©2001 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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3/4/01
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The New You
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Romans 5:20-6:11
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3/4/01 A New You
Rom. 5:20 And the Law came in that the
transgression might increase; but where sin
increased, grace abounded all the more,
Rom. 5:21 that, as sin reigned in death,
even so grace might reign through
righteousness to eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord.
Rom. 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we
to continue in sin so that grace may
increase?
Rom. 6:2 May it never be! How shall we
who died to sin still live in it?
We return this morning to our study of the book of
Romans,
and return, too, to a passage that will take us
back to a study
we were involved in almost a year ago.
When we left this study two weeks ago
we were looking at the two totally different
processes
laid out for us by Paul
in the closing verses of Romans 5.
To help us better relate to what he is saying
we put it into a little chart:
Paul told us that the moral law of God
came to us from God
initially to cause us to sin more,
resulting in our spiritual death.
The law served as God's tool
with which He aroused in us
our inner heart of rebellion against Him.
The problem is not the law, of course,
it is our rebellious heart.
And the law simply forces us to face
what is really going on within us
at the spirit level.
EX. Picture in your mind
two houses, both of them with huge picture
windows facing the street.
In front of one house is a large sign
printed in bold block letters that reads:
Do NOT throw rocks through this picture
window!!
In front of the second house
there is no sign.
Which window will get broken first?
The human spirit violently reacts
to anyone or anything
that demands submission and obedience.
We learn to clothe our rebellious spirits
in culturally acceptable facades,
selectively choosing which laws
and which authorities
we will and will not submit to,
but the underlying heart response is the same:
"I will run my own life,
I will determine my own destiny,
I will do it my way,
I will submit only when and where I
choose to!"
And from the very beginning
our Creator God
has carefully woven His web of love around
us.
All the while we keep thinking
the real issues in life between us and Him
concern who is being good
and who is being bad
and who is being moral
and who is being immoral.
And once again
we have it all wrong.
From the very beginning
the only issue in life
is our infinitely good Creator God
who, for reasons that defy all human logic,
loves us with an everlasting love,
and is carefully working out His plan
for restoring us to Himself.
And the first great step in that restoration
is forcing us to face our disease.
We are created beings
in full-blown revolt against our Creator.
But we refuse to believe there is anything wrong.
We enter this world so blind to the truth
that we actually believe it is natural,
and normal
for a created being to live in utter
separation from our Creator.
And so, to force us to face
our desperate need for our God,
He takes the moral necessities of our existence,
the things upon which all healthy human
relationships must be built,
and He turns them into rigid,
demanding,
inflexible,
non-negotiable DEMANDS FROM GOD
-
"THOU SHALT NOT COMMIT ADULTERY!"
"THOU SHALT NOT LIE!"
"THOU SHALT NOT COVET!"
And in so doing
he drives us into overt rebellion,
and our marriages fall apart,
and our relationships disintegrate,
and we keep trying to fill our lives
with more and more THINGS for which we
cannot stop coveting,
and even when we get them
the pain inside does not go away.
And through those commandments
our God drives us into self-destructive behavior
that intensifies the pain
that always results from our living
contrary to the way God designed us.
Why does He do it?
He does it because He loves us
and He knows that what we really need is
HIM,
and most of us will not turn to our God
until the pain of our own failures drives us
to Him.
But that isn't where we stopped.
From there Paul goes on to share with us
God's alternative.
The Law
drives us to sin,
resulting in death,
but the Grace of God
brings about righteousness
resulting in eternal life.
And we ended our study two weeks ago
by seeing that God's alternative
to the law
driving us into sin
resulting in death,
is our Lord Jesus Christ
introducing us to the grace of God
giving us His righteousness
resulting in eternal life.
And as we pick up our study here
I want to add one additional observation
to what Paul reveals to us in these verses.
He tells us that through Christ
we are introduced to the grace of God
which brings about righteousness in our
lives.
The grace of God
brings about righteousness in our lives.
I want us to talk a little more about how that works,
but I can't let that pass
without emphasizing
that whenever a human being
comes in contact with the real thing,
that is, with the true grace of God,
it will bring about a higher level of
righteous living in the person's life.
We will become in practical reality
more of what the moral law of God demanded
that we should become,
but could never in itself produce in us.
This is one of those protective passages in Scripture
designed to guard us against the religious
counterfeits in the world,
and against those who hide their sin behind
their religious facade.
When we bump up against people
who boldly proclaim their confidence in the
grace of God,
and yet who continue living
in the same immorality that enslaved
them
before they entered into their grace awakening,
one thing we know with certainty -
they know nothing
about the true grace of God.
A correct understanding
of the true grace of God
will always make righteous living
both desirable
and accessible to the Christian.
...even so grace might reign through
righteousness to eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord...
I am not suggesting
that the grace of God brings about instant,
perfect,
unending righteous living.
It does not
because our understanding of that grace
comes to us slowly,
and we do forget quickly,
and must learn again,
and again,
the truths governing our walk with Christ.
