quite the opposite. Being a Patriot versus being a Loyalist is harder. It's the harder way to go. It would be easier to just keep things the way they always have been, to just keep living under the old government. So we advocate what we believe, we place our faith in the new government. The Patriots fight the battles, and as well are aware, they end up winning the war. The Loyalists ended up having to move back to England; they lost. We are not of those who lose and have to be expelled, but we are of those who after enduring, gain the victory. We fight the good fight of our faith, and then we take hold to the eternal life (the land of the truly free).

       Verse 8: “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.” (Romans 6:8-11 ESV).

       Paul said of Christ, “the death he died he died to sin, once for all.” You see, he met God’s legal requirement for a payment for sin. Even though he had never sinned in his life, he took the sin of all persons: past, present, and future upon himself. He died for our sins so that we would have an acceptable payment before God. He was able to do because, as Peter said, “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:18-19, ESV). Since Christ was the perfect lamb, having never sinned against God in his earthly living, he was able to become the perfect offering to God for our sin. And not only this, but also he broke Satan’s power over us. As Peter said, we “were ransomed.” Jesus defeated Satan at the cross. Satan only has as much power over us as we chose to allow him to have.

       Since Jesus lives his life for God, that is what we, as believers, are supposed to model in our own lives. Paul said he need to “consider” ourselves dead to sin. The reality that we are dead to sin is just fact, we are dead to sin. The issue for us, though, is that we often don’t believe that. We often don’t feel like we are dead to sin. We notice that we still struggle with sin. There are areas that we have weaknesses in. Nevertheless, Paul says here to consider ourselves dead to it. We have to believe that truth, to let settle into our minds. This is a case where we see the supernatural working in our own lives. We have to believe we are dead to sin before we will have victory over sin. Our belief actually causes us to obtain victory. It’s that simple. It’s something supernatural that God does. What we think with our minds, matters. What we believe inside our minds about what we can and cannot do, affects us greatly. We have to believe we are dead to sin in order to obtain victory.

       When the Patriots were fighting in the Revolution, they had to believe they could win in order to have any chance of winning, right? Surely they believed they could win. That’s why they mobilized into a large army, with varying generals. That’s why they fought the war. If they hadn’t of initially believed they could win, they wouldn’t have mobilized and they wouldn’t have fought. They would have given up and gave into the Crown. It’s the same way with us. We have to accept the truth that we are dead to sin, as God tells us here in Romans, and that will enable us to gain successes over Satan. Our belief motivates our action, and it causes the supernatural power of God to flow in our lives. Note that. Don’t miss that last point.

       On the occasion that Jesus came to his hometown of Nazareth, the people there would not accept him as a teacher from God, or a prophet, because they knew who he was beforehand. They knew him before he was famous. And the Scripture records, “And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13:58, ESV). Do you get it? The people there, if they wanted to see the power of God flowing in their lives, they had to what? What did they have to do to see that power flowing? Well, they had to believe. They had to believe in the one whom God had sent. If they had believed in Nazareth, Jesus would have done many mighty works there, but the Scripture says “he did not do many mighty works there.” And it’s the same with us. Listen, this is important—probably the most significant thing I’m saying to help you today. If you don’t believe you are dead to sin, it limits and even prohibits God’s power from flowing in your life. It’s that simple.

       I know, I know. This is going to hard for some of you Christian deists out there to accept. Yes, God’s power still flows depending on what we do as Christians, and depending on what we do not do, our disobedience. Some of you are saying, “That’s not how God works. It has nothing to do with what we believe or do not believe.” You better rethink that. It does depend on that. I think the reason many of you out there have limited victory over sin in your life is because of unbelief. There are Christians who struggle with the same sins for years, over and over, and they never gain victory over them. Their improvement is little to nothing. We have to consider ourselves “dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” We are alive in Christ; we have his power available to us to live life. But we have to use that power. Paul told the Philippians, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:12-13, ESV). We have to work it out; we have to let God work in us.

       I love this text, but we are out of time for today. We’ll have to pick up next week. I want everyone out there today to know, that anyone at the sound of my voice who doesn’t know Christ, who’s not familiar with his power, can have a relationship with him today. Yes, anyone can. Believe in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for the forgiving of your sins, and that he rose from the dead so we can identify in him, and have new life with him.

-Daniel Litton