Are Christian just sinners like everyone else? In this sermon, elder candidate Greg Ho examines Romans 6:1-14 and points out the problem with the increasingly popular “Hyper-Grace” movement. Greg Ho explains that Christians actually will exhibit lives of holiness as result of being joined to Jesus; that is, believers cannot help being changed by Jesus. Specifically, based on Romans 6:1-14, Greg Ho points out six necessary implications of being united with Christ and three specific applications to help is in our sanctification.
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if you’re a News Junkie like I am you no doubt have noticed that the media loves it whenever there’s a Christian hypocrite right churches churches that would normally get no press suddenly get front page attention because a pastor has stumbled and you know it’s become so common that it’s a common refrain now whenever we share Christ with somebody they say I knew so and so who was a Christian and boy was he a hypocrite it’s become so common that many in the church have started to concede that Christians are really just sinners like everybody else right you’re a non-Christian sinner I’m a Christian sinner but in essence we’re both Sinners but is that really a true characterization is there really no dis distinct quality of Holiness that we should expect from a Christian should we expect Believers to live holy lives see I think there’s a a rampant confusion today on the topic of Holiness let’s face it all of us here in the church know somebody or um have known somebody for whom the only discernable difference between them and an unbeliever is where they Park their car on Sunday morning and when you ask them about holiness they go on and on about how they’re free in Christ but then you’ll find others who say no no no Holiness as Believers is not only our duty it is necessary if you are to be saved at all so who’s right well the answer has to do with the doctrine of sanctification sanctification and that’s we be looking that’s what we’ll be looking at today actually our lesson today is extremely simple it’s not nearly as complicated as that big name would make it seem so simple that by the end of our time today I think you’ll agree with me that all we really needed to know about sanctification we learned in kindergarten but first let’s define our terms you know one of the most important things that a Christian can learn in the beginning of their Christian walk is the stages of Salvation there’s three stages right justification sanctification and glorification the first stage is justification justification is to be declared righteous in a legal sense this is a one-time transaction by God where he declares you to be innocent of your sins and have the righteousness of Christ this is an instantaneous event upon your conversion and it is permanent justification utterly removes any penalty of sin right but let me ask you does it remove immediately the power of Sin from your lives yes or no no that happens gradually in the second stage sanctification sanctification then is the lifelong process of being more and more conformed to the image of Christ and sanctification a believer’s life ought to see progressively decreasing frequency of sin an increasing frequency of Holiness now this part is critical to understand with justification justification is by faith alone with no effort from you but sanctification is different in that it requires your effort working through faith you get that sanctification does not happen apart from your work for example when the scripture commands Us in Philippians 2:12 to work out our Salvation in fear and trembling it is speaking in terms of sanctification now sanctification the Bible tells us will never be complete in this life it will never be perfect in this life and that’s where that final stage glorification comes in when Jesus returns and we get our new resurrected bodies they will be utterly free from any effect of sin that’s glorification so we’re justified in an instant we’re Sanctified throughout our lifetime and then we’re glorified in an instant so none of what I just told you now is too controversial but let me ask you this can you ever have one of those without the other two yes or no no they are a package deal they’re a package deal you have one or you have none you can’t only be just J ified and not Sanctified and you can’t be justified and not eventually glorified one of the best verses to see all three is in Philippians 1:6 and let me read that to you Paul writes for I am confident of this very thing that he who what began a good work in you will what perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus right you see all three are there God began a good work in you there’s justification he’s perfecting it that’s sanctification and on the day of Christ Jesus it will be completed that’s glorification right all right so let’s back up why all of the theological pain this morning because I want you to understand that many theological errors that we see in the world around us can at their Essence be boiled down to a failure to keep these Concepts distinct what do I mean let me give you something some examples there’s something called the Holiness movement this is subscribed to by for instance many movements but but um specifically the Church of the Nazarene you might have heard of which teach that you can achieve a state of sinless perfection in this life in fact