Well if you have your Bibles could you please take them out and turn to the book of Romans. This morning we'll be looking at Romans chapter 6 verse 1 to 4. Romans chapter 6 verse 1 to 4 and I've entitled the sermon The Justification of Sin. Now this morning I do hope that as we consider this passage that the spirit of God would be amongst us and that he would convict us where we need to be convicted. That as we look at the issue of sin and the justification of sin, may the spirit of God reveal in us areas where we have been covering up sin and refusing to deal with it. So Romans chapter 6 verse 1 to 4, let us hear God's word. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who die to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death. that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. This is God's word. Let's once again come before the Lord in prayer. Our God and our Father, as we come now to a time of hearing from your word, we do ask that you would speak to us, that, Lord, your voice would be heard and that we would respond to the word of our God. Lord, may you send the Holy Spirit amongst us. May he convict your people. May he convict the lost. May he cause us to look to Jesus and grow us in holiness. Lord, please be with me as I preach. May I be faithful to declare your word and may Christ be on it. We pray these things for Jesus' sake. Amen. Well, in 2004, I was a second year Bible college student. Even though I'm a Baptist now, it wasn't a Baptist college I was attending then. I was actually a student at a Pentecostal college in my home city of Brisbane. Now as a second year student, we had different classes we had to take as we prepared for the ministry. And in this year I had to take a class on pastoral care. Now this class was one of those ones we all looked forward to because it meant no work in the classroom. It was a practical. We got to shadow pastors as they went about their rounds. Now I was assigned to a pastor from a megachurch and I was told that I had to follow him and do whatever he told me. Well one Thursday in 2004 I received a phone call from that pastor saying we have a pastoral care situation that we need to deal with. And he said, I will come by the college, I will pick you up, I will pick up another student and we will go and see a couple who are having marital issues. Now upon arrival at the house, the pastor told me that it's my job to lead the counselling. That terrified me. So I was dropped into the centre of a marital situation. Now I was 18 at the time. I had no idea about marriage. I've been married nearly 12 years and I still have no idea about marriage. But here I am as an 18 year old and I have to deal with this issue. So I sit down with the couple, I sit with the husband and wife and the other student goes off and keeps the children busy. Now the couple was very keen to talk and the husband started off the conversation by saying they had requested a pastoral visitation because he was guilty of adultery. Well he didn't say the word guilty, he said he had committed adultery. Now instantly I knew I was out of my depth. This is something I did not know how to handle. And the shock must have shown on my face because before I could say anything else, the wife chimed in. And I know she was trying to be helpful. She said, oh no, no, adultery is not the issue. I've had an affair as well because we both have needs. The issue we want you to deal with is the fact that we now have a lack of communication between us. In fact, they went on to say that the reason they had no issues with adultery was because they said, we're under grace. There's no issue here. You see, what this couple was actually doing was justifying their sin. They had committed sin, but then they found a loophole, if you will. They found grace and said, well, it doesn't matter what I do. It doesn't matter what I have done. It doesn't matter if I've rebelled against God's law. I'm under grace. and I can sin all I want. Now as an 18 year old I was quite blunt in my dealing with them and I said we have a bigger issue than the issue of communication. The issue here is that you have not repented of your sin. You have no conviction of sin and therefore you're not a Christian. Well at that point the pastor stepped in and told me to walk back to the college as my training was over. But that situation that I described, I wish I could say it was one of those rare occasions that occur, but sadly, that description of different events that occur is not uncommon in the church life. Now, it may be shocking to us to hear about someone justifying adultery, and indeed it should shock us, but that mindset of saying, I can do whatever I want because I am under grace, is very common in the life of the church. There are many professing Christians today who have no issue with sin. They have no conviction of sin. They don't care that their rebellion is against God. And instead of being convicted and repentant of their evil, they look to justify their actions. They try to find God's approval for the evil that they do. And what they end up doing is abusing grace. They abuse grace. Now this abuse of grace isn't new, which is why the Apostle Paul here in Romans chapter 6 deals with the topic. He deals with those in the Church of Rome who were using grace to justify their actions. Now it must be kept in mind that what the Apostle Paul is saying here at the start of Romans chapter 6 flows on from the argument he made at the end of Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 concluded with the Apostle Paul saying that all of humanity is identified with one of two people, you're either in Adam or you're in Christ. Now naturally all of us are in Adam, that is we are all naturally sinners, we are all naturally cut off from God, we are spiritually dead. But then Paul says there's good news and the good news