Word of Salvation – Vol. 37 No. 37 – October 1992

 

Buried And Raised With Christ

 

Sermon by Rev. D. K. Baird on Romans 6:1-4 with HC Q43

 

Congregation, beloved in Christ,

Let me first sound a note of caution: It could be that after you have heard this sermon you may feel you don’t fully grasp it yet.  If you end up feeling that way, don’t panic!  And don’t be too hard on yourself: What’s the matter with me this afternoon?  This teaching here may well take some time before you feel you are on top of it.

To emphasise what I mean let me quote from Dr Martin Lloyd-Jones’ preface to his sermons on this chapter:

One Sunday evening at the close of a service at Westminster Chapel, somewhere about 1943, a certain well-known preacher came into my vestry and said to me: ‘When are you going to preach a series of expository sermons on the Epistle to the Romans?’  I answered immediately: ‘When I have really understood chapter 6.’

In 1954, while preaching a series of sermons on Spiritual Depression, and studying this chapter again, I suddenly felt that I had arrived at a satisfactory understanding, and preached two sermons on Sunday mornings giving what I now regarded as the true exposition of the main argument of the chapter.  Having done so, I felt that I was now in a position to preach an extended series on the whole Epistle; and I began to do so in October 1955.

I mention this to encourage you.  Even if we don’t get on top of this teaching straight away it is important to make a start.  It is a most important teaching which affects the whole way we live the Christian life.  So to step around it would be to deprive ourselves of something precious the Lord wants to give us.

So let’s now read Romans 6:1-14….

Let’s think for a moment about the Reformation.  It was on 31st October 1517 that Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg, Germany, and much to his own surprise ignited a movement which has changed the world.

Out of the Reformation came that fourfold slogan emphasising the distinctives of the Reformed faith:

Christ alone

Grace alone

Faith alone

Scripture alone.

Christ alone – grace alone – faith alone.  This has to do with the method by which we are saved.  In opposition to the medieval church, we confess that salvation is 100% a work of God’s grace in Christ.  We do not contribute any merit at all.

Now this teaching is magnificently set out in Paul’s letter to the Romans.  e.g. ‘We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.’ (3:24)  ‘We maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.’ (3:28)  ‘God credits to us righteousness apart from works.’ (4:6)

Prior to chapter 6 the apostle has been clearly setting out the gospel of God, rediscovered at the Reformation.  When you confess this gospel of free grace, as we do, we will most likely be misunderstood.  People may say, ‘If grace is free, if I don’t have to earn it by what I do, then I can do what I like.’  This is roughly the same idea raised by Paul in Romans 6:1: ‘What shall we say, then?  Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?’

Dr Lloyd-Jones has said, “The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it.’ (p.8) ‘Nobody has ever brought this charge against the Church of Rome, but it was brought frequently against Martin Luther.  Indeed that was precisely what the Church of Rome said about the preaching of Martin Luther.” (p.9)

So, when we preach the gospel of free grace, we may well be charged with teaching: ‘Live how you like!’  Even here within the church, some may get that idea.  What is our answer to be?  The Reformed answer…?  It is to be the answer Paul teaches here in Romans 6.

Mind you, we could bring up many answers against it: e.g. God hates sin; sin always hurts other people; sin has damaging effects on yourself etc., etc.  However, the best answer is the one the Spirit has used here in Romans 6.

Simply put it is: the person saved by grace alone is united to Christ’s death and resurrection.  He is ‘In Christ.’  How can such a person live in sin?

Briefly looking at the apostle’s argument in these verses, I want to make three points:

1.  An Event: in Christ you have died and been raised.

2.  A Result: you have been released from the slavery of sin. 

3.  An Appeal: a) Believe it, and b) Offer yourselves to the Lord.

1  An Event: In Christ you have died and been raised.

The apostle is writing to the church and is therefore speaking to Christians.  He is saying to us; you have been united to Christ.  You see that in baptism already; baptised into the name of the Son.  So: if we have been baptised into Christ, we have been united to Christ.

We have been united with him in his death, and
we have been united with him in his resurrection.