I was when I was living in Los Angeles about 10 years ago I met a person who told me he hadn’t sinned for many years not even once and you see what they’ve done is confused that doctrine of sanctification with glorification when they ought to have kept them separate here’s a second example the Catholic Church their fundamental error can be boiled down to a merging of sanctification Works into justification let me read you a quote from Phil Johnson who explains it much better than I could quote according to Catholic teaching until we are truly and fully perfected by sanctification our justification is not complete in other words they teach that justification is a process dependent on sanctification and that’s why they sell indulgences because their theology doesn’t permit Christians to enjoy the full and free forgiveness of justification that’s also why they invented the doctrine of pergatory to explain how people who die in a state of imperfection can gain entrance to to Heaven Purgatory is the place they invented to explain how Sinners own practical righteousness the righteousness of sanctification can be perfected enough to please God end quote you see the the doctrine of sanctification and and and the merging of do the doctrine of sanctification and justification in this case adds Works to your justification which then Rises to the level of a damning heresy believing this will keep you from being saved that’s deadly but I want to give you one last example before we get to the text and um this error is a bit more subtle but I believe it’s extremely relevant to us as a church while one might say that Catholic theology allows what belongs in the world of sanctification to bleed into the world of justification it is also possible to do the opposite and allow what belongs in the world of justification to bleed into the world of sanctification the seram speaking of it is known by many names cross- centered sanctification gospel driven sanctification the free Grace movement but I think that the the name that is catching on is the hyper Grace movement so that’s what I’ll call it the hyper Grace movement was started and driven in recent years by some very big names in evangelicalism many of whom we esteem very highly and whose name you would instantly recognize and has been for some time causing a lot of confusion and division within evangelicalism all you need to do is to do a quick Google search and you’ll see hundreds of pages of the Raging battle over it and I want you to know this isn’t just an insignificant secondary issue when as Jerry rag said in his 2014 Shepherd’s conference session on this topic which by the way I highly recommend Christians or churches are div fighing over this it’s not splitting hairs and on some occasion I just say that your elders have even noticed some seeds of it appearing within our own congregation so I think it’s worth spending a few minutes here just to talk about it so what are the battle lines the hyper Grace position is very strong on the doctrine of justification there’s no problem there but if you listen to hyper Grace preaching enough you will eventually start to notice an emphasis on man’s depravity and God’s grace in the gospel but little or no emphasis on confession repentance or righteousness that’s because they erroneously extend the no work condition of our justification to sanctification Jeremiah Johnson sums it up this way speaking of the hyper Grace movement quote they argue that salvation releases us from any expectation of obedience to God’s law and that God’s grace listen dissolves guilt and diffuses conviction of sin in the believer’s life end quote see to the hyper Grace movement the biggest problem in a believer’s life is not that they’re in sin because that sin that sin has been paid for in Christ rather the biggest problem is the induced guilt and shame of that sin you see pretty much the worst sin you can commit as a hyperg gracer is to feel any sense of guilt or Shame about your sin because that must mean you’re not trusting in the finished work of Christ in us so they say the proper response to your feeling of Sorrow guilt and shame is to preach the gospel to yourself over and over so that you can remind yourself of your acceptance before God you might have heard of that now I just want to make it clear that I have no problem with preaching the gospel to yourself reminding ourselves of the gospel and what Christ did on our behalf is a spiritual health spiritually healthy and essential thing to do but the problem that is that hyperg gracer will hijack that which is a good thing and overprescribed that as the antidote to relieve themselves of every sorrow over sin and every pay of guilt but merely relieving guilt by telling people to remember that their sins are paid for is dangerous if it means that the sin itself remains undal with because you see sometimes the reason we feel concerned and sorrow isn’t because we haven’t fully trusted in our justification it’s because our consciences are telling us that we have not repented of our sin that’s actually your conscience is God given purpose to get you to repent you see sometimes your sorrow over sin far from being illegitimate is listen actually sent by God that’s why Paul tells the Corinthians that he actually rejoiced that they were feeling sorrowful because their sorrow was the very thing that was leading to to their repentance listen to Paul in 2 Corinthians 7:9 