is that you can be in Christ. Christ has come to rescue the sons of Adam. Christ has come to redeem those who were in Adam. And Paul says if you identify with Christ, if you have faith in Christ, then you are forgiven, you are made brand new, you are declared perfectly righteous. All those who repent and believe are declared righteous in the sight of God. They are declared brand new, not because of work they have done, but because of Jesus and his work. That's what Paul finished Romans 5 by saying, which is wonderful news. But Paul knows what sinful nature is like. He knows that people will hear that. He knows that they will hear the declaration that you are now righteous through the grace of God and the people would turn around and say, well in that case, I can do whatever I want. In that case, since I am righteous, since I am under the grace of God, I can now live in sin. I can do whatever I please. People abused Grace. Now, this has already happened in Romans. If you go back to Romans chapter 3, you see the apostle Paul actually spoke to the Jewish leaders. The Jewish leaders at that time were saying that if they sin, then God would discipline them and people would see how good God is. Therefore, they should commit sin so that God looks good. But as we come to Romans 6, Paul isn't addressing unbelieving Israel anymore. He's not addressing the unbelieving Jew. Rather, what he is doing is now speaking to those who say they follow the Lord Jesus. He is speaking to professing believers and he says that same mindset of justifying sin has come into the church. And there are people who are sinning for the sake of grace. And we see that in verse one and two, sinning for the sake of grace. Now the Apostle Paul begins this chapter by putting a question to his readers. He says, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? It's a very pointed question. It's one of those very strong questions that causes us to pause and to consider what we are doing. Paul says to his readers, what shall we say then? In the light of the fact that Christ has made you righteous through the grace of God, in the light of the fact that God has been very kind in saving sinners, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Now the anticipation of that question should be for us to say, of course not. Of course we shouldn't continue in sin that grace may abound. That is why in verse 2, the Apostle Paul says, certainly not. But unfortunately, there were Christians then, and there are professing Christians today, who would say, why not? Why not continue in sin? Why not continue in sin that grace may abound? There are people, and I've met them, I'm sure you've probably met people like this as well, who would say, I am saved by grace, not by works, therefore I can do whatever I please. Grace will cover me. It was the Russian monk, Rasputin, who had this mindset and popularised it. At one point in our history, he said, the person who sins is a person who receives more grace. So sin with gusto. That's what the Russian monk Rasputin said, sin with gusto. And today we have that same doctrine, maybe not as explicitly stated in the life of the church. There is a whole doctrine, a false teaching called carnal Christianity. This doctrine of carnal Christianity says you can be saved, you can be on your way to heaven, But you can live like the devil here on earth. Now you shouldn't, but hey, you can, it's okay. God's going to let you in. Anyway, grace will cover your sins. And I have seen this displayed and whenever the doctrine of carnal Christianity comes into the life of the church, you can bet all the money you have that eventually that church will go fully corrupt. I know of one man in New Zealand. a man who once claimed to be an evangelist, a man who was travelling around churches, preaching the gospel, and people appeared to be getting saved under his ministry. And one day I was talking to him and he said, Josh, I've come to realise that I can do whatever I please since I am under grace. Now I warned him and said, that's not smart, that's not right. Other ministers came along and they warned him. But before too long that man was living like the devil. He was engaging in all manner of sin. He's the type of person that Paul warns against here in Romans chapter 6. I think also of a open air meeting we conducted in Brisbane on a Saturday night. And I got talking to a young man who told me that he is a youth pastor from a large Pentecostal church. Now the problem was he was drunk. And he said, the reason I'm out in town tonight on a Saturday evening is because I'm going to pick up women. But it's OK, he said, because tomorrow I'm going to be in church worshipping. I'm under grace. You see, these men and those who hold to carnal Christianity know what God's word says about sin. But ultimately, it comes down to the fact they love their sin more than they love God. So instead of repenting of their evil, they find ways to justify it. They look at grace and they abuse it. They look at the gospel and they abuse it. Well, God's forgiven me of all my sin. I can now do whatever I want because God is all forgiving. It's an abuse of grace. It's a misunderstanding of the gospel. It is a spitting upon the holiness of God. Now let me just stress at this moment, let me be very clear here. The gospel is indeed something you cannot earn. Don't hear me saying this morning that I have to live a certain way to be forgiven. No. The gospel is something that is freely given. The forgiveness of sins, the rescue from our Ruin in sin is something we cannot earn. The gospel is all about God's grace. We're saved by faith alone, in Christ alone, and it's all by grace alone. It's all by God's work, not us. The only thing we can bring to our salvation is the sins that we commit. You see, when God saves a sinner, When God rescues a person from their sin, when