Word of Salvation – Vol. 38 No. 11 – March 1993

 

New Life In Christ

 

Sermon by Rev. H. DeWaard on Romans 6:4

Scripture Reading: Romans 6:1-14

Singing: BoW 118a, 407, 345, 464, 430, 313, 182:3

 

Beloved congregation,

As I read this text you probably thought: I know this passage well!  What’s new?  We have heard it a thousand times.  Christ has conquered sin and death.  All who believe in Him share in that victory.  I believe in Him.  Therefore I share in His victory!

It sounds simple and logical.

Maybe!  Let me ask you, are you living what you know to be true?  What difference does this Word of God make in your life?  Where are the signs of that victory?  I look within.  What do I see?  Not enough holiness.  I look without and see fellow Christians who are struggling as well, right?

The victory is not all that obvious, is it?  Is there something we have missed?

Beloved brothers and sisters, one of our problems is that we tend to sample sermons.  We listen to sermon after sermon, soaking it up or letting it run like water off a duck’s back.  Does it help us to live the Christian life?

This morning I want to preach to you on

‘New Life In Christ’

This passage is all about living a new kind of life.  In Romans 1-5 Paul has been speaking of the way in which God accepts us as being right with him, through faith in Jesus Christ.  In chapter 6 he goes on to say that when you are right with God, it’s going to show in a new way of life because the Spirit poured out in our hearts produces the fruits of the Spirit.

Paul had a very practical reason for writing as he did.  You see, Paul had been saying that we are made right with God not because of anything we do, but because of God’s grace.  Some said: Well, if works are not important why bother at all?  As a matter of fact why not sin all the more so that the grace of God will be all the more beautiful?

Against that backdrop Paul keeps saying: You died to sin!  You were baptized in Jesus’s death!  You were buried with him into death!  The old life is finished.  Paul knew what he was talking about.

When did that happen?  When we accepted Him as Saviour.  Through faith we are given all the benefits of Christ’s finished work on the cross of Calvary.  Through faith we are closely connected with Him.  The Bible says we are ‘in Him’.  So when Christ died on Good Friday, it may truly be said that I died with him.  All my guilt was taken away.  That happened in the past.

But you know, I often stop here.  I usually think that the cross (Good Friday) was all there was to salvation.  All the work of Christ climaxed on the cross because there the Father’s justice was satisfied and the burden of guilt taken away.

But it was not enough.  Good Friday would have been a hollow victory had it not been followed by Easter.  In the resurrection God proves himself to be life-giving conqueror.  And again, because I am closely connected with Christ, I was raised into a new life.

All this is symbolized in baptism.  Baptism symbolizes drowning and resurrection, going down and coming up, dying and rising.

In the future we will be raised by Him as He was raised on Easter morning by the power and glory of the Father.  There is a great future ahead of us.

But what about now?

Romans 6:10,11 says: ‘count yourselves dead to sin and alive to God.’  And our text refers to the fact that we may live a new life.  Now!

By faith we live now as though we have already died and been raised to a new life.

Recently, I read about a Christian woman who was told that her husband had been killed in an accident.  She was devastated.  But then some hours later she was told that there had been a mistake.  Her husband was alive!  She was asked how that event of a husband dying and then being raised to life affected her perspective on life.  She said: ‘Each day I now regard as a precious gift of God.’

If you had died and were then raised from the dead how would you look at life?

How would you look at your family?  How would you handle the pressures to conform?  How would you look at your possessions?  How would you react to loveless criticism or well-deserved praise?  Would you strive for power?

Would you remain angry… if you had come back from the brink of death?

We are to step into the world each day as though we have been raised from the dead!

Since like Christ you have already died and been raised with Him, let’s keep that rhythm going.

Let the old loveless self, drown and the new loving self, rise.

Let gloating over the misfortune of others die, let compassion rise.

Let a competitive spirit die and mutual helpfulness rise.

Let harsh criticism die and encouragement rise from your lips.

Let selfishness die and generosity rise.

It would show that you have caught the rhythm of life and broken the cycle of death.

Sometime ago I noticed an article on ‘Dying to Self’ on the notice board of the College.  Among other things it said:

When you are forgotten or neglected or put down and you do not sting and hurt with the insult, but your heart is happy… that is dying to self.

When your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded your opinion ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rule in your heart … that is dying to self.

When you are content with your situation, with your family, your loneliness, any interruption to your plans … that is dying to self.

You may say to me: ‘Come on, this is ridiculous.  How is it possible to live such a life?  Don’t you know the real word?’  I think I do.

I know that life can be tough.  Bringing up kids is hard.  The pressures are unbearable.  The temptations are so inviting.  Trying to come to terms with God’s sovereignty is hard.  I see no sense in the birth of a malformed baby.  I get angry when I see the pictures of Sarayevo on my TV screen.  I cringe when I see the walking skeletons of Somalia.

I ask: Where is God in all this?  Why doesn’t He change the world?  I want to rebel.  At times I would like to opt out of the Christian life and live my way.

Until I remember…..

I remember what God has done.

I remember the words of Jesus: ‘Take my yoke upon you’.  The yoke of submission to his will.  When I remember, my rebellion stops.  I will say ‘no’ to self and ‘yes’ to God and it is then that I find rest for my soul.

That only occurs, congregation, because God has given His Holy Spirit to live in us.  We are people of power to live a new life for Jesus.  So often our Christian life revolves around personalities, programmes, plans, budgets, buildings and we forget the basic issue: Do you want to live for Jesus?

Do not quench the Spirit, through lack of faith and thus rely on self again.  You are dead to self and alive to God.  A new way of life is open to you.

God is changing us, producing the fruit of the Holy Spirit within us.

In this connection I think of the life-story of Corrie Ten Boom who had suffered so much at the hands of the Germans during World War II.  After the war she travelled a great deal speaking everywhere about Jesus and the way He forgives the sins of all who repent and believe.  One day she came face to face with one of her cruel guards.

He stood in front of her, hand outstretched saying: ‘I know God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did, but I would like to hear it from you.  Will YOU forgive me?’

Corrie said that to take that hand was the most difficult thing she had ever had to do, but she must… and did.

Are there perhaps similar situations in your life, where you can demonstrate this newness… seeing that you have died to sin?

To be a truly spiritual person does not just mean that you are born again and going to heaven.  It does not mean that you don’t do certain things like drink, smoke, gamble.  To be truly spiritual is to be inwardly new – loving God, loving people, to be in communion at a truly personal level.  That’s the way to WALK in newness of life.

I wonder if you could think of one area in your life where you might ask the Lord to help you demonstrate this newness.  Perhaps some personal relationship you could restore; some matter of dishonesty you can rectify; some matter for which you need to ask forgiveness from your wife or child (hard as it is); some issue which you are to let go rather than allow it to poison your system with anger or resentment.  Some issue which the Holy Spirit is convicting you of.  If it means that you have to speak to an elder or a trusted friend, do so.  It could be such a blessing.

I am putting this to you not as a command but as a challenge.  We have every incentive to live the new life in Christ.

Christ has given all the resources.  He has taken care of your past – sins forgiven.

He has taken care of the future –  raised with Him into eternity.

The challenge for the present is: TO LIVE A NEW LIFE!  All of us face this challenge, though the pressures come at different points.

Be encouraged!  Whatever it is you need strength, peace, wisdom, direction, discipline ask for it!  God will hear.  And then follow whenever and wherever He leads!

So, what are we waiting for?

Let’s rise to the challenge!

AMEN