he says I now Rejoice not that you were made sorrowful but that you were made sorrowful what to the point of repentance see we’re not meant to run over our consciences with thoughts about justification we’re meant to do the work of repentance which falls into the category of sanctification so you see the root error of the hyper Grace movement is a bleeding of no Works justification into the language of sanctification and that’s why they frequently confuse any effort exerted toward sanctification as an effort to stay saved right I see Believers working hard for sanctification and they shake their heads and say why are you trying so hard to please God when he’s already pleased for you about you in Christ but see that’s totally wrong legitimate work demanded by sanctification has nothing to do with earning justification at all we’ll see see that later on today yet I want you to understand that’s frequently the charge levied by the hyper Grace movement some common labels they’ll put to this are no heart perfectionism phariseeism moralism do goodis Works righteousness earning brownie points with God and the ever dreaded charge legalism now by the way guys can we just let me just step back and can we just agree for a second to stop calling things legalism that aren’t actually legalism legalism means that you are trying to earn your salvation by your works if you are legalistic you are not saved you are damned but somehow that word has been taken and now is casually used to refer to basically anyone who is more serious about sanctification than yourselves we say oh he’s holding such a high standard he’s just not okay with this sin that’s so legalistic but understand somebody isn’t legalistic just because they uphold a higher standard of righteousness than you or I prefer perhaps we ought to consider that maybe the real problem is that we are lenti well there are many other things about the movement that we don’t have time to go into today honestly it’s a hard movement to criticize because much of what they say is actually very good and helpful and there are many that I respect in that movement I don’t mean to be overly critical about it but I do think that at the root of the hyperg grace movement is a misunderstanding of the nature of sanctification so what then is the proper understanding of sanctification how can we properly understand sanctification without veering on one side towards legalism or on the other towards lawlessness we’ll see today that the Apostle Paul has dealt with this very issue through Romans chapter 6 all the way through Romans chapter 8 but we’ll only be able to look at a small portion of the argument today but I think it’ll help illuminate these issues so before we look at Romans 6 we need to get a little bit of context and um let’s go to the text please open your Bibles to Romans chapter 5 and we’ll start there and as we get there let’s uh pause for a word of prayer father as we open your word um pray Lord that you would illuminate it for us help us to remain attentive to it um to be able to get the lessons therein into our hearts and live by them Christ’s name amen so up to this point in the first four chapters of Romans Paul has been making the case for justification by faith right and in chapter five Paul now pauses to hammer home just how unmerited this grace is look at verse one of chapter 5 Paul says this therefore having been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ see Paul told us in earlier chapters that everyone starts out at war with God sinful disobedient to the law so then how do we go from God’s enemies to having peace with him well Paul said in that verse that we are justified by what by faith faith alone that’s it no works right no merit of your own and just in case you still need some help understanding how unmerited disgraces Paul’s purpose in verse 12 and 21 which we looked at a few months ago last time I was here was to drive home for us this unmar andness with an astonishing comparison look at verse 12 it says this therefore just as through one man talking about Adam sin entered into the world and death through sin and so death spread to all men because all sinned now last time we saw that that last phrase at the end of that verse because all sinns it isn’t talking about us sinning individually right it’s saying that death spread to all men because we all sinned in Adam we all sinned with Adam when he sinned God considers us to have participated in Adam’s sin so death then spread to all of us now come to terms with that you and I are are sentenced to death because of something Adam did thousands of years ago does that sound at all unfair to you or undeserved to you sure it does you don’t have any problem whatsoever understanding that you didn’t Merit that sin right and that’s exactly Paul’s point because watch what he does next look that look at Verse 18 so then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men even so through one act of righteousness there resulted what justification of life to all men you see it this is the parallel that Paul makes in exactly the same way that you were condemned in Adam that you you you obviously see as so unmerited you are Justified to life in Christ in that same unmerited way it’s it it’s it’s not because of anything you did that you were condemned in Adam it’s also not because of anything you did that you are justified in Christ isn’t that the perfect way to drive home how