he brings them to the foot of Calvary to see that Christ has died for sinners and he's risen again, when God grants repentance and faith, what God does is he changes that person. He takes away their sinful nature and he declares them righteous. And then, because of that transformation, a sign that you have been saved says your life is now going to be radically different. your conduct will be different. If someone is saved, if their nature has been changed, if they have truly experienced the grace of God, if they are really righteous in Jesus, then that person would not be acting like the one described here in Romans chapter 6. If your sinful nature has been dealt with, if you have seen the depth of your sin and then seen the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ in rescuing sinners and what it cost Him to save sinners, you would never dare think of making the arguments here of Romans 6. You wouldn't dare think, well now I can do whatever I please, I don't care that it costs the Son of God His life. I'm under grace, that means I have a license to sin. You see, if a person can make that argument, if a church attendee can make that argument, if a professing Christian can say, I can live in sin all I want because of the grace of God, then I would contend that that person is not truly saved, that they have not experienced the grace of God. Now, of course, there can be times when Christians in moments of weakness or in moments of rebellion do commit sin. True Christians do commit sin. But we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who makes a defence for us. But here's the difference. The true Christian who sins, the true believer who rebels against God and perhaps even tries to justify their sin, will never escape the conviction of the Spirit. The Spirit of God is going to work upon them. The Holy Spirit is not going to let us run wild. He's going to convict us of sin, of righteousness and of judgment. That is how the true Christian responds to sin. I mean, think about the times that you have sinned as a believer. We sin. But how long is it before the Spirit starts to stir our conscience? And we go, Oh, Lord, I have sinned against you. But those in Romans 6 don't have that conviction. Those who justify sin, that Paul is speaking of here, don't have that conviction. Rather, they live in sin. They delight in sin. They celebrate sin. And the argument being put forward is that they're not true Christians. They're false converts. A true Christian has been transformed and because they are transformed, they should long to honour God, not live in sin. The sinner who comes to Jesus by faith is completely transformed. 2 Corinthians 5.17, a verse that many of us know, says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things have become new. If you're in Jesus, You are different. And if you're different, one of the areas in which you don't live in anymore is the justification of sin. A true believer keeps the law of God, the moral law of God, the Ten Commandments, not out of fear, not out of duty, not out of compulsion, but out of love. Jesus has saved me, so therefore I'm going to keep his commandments because I love him. The unbeliever, the false convert says, well, Jesus has saved me. I can now break all those commandments because I'm under grace. There's something radically wrong when we can say, I love Jesus, I've been forgiven by Christ, yet still live in sin. Think of it this way, imagine there's someone you love, Someone you dearly love, and you do something that really annoys that person. So the person you love comes to you and says, please do not do that. It offends me. It hurts me. Stop it. Now you might say to that person, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me. I did wrong. And that person says, of course I do. I love you, I forgive you. But then you immediately turn around and do that very thing that you just apologised for. Now, if you did that, we're going to have to say you weren't truly sorry. There was no sorrow there. You haven't turned from that wickedness. And likewise, when we come to God as believers saying, Lord, I have sinned, please forgive me, I repent of my sin, but then immediately go out and continue to live in that sin and to justify that sin, then that is a sign that we are not truly sorry. It is a sign that there's been no work of grace upon our hearts. There's been no grace that produces godly sorrow that leads to repentance. Now again, let me stress, there are times when true Christians will sin. I'm not arguing for Christian perfectionism. Christians commit sin. But there's a difference in how we respond to that sin. Christians feel sorrow. They feel conviction. They confess their sin to the Lord, they humbly go to him. Those in Romans chapter 6 aren't like that. They sin without a care. They justify their sin. They have no conviction and they do not repent. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not. How shall we who die to sin live any longer in it. There's almost a sense of shock here from the Apostle Paul. How could someone say they love Jesus, they've experienced the grace of Christ, yet then go on to live like the devil? I mean, it goes against all reason. It goes against the new nature that Christ has given us. It goes against the Gospel. Paul says, how shall we who died live any longer in it. Here is why it should be so shocking to us. Notice what Paul says. Paul says you are dead to sin. You are dead to sin. Now dead people can't do anything. Paul says you are dead to your sin. Therefore you shouldn't be pursuing sin. You never see a dead body jump up and do anything. And Paul says that is how you are spiritually. You are dead to your sin. Now I know as Christians we like to major on Jesus giving us life and indeed he does. Romans chapter 6 will go on to address that. But we must also realize that as