But I am saying that when we encounter
those people who boldly proclaim
the salvation of God
through the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ,
and yet who continue to live out
the same patterns of lust,
or bitterness,
or bigotry,
or dishonesty,
or greed
that characterized their lives prior to their so-called
submission to Christ,
we have every right to be skeptical.
Some of the strongest words of warning
ever spoken by our Lord
were directed at those within the religious
community
who speak one thing
and live another.
Matt. 7:15 ¶ "Beware of the false
prophets, who come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly are ravenous
wolves.
Matt. 7:16 "You will know them by their
fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn
bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they?
Matt. 7:17 "Even so, every good tree bears
good fruit; but the bad tree bears bad fruit.
Matt. 7:18 "A good tree cannot produce
bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good
fruit.
Matt. 7:19 "Every tree that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire.
Matt. 7:20 "So then, you will know them
by their fruits.
Matt. 7:21 "Not everyone who says to Me,
'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of
heaven; but he who does the will of My
Father who is in heaven.
Matt. 7:22 "Many will say to Me on that
day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in
Your name, and in Your name cast out
demons, and in Your name perform many
miracles?'
Matt. 7:23 "And then I will declare to
them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me,
you who practice lawlessness.'
Do you know what I hear the Lord saying to us
with those words?
I hear Him giving us permission
to listen to the lives of those around us
before we listen to their words.
I bring this up here
simply because I don't want us to miss
this crucial protective safeguard of the truth.
Paul tells us that
when we are hearing the true message of the
grace of God,
not only will it not excuse our sin,
but it will make true, practical righteousness,
godliness
both more desirable
and more accessible to us.
And how does it do that?
Or more correctly, how does God do that in us
through His grace?
How does God's grace
bring about righteousness in the life of the
Christian?
Answering that question
is where Paul goes next
in his letter to the Romans.
In the next 3 chapters
Paul reveals to us
the 4 major changes God performs in the
Christian
that bring about true righteousness in our
lives.
And, as we move into this passage,
I'll share with us what these 4 changes are,
and then we'll use them as our teaching
framework
as we work our way through these next 3
chapters.
When we were studying this passage about a year
ago
I mentioned then,
and want to remind us again now,
that all 4 of these are not things we are suppose to do
for God,
they are things God has already done
in and for us at the time we come to Him.
In those places where we still find ourselves being
defeated
by old sin patterns in our lives,
that defeat comes not because we do not possess
what we need for victory,
but rather because we do not yet believe
we have received what our God
has already given us.
If that sounds confusing,
I think it may clear up a bit
as we move through the next few chapters.
So how does God bring about this righteousness
through grace?
1. By changing our true identity.
2. By changing our relationship
to the moral law of God.
3. By changing our relationship to sin.
4. By changing our relationship to Christ Himself.
And just to clarify what's happening here, now,
in Romans 5:20-21 Paul presents the overview:
Then he goes on to explain to us
how the grace of God
produces righteousness within us.
And we are going to see him tell us
it comes as a result of 4 changes
God has already accomplished
in the life of every true believer.
From there he moves directly into the 1st of those 4
changes:
Rom. 6:1 What shall we say then? Are we
to continue in sin so that grace may
increase?
Rom. 6:2 May it never be! How shall we
who died to sin still live in it?
...How shall we who died to sin still live
in it?
Now, Paul realizes that those words
will very likely cause a great deal of confusion
in the minds of most of his readers.
He starts with a bold statement of the truth -
we have already died to sin.
But he knows, too,
that at this point,
hearing those words,
most of us simply cannot make any sense
out of them.
They are words that seem to be
absolutely inconsistent
with everything we experience in "real life".
We don't feel dead to sin.
We don't always act dead to sin.
So how can Paul say we have already died to sin?
So, after making this statement of truth,
he then takes the next 9 verses
to explain to us why he has just said what
he's said.
And look at his next five words...
"Or do you not know..."
He is saying,
"If what I just said to you
doesn't seem to make any sense,
it is because something has already taken
place in your life
that you don't fully realize - let me enlighten
you."
The truth Paul then shares with us in the next 9
verses
is a truth you have heard me attempt to share
countless times
with those who listen to my teaching.
It is the truth upon which
everything else our God seeks to do
both within us
and through us is built.
It is the truth that,
if we miss it,
will turn the living reality of Christ in us
into just one more man-made religion
calling man to be good for God.
And the two amazing things I want us to notice about
this truth
as I share it with you once again,
is, first of all, the simplicity and clarity of the truth
itself,
and, second, the way in which Paul tells us
this truth is to become a part of our life.
Let me read the passage for us,
and then I'll show you what I mean.
Paul says,
Rom. 6:3 Or do you not know that all of
us who have been baptized into Christ
Jesus have been baptized into His death?
Before I read any further
I need to let you know
that when Paul talks about "baptism" in this
passage
he is not talking about the ceremonial water baptism
we so often think of.