devoid of work your justification is that’s how justification works but now then Paul examines the issue of how much grace there is available in Christ how much grace is there available look at verse 20 of chapter 5 verse 20 says this the law came in so that transgression would increase but where sin increased Grace abounded all the more and the point is this there is always enough Grace there’s always enough Grace there’s no end to the grace as Sin increases Grace simply abounds more and more Without End it super abounds to cover it no problem at all and here’s the point you can never outs sin God’s grace can’t do it if you’ve entered by faith your justification is Totally Secure right now everybody who understands this free amazing and inexhaustible Grace will eventually ask the same question right you know what it is and Paul anticipates you’ll ask it so now put your finger down to chapter 6 verse one chapter 6 verse one Paul’s asks this question what shall we say then are we to continue in sin so that Grace may increase he’s asking this why not just sin then right if Grace is that vast and and it’s so inexhaustible then why not just sin to our hearts content and count on Grace to cover it in fact you might think this maybe this works for both of us me and God right I can sin and God can then have the opportunity to show how gracious he is just helping him out right now I want you to when you’re looking at verse one I want you to notice the word continue right if you highlighter just you know highlight that or underline it this speaks to an un an sorry an on on goinging Indulgence of sin a lifestyle of unrepentant sin so I don’t want you to misunderstand the discussion we’re going to have in this chapter is not suggestion sorry is not suggesting that Christians will never sin right Paul understands very well that sanctification is Progressive and will never be finished in this life he explains that in chapter 7 but this is talking about a continual lifestyle of sin all right so what’s the answer to the question shall we live in sin or continue in sin as Believers and look at verse two that’s the answer may it never be no no no no that’s the answer now in the next verses we’re going to see Paul lay out an argument as to why it should never be and the answer is actually dead simple so I’ll tell you the argument up front and then we’ll go and take a look at the details okay so here’s the argument the reason Paul gives that we are not to go on sitting is this if you are a if you are truly a recipient of saving Faith you have you will have been joined with Christ so you will be like him let me say it again if you are truly a recipient of saving Faith you will have been joined with Christ so you will be like him it is impossible for you not to be like him of course how can you have been joined with Christ and remain unaffected that’s like throwing yourself into a fire and not being burned right it’s logically impossible how could you be joined with Christ and that not change you forever it can’t see when you are saved it’s not merely that your standing was changed before God but your entire nature was changed as well you were born again you were created new so you will act like a new creation this concept is is not hard to understand when my kids were a bit smaller and um reading them some bedtime stories one of their favorite books was the very first book of animal sounds some of you might have have that book on your shelves too and in this book on on every page of this book there’s a different animal on one page it’ll be a dog and another page it’ll be a horse and and on the picture of the dog it says the dog says wolf and then on the picture of the cat it says the cat says meow right and since I’m kind of silly and um sometimes I like to be silly with them I I throw in something they’re like the cat says wolf or you know the cow says Ribbit right and um that would just make them laugh they would say don’t be silly daddy who’s ever heard of a cat that says wolf right because the very idea is absurd and see even small children understand that every animal produces sounds according to their kind right that’s the same idea here this is what Jesus said in in Luke 6:43 for there is no good tree which produces bad fruit nor on the other hand a bad tree that produces good fruit for each tree is known by its what own fruit right the new birth is God miraculously Chang ing you from a bad tree to a good tree if you have been changed to a good tree you will bear good fruit if you are a bad tree then you will bear bad fruit that’s all there is to it so those who truly belong to Christ will inevitably produce good fruit it can’t not happen now notice what I didn’t say I didn’t say it takes no effort right there hasn’t yet been a discussion of effort but let let me tell you sometimes that fruit only comes with great effort but the right kind of fruit will be produced according to your nature that’s why it says in verses like 1 John 2:3 it says this by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his Commandments the one who says I have come to know him and does not keep to his does not keep his Commandments is a what a liar and the truth is not in him that’s just simply saying Good Tree good fruit bad tree bad fruit right listen this is the critical step to grasp for understanding sanctification this is the fact that you need to grasp this is the fundamental thing missed by