Christians we are dead. We've been given death. Death to the old ways. Death to the natural man who was at war with God. We should be dead to our sinful nature. When we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, he slays the wicked man in us. He slays our sin. We die to sin and then we are made alive in Christ. So the question Paul poses is, if you are dead, how can you be living in sin? If you are truly dead to sin as a Christian should be, How can you continue in it? And to further build his argument in verse three to four, the Apostle Paul majors on this issue of death and life. I mean, to illustrate the whole argument of death and life, Paul actually uses this subject of baptism. He looks at baptism and he points to baptism and he tells his readers to consider the message that was conveyed when someone is baptized. Now in Paul's context, all the Christians in Rome who would have received this letter would have been able to remember their baptism. They had all been baptised. Today there is an idea in the church that baptism is almost like an optional extra. You know, you get saved and then down the track you might choose to get baptised but that thought is foreign to the New Testament. In the New Testament what we see is this. Someone repents, they believe, they're saved and immediately they are baptised. So when Paul mentions baptism here, he's reminding the church of that which was a very recent reality for them. He's reminding them of their baptism and says, remember what your baptism symbolised. Now for us at New Quay Baptist Church, the scene of baptism should be familiar to us because just a couple of weeks ago we opened up the floor here and we had a baptism. In fact, in the baptism, when I stood in that freezing cold water, I read from Romans chapter 6, I read this passage. And we spoke about what baptism symbolises. See, Paul says baptism is a symbol of death and life. It is a symbol that shows a spiritual reality. Baptism doesn't say, it merely provides a visible picture of the gospel. You see, when someone is converted to Christ, when they repent and when they believe in Jesus, that person spiritually is immersed into Christ. They become His. Baptism shows the visible representation of that. Baptism shows us what Christ did. And baptism speaks of our identification with Him. Jesus died for sinners. He took the punishment. He took the punishment of sin. He was buried. And then he rose again. That's what baptism communicates. I mean, think about it. When someone is baptized, it is a believer coming to Jesus saying, look, I have had faith in Christ. I have died to myself spiritually. I've died to my sin. Jesus has taken my sin. So I am now in him. And in baptism, we are publicly showing and declaring our allegiance to Christ. Christ dies and in Jesus we die to our sin as well. Christ was then buried. That is why in baptism we get buried. We go under the water. Because what we're doing is putting forward a visible sign that we are buried with Christ. That our old nature is in the grave. That the sinful nature that Christ has killed is being buried deep down. but Christ also rose again. That's why we don't leave people in the water. We bring them out and we say you now have new life. It's a sign of Christ rising again and in Christ you too are risen with Jesus. Baptism is a picture of life and death. It is a picture of someone going into the grave and coming out again. That is why we don't sprinkle water or pour water on someone because It doesn't fit the picture of burial. That's why we immerse. It's one of burial. It's a picture of what Christ has done. It is a visible reminder and display that we have died to our old sinful nature. And now because we are Jesus's, we belong to him. And we have newness of life. Now let's link that with the subject of sin that the Apostle Paul has been talking about. Paul says through faith in Jesus we are declared righteous. That is through faith in Christ we are dead to our old sinful nature. If we are truly in Him, then you are no longer bound by sin. You are forgiven. You are given a new nature. You hate the sin you once committed. You do not justify it. Through faith we are united to Jesus and that baptism is a visible sign to us that we should no longer be living in sin. Because just like the Saviour died for my sin, So I am buried with him, and my sin nature is dead. And just like my Savior rose again, so in him I rise again to newness of life, to righteousness, to holiness, to have what Christ has. You see, the person who has faith in Jesus is declared perfectly righteous. Baptism paints that picture and says you are in Jesus. He died and in Him you died. He was buried and in Him you were buried. He rose again and in Him you are risen again. Your old sinful nature is gone. You are now righteous. You have what Christ has. You are perfectly right in the sight of God. Now think about that for a moment. If we are like God in that sense, not that we are God, but we have his righteousness, does God live in sin? No. Is Christ running around living in sin? No. I mean, to even think that way is blasphemy. But Jesus says we have what is his, we have his righteousness. So, if we have the righteousness of Christ, then why do we think we are able to sin all we want? I mean, to even suggest that a person who has come to Christ by faith, who has died to sin and risen to new life, could live in sin all they want, is to go against the scripture. In the book of 1 John, we are told that those who make a practice of sinning, those who live a lifestyle of sinning, John is very blunt and direct, he says, you are of the devil. In Matthew chapter 7 verse 21 to 23, we see a terrifying picture of the great day of judgment. And we see religious people, people who profess to know the Lord Jesus coming and standing before his judgment seat. And those religious