The word being used
means literally, "to be immersed".
It is a remarkable term
used to describe the Christian's true relationship
with Christ.
I know we more commonly use terms such as
"receiving Christ"
or "accepting Christ"
or perhaps "submitting to the Lordship of
Christ."
But when Paul talks about the Christian's
relationship with Christ
he chooses a different term.
He says that we have been "immersed" in Christ.
Well over a hundred times
the New Testament writers
talk about us being, "In Christ", or "In
Him".
It is exactly the same concept.
We are not just with Christ,
or loyal to Christ,
we are IN CHRIST,
immersed in Him
as our physical body is immersed when we
dive into a pool of water.
And Paul begins his presentation of this truth
by saying that when Christ died,
because we are in Him,
we also died with Him.
Rom. 6:4 Therefore we have been buried
with Him through baptism into death, in
order that as Christ was raised from the
dead through the glory of the Father, so we
too might walk in newness of life.
Rom. 6:5 For if we have become united
with Him in the likeness of His death,
certainly we shall be also in the likeness of
His resurrection,...
So, Paul follows through with this mental picture,
telling us that just as Christ died
and then rose again to new life,
because we are in Christ,
in the most remarkable way
the same thing has taken place in our own
life.
Now, logically we would hear this
and assume that he must be talking about
the physical resurrection of our bodies
in the still distant future.
But that is not what he is talking about.
He is talking about
not the death of our physical bodies,
but the death of our true inner identity -
the person we are at the core of our being.
And just so there is no misunderstanding,
he goes on to say this:
Rom. 6:6 knowing this, that our old self
was crucified with Him, that our body of
sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves to sin;
Rom. 6:7 for he who has died is freed from
sin.
Rom. 6:8 Now if we have died with Christ,
we believe that we shall also live with Him,
Rom. 6:9 knowing that Christ, having been
raised from the dead, is never to die again;
death no longer is master over Him.
Rom. 6:10 For the death that He died, He
died to sin, once for all; but the life that He
lives, He lives to God.
He says, "...knowing this, that our old self
was crucified with Him..."
And right there is the first great truth
upon which all successful Christian living is
built -
in Christ,
through Christ,
we have not just been forgiven,
we have died and been recreated by God
at the very heart of our being.
We are new creations.
Same physical body,
same emotional responses,
same memories,
same brain,
and eyes,
and voice,
and hands,
it is the same physical plant,
but that plant is now under totally new
management.
And then Paul concludes
by telling us how we go about making this truth
a living reality in our lives:
Rom. 6:11 Even so consider yourselves to
be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ
Jesus.
He says, "Choose to believe it is true."
And in our final minutes here this morning
I will offer you just one suggestion
that can help in our acceptance of this truth.
I hear Paul telling us in this passage
to recognize that there are two distinctly
different voices speaking to us
about who we should believe we really are.
One of those voices is the voice of our true identity,
a voice speaking to us about our love for our
Lord,
about our longing to honor Him with our
words,
with our actions.
It is a voice that cries our to God, "Abba, Father -
my life, my King."
With me, I find that I am able to hear that voice
most clearly
when I first get up in the morning.
I am not a "morning person".
I make no claim at being one.
It takes some considerable time
for my physical plant
to recommit to life,
for my mind and my emotions to regroup and
rally for the day ahead.
But I have noticed something in recent years
that encourages me.
If I give myself a few minutes to just sit
before I reenter the world,
I have discovered within myself
a longing to live the next 16 hours of life
in a way that honors my Lord.
I often put it into words to my King,
affirming my allegiance to Him
and my desire to honor Him.
Do you know what that is?
That is the voice of my true inner identity.
Now, it is also true
that I never succeed in living out that longing
perfectly
in the hours that follow.
There is far too much old clutter still churning
around within me
from who I once was
before my Lord recreated me.
But the desire itself
is the voice of my true identity.
But then, there is another voice within us as well,
and this voice screams at us from our flesh.
It is the voice that tells us we are what we do,
and what we do is never good enough,
the voice that screams at us from our emotions,
those emotions that have been trained for years
to lunge out at so many lies,
telling us we need this and need that,
telling us we're all alone,
telling us our God doesn't hear,
or our God doesn't care,
and the voice that screams at us from all of our past
memories
of our life before we knew our Lord,
memories of the way things use to be,
telling us nothing has really changed.
When Paul say, Rom. 6:11 Even so consider
yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to
God in Christ Jesus.
he is telling us to listen closely to those two
different voices,
and then strongly,
boldly affirm the truth,
and condemn the lies.
We are not who we once were,
and we never will be again.
It is true we must live out the remainder of our life
on this earth
in a body filled with the lies,
but even this body
can be brought under the leadership
and the discipline of the truth
if we will begin by affirming that truth
to ourselves with confidence
and with certainty.
The first change, then,
that forms the foundation for righteousness
through the grace of God
is the change in our true identity.
We are new creations in Christ.