legalists and Hyper Grace Advocates alike the effort in a Christian life is not about working for your justification it’s about working to bear fruit for God according to your kind does that make sense so in the next verses now in chapter six we’ll see six necessary implications of being united with Christ there’s six of them that Paul gives us and then by the end he’ll give us three applications so let’s look at first the six necessary implications of being united with Christ the first is this Christ’s death killed our old life of sin Christ’s death killed our old life of sin look at verse two may it never be how shall we who die to sin still live in it and you might ask Paul wait you mean that all believers have died what do you mean Paul I don’t remember dying when did that happen look in verse three or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been B have been baptized into his death therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death stop right there this is Paul’s Point Christ’s death wasn’t just to remove the penalty of your sin but the person you were in Adam is spiritually killed with Christ when you first believed that guy is dead now I just need to say a few things about this because people like to take this verse to to me mean that baptism is a necessary condition for salvation and I hope you see with me within the context that it can’t possibly mean that right first remember how big a deal Paul made in trying to convince you that justification is by faith alone right and in free in in previous chapters it would make no sense for suddenly for him to come to chapter six and add baptism to that requirement and plus this is literally the only time the concept of baptism even come comes up in the Book of Romans right here in these two verses The Book of Romans is a book which central reason for existence is to tell us about justification if baptism was a requirement we would have expected that to be trumpeted throughout the pages of Romans but only these two verses is where it appears the word faith of course appears everywhere right but not the word baptism so Paul cannot be teaching justification by baptism so then the question becomes why did Paul bring up this whole baptism thing well look let’s understand although it’s not a requirement for salvation it is the very first Act of obedience right for every believer it’s unmistakable in the New Testament that God expects every True Believer to be baptized God expects that see rather than an act of justification baptism is the First Act of sanctification it is the First Act of a believer’s obedience and since Paul can assume that all believers have been baptized he can now take this common experience of baptism to make a point what point well just as he drew remember in chapter five a parallel between Adam and Christ in the last chapter Paul now is drawing a parallel between your baptism and Christ’s death and Resurrection here’s a here’s a here’s an interesting thing to notice remember in Mark 10:38 um James and John you know approach Jesus and asks hey you know can I sit on your right hand and the other one sit on my on your left and you remember what Jesus said he said you do not know what you’re asking are you able to drink the cup that I drink or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized see Jesus used the word baptism to refer to his impending death burial and Resurrection didn’t he he likened that to a baptism and here in Romans 6 Paul says listen your baptism points to and identifies you with Jesus’s baptism of death burial and Resurrection see baptism isn’t just some silly arbitrary ual right it means something in your baptism you made a statement to the whole world I believe Jesus died and he was buried and he was and he rose again and guess what now I have two that’s what you’re saying you declare that very thing in your baptism and Paul’s point is this look guys what I’m telling you is not new theology you affirmed it yourself through your baptism that you have died with Christ that’s what it meant and now Paul’s point is this dying with Christ was not just some mere thing that has no effect on your daily life it wasn’t just a figurative type of thing rather you participated in Christ’s death much in the same way that we participated in Adam’s sin and listen just like sinning with Adam changed you to give you a nature dominated by sin in your daily life so does dying with Christ necessarily change you to give you a nature dominated by righteousness in your daily life that’s the point so Christ’s death killed our old life of sin but you know having killed your old life God does not leave you alone to live your new life in your own power look down in verse four he picks up he says so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the what glory of the father so we too might walk in newness of life so we come now to the second implication of being united with Christ which is this the glory of the father empowers you to New Life the glory of the father empowers you to New Life understand the text Paul is saying that just as the full power and glory of God raised Christ from the dead just like that the full power and glory of the father now enables you to walk in a new life characterized by righteousness this idea is repeated right in Ephesians 1:19 when Paul prays for the Ephesian Church to remember the what the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe what power is he reminding of these are in accordance with the working of the strength of his might which he brought about in Christ when he raised him from the dead that’s in Ephesians it’s the same idea if the same Unstoppable power that raised Christ from the dead is also the one that is enabling you to walk in newness of life then how could you possibly remain unchanged as Believers it’s impossible but there’s a third implication of being un with Christ look down in verse five for if we have been United with him in the likeness of his death certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection see the third implication of our Union with Christ is that we enjoy the effects of our Resurrection in this life we enjoy the effects of our Resurrection in this life you say how can that be I don’t I’ve never been resurrected I don’t feel like that see what Paul is pointing out is that you cannot have only been United with Christ in his death and not have been United with him in his resurrection it’s both not one or the other now that word likeness you know why is that there Paul is pointing out that there’s one sense of course in which our death and Resurrection was not exactly the same as Christ’s and that’s obvious what that is right we unlike Christ haven’t physically died yet and we haven’t been physically resurrected yet that’s in the future but listen in a spiritual sense we have died and we have already been resurrected so if that’s true then in some way we ought to be exhibiting signs of that spiritual Resurrection now even if it’s not yet in full the way we’ll experience it when we get our glorified bodies you see that’s the point if you have been spiritually resurrected you ought to show that now there’s a fourth implication of being united with Christ and that is this your interactions with the world will no longer be characterized by sin they’ll no longer be characterized by sin look at verse six knowing this that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so you see in this verse the old self and the body of sin those two terms refer to the same thing they both describe the whole person you used to be in Adam before you came to Christ full of sin and ungodliness that that guy has been crucified he’s dead but the thing about that guy was that he was characterized by a body of sin now here Paul is not talking about the physical body which obviously has not been done away with yet here Paul is using the term body of sin to describe how you interacted with the world your instrument of contact with the world that was all of sin you indulged the flesh you indulged the eyes you greedily pursued selfish Ambitions and carnal desires and if you want a picture of what that looks like just flip back a few chapters to Roman 1 Romans 1 verse 29 which I’ll read to you it says this is Paul’s description filled with all unrighteousness wickedness greed evil full of Envy murder Strife deceit malice they are gossips slanderers haters haters of God insolent arrogant boastful inventors of evil disobedient to Parents Without understanding untrustworthy unloving unmerciful and although they knew the ordinance of God that those who practice such things are worthy of death they not only do the same but get Hardy approval to those who practice them see that’s what a body of sin looks like that’s what it looks like but guess what that guy is dead he’s dead what’s the result of that look back in verse six of chapter six here’s the result so that we would no longer be slaves to sin for he who has died is what freed from sin that brings us to the fifth necessary implication of your union with Christ and that is this we will exhibit freedom from sins slavery freedom from sin slavery guys look up for a second and just want to just want you to understand this we are no longer slaves to sin do you get that when we were still under Adam we were slaves to sin you may not have felt as a slave but you were you were incapable of anything but sin continually but now we have been set free from sin slavery you know what that means you don’t have to sin anymore you don’t have to sin you are free from the bondage did you know that sin is bondage slavery sin is a cruel Master when you were in bondage to sin you were like a junkie addicted to crack right you were miserable but you were willing to do anything for your next fix knowing all along that’ll never make you happy but when you were joined with Christ you were set free from that bondage how how awesome is that is that a cause for celebration yes or no yes and notice there’s no hint here that there are any special Exceptions there are no special sins that are so entrenched or so powerful or so complicated that they are exempt from this it doesn’t say you are free from sin except in these really hard complicated cases right it just says this you are freed from slavery to sin sin is not your master when you sin Believers you are no longer a victim you can’t say that somebody else made you do it when you sin as a Believer you choose of your own will to take up the Yoke of slavery again that’s what you do the only Power that sin has over you now is that power which you willingly give it so next time you’re faced with temptation remember Christ died so that you don’t have to go down that path anymore you don’t have to even if you feel like you do listen believe this passage of scripture by faith and you are free right well there’s one last