Now when Jesus died what was He doing?  He was dying for your sin and mine.  It wasn’t his own sin which put him there: He had none.  He was taking our place there on the cross.  When He died, it was as if I died.  When He rose, it was just as if I rose.  Because he was standing in for me, as far as God is concerned, I have died and been raised.

We often say, ‘Jesus died for me on the cross’ and even ‘Jesus was raised for me.’  Well, seeing that is true, it follows: If Jesus died for me, then I died with him; If Jesus was raised for me, then I was raised with him.  Which is what Paul is teaching here in Romans 6.  Those are the facts: all we have to do now is see how this affects us.

2.  A Result: You have been released from the slavery of sin.

We know that Jesus having died for us and being raised for us, has an effect on us.  We accept that the penalty of sin has been paid on the cross so I am no longer living under the penalty.  God has declared me justified, and pronounced peace to me.  So: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.’ (8:1)  We readily accept that because of my link with Christ things have changed for me now.

Well, something else flows from this.  Remember, here in Romans 6 Paul is answering the charge, ‘Shall we go on sinning that grace may increase?’, and what is his answer?  By no means!  It’s unthinkable!  It’s out of the question!  ‘We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?’ (v.2)  Being united to Christ in his death and resurrection rules out completely the option of continuing in sin that grace may abound.

In being united to Christ, the believer has had his relationship to sin radically changed.  ‘We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?’ (v.2)  The whole idea is ridiculous.  We are now new people in a totally different ballpark.  It is as if we have died and been raised again.  For us the enslaving power of sin has been broken, because of the new position we are legally in.  ‘Sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law but under grace.’ (v.14)

3.  An Appeal

This may look like two appeals but it is only one.  There are, however, two steps to this one appeal.

The first step is:        a)  Believe it.

The second is:          b)  offer yourselves to the Lord.

a) believe it   Verse 11

We need to look at ourselves in a new light.  We are those who have been brought from death to life.  The Lord Jesus has placed us in a whole new realm.  So then: Realise it is so.  Believe it!  Accept it!

Count yourselves dead to sin.
Count yourselves alive to God.
You are not the person you used to be.
You are now ‘In Christ.’

b) Offer yourselves to the Lord  Verse 13

A non-Christian is not in a position to respond to this.  Obviously only a Christian can act as someone who has been brought from death to life, because only a Christian has been brought from death to life.  But seeing we have been, we should live accordingly.  We have been put in the position where we can offer ourselves to God: so let’s do it then!  Let’s be what the Lord has called us to be.  Let’s offer each part of our lives to the Lord in the service of righteousness.  Lord take my heart, my mind, my emotions, my hands, my feet, my voice.  All of me to serve you!

Summing up

Earlier I referred to the Reformation.  We saw that central to the Reformed faith is that we are saved by grace alone.  It’s all of God: our merits play no part.

Then we saw that when we preach this gospel some may hear us saying, ‘let us go on sinning that grace may increase.’  This is an outrageous idea because those who are saved by free grace are actually united to Christ; they have been brought from death to life.  Out of all people they are those now set free to serve.

So we can learn this: Jesus’ death wins for us more than forgiveness.  A sanctified Christian life also flows from Jesus’ work.  His death and resurrection lay the basis for actual change in the way we live.

Before we talk about the power of the Spirit, and certainly before we talk about the role of prayer or self-discipline or Bible reading, or of anything we do in Christian living, we must get it straight that the fount of holiness is the death and resurrection of Jesus.  If we are going to make any progress in Christian living we must first ‘Count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.’  Having that straight we can offer ourselves as instruments of righteousness.

As heirs of the Reformation, Romans 6 presents a great challenge to us.  We are those who say we are saved by grace alone.  That’s good: may we keep saying that and believing it.  Well then, we see here that those who are saved by grace alone are those who are united to Christ.  If we are going to confess free grace we must also confess being dead to sin and alive to God.  And we should practice what we preach.  Even if they think we teach ‘let us go on sinning that grace may increase’ at least our lives should show we don’t believe that at all.  Our lives are to show that those who believe in the Reformed doctrine of free grace are those who have been able to offer themselves to God.

Let us then live what we profess.

AMEN