implication of being united with Christ and that’s simply that you will act like Christ you will act like Christ if you are truly United with Christ you will act like him look at verse eight now if we have died with Christ we believe that we shall also live with him that’s Paul says now the implication is this if you really believe that you’re going to live in Union with Christ for all eternity like if that’s a desirable thing to you wouldn’t it make sense for such a person to be living now in a way that’s consistent with that belief what would that look like look at verse n knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again death no longer is Master 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 see Paul is stressing in these verses the finality of Christ’s death it was a one-time death that crushed the power of sin and death never to go back to it he took on all of our sin and then he died to it once for all once for all believers once for all time final and done done with death he’s left that completely behind and what is he going to do now with his resurrected life he’s going to live it for God right to the glory of God in its fullest so then what do you take away from that this is what you take away if you call yourselves Christians then you too will live this way we will view our own death to sin with ultimate finality and then live with every breath to the glory of God right in fact that’s exactly what Paul urges us to do next look at verse 11 so you also must consider yourself what dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus in Christ Jesus because you’ve been joined to Christ Jesus right there it is all right so at this point in our passage Paul is now going to shift from theology to application he’s going to tell us what are we going to do in response to the fact that we are united with Christ how do we put this in practice so quickly here are three commands that Paul gives us in order for our to to be our response to our Union with Christ ready here it goes the first is what we just read consider yourself dead to sin and alive to to God now this is a command to believe all of what we just said about being united with Christ the fact that our old self was killed with Christ that the father’s Glory empowers us to walk in newness of life that our spiritual Resurrection will yield visible effects that our interactions with the world will no longer be characterized by sin that we have been freed from sin slavery and that we will act in Christ likeness see this is a charge and urging for you to believe believe that listen even when it doesn’t feel like that’s true this is a call to Faith believe by faith what God has said about being freed from sin and now being able to live a life for him believe that by faith don’t believe the lies of the devil the lies that say you’re no different than you were before the lies that say you can never change the lies that say doesn’t make a difference anyways those are lies what is the truth God says that I am joined with Christ dead to sin and alive to God that’s what God says now if you believe that by faith you are now to go and act like it right act like that is true prove God to be true in your actions how do you do that in practice here’s the second command verse 12 therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts this is the second command don’t let sin rain don’t let sin rain remember God has already freed you from it but you can still choose to let sin reain in your hearts temporarily as a Believer and this is this text is saying don’t do everything in your power to get away from that reign of sin in your body on this side of Eternity whatever you do don’t give in to it sinful lusts in in later in Romans in Romans Chapter 13 Verse 14 Paul further says this make no provision for the Flesh in regard to its what to to its lusts don’t give it an inch don’t give any opportunity for it to lead you back into slavery take practical steps to remove that opportunity to Sin from your life if this sounds like a call to self-denial that’s exactly what it is it’s a call to take radical steps to deal with your sin don’t take that roote home past the bar throw away that computer if you have to throw away your smartphone if you have to whatever you do throw off your sin act like the free man that you are which is your Birthright in Christ that is your right in Christ and finally the third command which is found in verse 13 it says this and do not not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God see the third command in response to our Union with Christ is that we are to present the members of our body in service to God the word instruments in this verse actually could be translated weapons I think that’s a better sense of the reading you see there’s a war going on around you did you know that there’s a spiritual war that rages around you Christ kingdom is invading the kingdom of darkness and it is taking it by force that’s what’s going on around you and the kingdom of of darkness is desperately trying to hold its ground but it can’t it’s losing and you and I as Christians are called to be soldiers in that war when you were in your old State you used all of your weapons that is all of the members of your body to serve the side of unrighteousness with eagerness and with abandon didn’t you but now Paul says in your transformed life do the very opposite use that very same effort and eagerness you formerly used to pursue unrighteousness take that and use it to pursue righteousness what does that look like in practice it’s not complicated you can find a whole list in Romans 12 of what that is I won’t read it to you but it includes things like devoting yourself to prayer Faithfully serving God’s church with your spiritual gifts contributing to the needs of the Saints practicing Hospitality that’s what it looks like practically guys none of this is hard to understand isn’t it but we all know this is really hard to do to continually present your members as instruments of righteousness requires listen continual and enormous sustained spiritual effort and you will have to do it in the face of opposition both from the external World both from both from the powers of darkness and also from your internal remaining corruption I mean let’s face it sometimes we simply don’t feel like doing things like presenting our body to righteousness do we we don’t feel like that not all the time and the truth is this stuff is hard even for Paul and and he says that in Romans 7:19 which he says this for the good I want I do not do but I practice the very evil that I do not want you see that says frustration elsewhere Paul says that he has to beat his body into submission in order to win that battle that’s in 1 Corinthians 9:27 but see that is what sanctification looks like it’s a war if you want to live the way God commands you to you are going to make yourself do do hard things that you don’t want to do and you’re going to deny yourself things that you want to do that’s what sanctification looks like it’s not glorious people aren’t going to be writing books about that but that is what it looks like so how are you doing at considering Yourself Dead to sin and alive to God not letting sin reign in your body and presenting your bodies as instruments of righteousness how are you doing at that and again this spiritual sweat I just have to say again is not an effort to work for justification it’s not what it is it’s simply following the command to bear fruit to God according to our kind and as hard as a struggle is it’s not in vain there is hope in the last verse of our passage this morning in verse 14 look at that verse verse 14 says this for sin shall not be Master over you for you are not under law but under grace you see this is God’s promise he switched from commands to promise here see God knows that the Christian life is not easy but the promise is that EV that that children of God are listen guaranteed Victory sin will not be the master over you God is promising you will win this battle you are no longer under the law obeying as if your justification depended on it you are now obeying out of Grace with a transformed nature and a new heart your sanctification will take spiritual sweat but listen the world you feel in you live in Now You trans got transferred into is a world filled with grace upon Grace Grace unmeasured more than enough Grace to enable you to do what you need to do and to cover your sins when you fall short well by now I I hope Paul’s main point is clear the fundamental cause for sanctification is none other than a transformed nature that’s the cause of sanctification and every kindergarten knows that you bear fruit according to your kind right that’s every every every little kid knows that so then it makes no sense for a Believer to continue in sin in fact living in sin post conversion is not just a bad idea for a Believer it is impossible for a Believer so if there is no difference between the quality of life between you then look you have to consider you may be deceived about your salvation maybe you haven’t fully been transformed at all but for those who are in Christ God does command us to work hard towards our sanctification by first Believing by faith that we are dead to sin and then taking practical steps to deny sin and put on righteousness not to attain some Merit before God but to eagerly bear fruit for God according to our new Natures indeed if we have been transformed we cannot help but do so and we will succeed that is God’s promise so let me ask you for one final time how aggressive have you been about sanctification how well does your life fit with that of a picture of a transformed believer I think we’ll just close this morning by by reading Philippians 3:12 which is what Paul says um that I think sums up the Christian experience well Philippians 3:12 reads like this not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect but I press on so that I may lay hold of that which was which also I laid hold of by Christ Jesus Brethren I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet but one thing I do forgetting what lies behind and Reaching Forward to what lies ahead I press on towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus Reverend let’s press on towards that goal together let’s pray father thank you for your scripture and for being so clear about this topic of sanctification and how we are transformed to become New Creations Lord help us to by faith believe this and to understand that we are dead to sin and our new Natures are such that bear fruit for righteousness and then help us be eager to do that as a body eager to use our gifts to serve you eager to practice Hospitality eager to minister to the needs of the Saints thank you Lord for what you’ve done for us in Christ and our justification is secure Praise In Christ name amen