people say, Lord, we did all these wonderful religious works in your name. And he will say to them, depart from me, you workers of lawlessness. Literally, you who live and acted as if I didn't give a law. And he sends them to hell. Those of Matthew chapter 7 are the ones Paul is warning against in Romans chapter 6. Those who say, well, I'm saved by grace and I'm going to break the law of God. All I want, I don't care. The idea that since we are under grace we can live in sin and live like the devil is a demonic lie. Do not believe it for a moment. It is a lie that fails to understand the holiness of God. It fails to understand God's hatred for sin. it fails to understand the righteousness of Christ and it fails to understand repentance and faith moreover to say I am saved by grace therefore I can do whatever I want is blasphemy on the highest order because what you are saying is this God is okay with my sin you're saying God is okay with my evil deeds. God is not okay with your sin. Do not deceive yourself into thinking that God just has a laugh at your sin. He doesn't joke about your sin. It is a serious thing. Sin is a deadly poison and it's not something we should take lightly. If you say, I can live like the devil because of grace and it shows me that you haven't understood the depth of your own depravity nor the holiness of God. It declares that you do not understand just how deadly that poison is. Well you say, how big a deal could sin really be? It's just a little sin, what's the big deal? Or think back to the first man, think back to Adam. How many sins did it take to plunge the world into chaos? One. Death came into the world, the whole world was corrupted through one sin. I think it's pretty serious. How serious is sin? Well, there's nothing you can do to remove it. You can't remove your filthiness of sin. How serious is sin? The only way it can be removed is by God, the Son, the perfect Lamb of God, the spotless One, to die in our place. How serious is sin? It took Jesus Christ to die on the cross for sinners, for us to be rescued. That is how serious sin is. How serious is sin? Well, every sin is primarily vertical. Every sin is against God. And every time we sin, we are slapping the Almighty in the face, saying, I will do things my way. How serious is it? Well, God says, you slap me, you sin against me, you will face an eternal consequence. Hell forever. How serious is sin? Well, Psalm 711 tells us that God is angry with the wicked every day. Psalm 55 declares to us that sin is so serious that God hates all workers of iniquity. God's perfect, holy hatred burns against those who live in sin. Now, I know that statement of God's hatred can shock people because we have this quote by Gandhi in our head. Well, God loves the sinner but hates the sin. That's Gandhi, not Jesus. Psalm 55 says God actually has a holy hatred, not just against sin, but sinners. That is how serious our sin is. God's holy hatred, his holy wrath, burns against our sin. It burns against us. And if you can say, I can live in sin, and it's alright, God is just going to forgive me, I'm under grace, I can do whatever I please, then know this. God's wrath is against you. And I don't say this because I like preaching damnation sermons. No, I hate it. But it's true. And you must be warned because we can so easily justify our sin. Our sin is wicked. The sin you delight in is an offence to a holy God. You are slapping the Almighty in the face and then you justify it. My friends, hear me very carefully tremble and fear over the fact that God's holy wrath is rightly upon you. that if you were to die at this very moment as one who justifies your sin, you will face the experience, face the intensity and the eternality and experience the wrath of God for all eternity. This is a serious matter. This is a very serious matter. If you say, I am a Christian and I can live in sin, I can do whatever I please, Then you need to tremble. You need to fear. Because the fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Fear God. And that holy fear of God should cause you to turn from your sin. To no longer justify it. To depart from wickedness. God knows your heart. He knows if you are justifying your sin and living in sin. I don't know it. People are very good at fooling other people. God knows the heart. God knows if you live in sin. And if you're justifying your sin and you can live in sin with no conviction, let me be blunt with you. You are not saved. You are not a Christian. But as you fear, as you tremble, know this, that grace that you have been abusing, that grace that you have misused time and time again, that grace is still there. And that you have a wrath bearer, Jesus Christ the righteous. That grace that you used to justify your sin, know that grace was shown to forgive sins and to change us. As you remember your sin this morning, remember Jesus Christ and flee to him. He is your only hope. He is your only rescue. He is the only one who took the judgment that should rightly fall upon you. He died in the place of sinners and he rose again. And now God, in the midst of judgment, says, I will provide rescue if you would flee to Jesus. Flee to him in repentance and faith. Don't justify your sin. Run to him. Hold fast to Christ and say, Lord, you must say, and you alone. This morning, I want us to pause and consider our walk with God. Peter tells us that we need to make our calling and election sure. The Apostle Paul says examine ourselves to see that we are truly in the faith. So this morning, think about your life. Do you use the grace of God to justify your sin. Do you live in sin with no conviction? Do you live a lifestyle of sin and then justify your actions? Do you do that? Could Paul be speaking about you in Romans 6? If he is, then you're not saved. Do not deceive yourself into thinking you are. Do not deceive yourself into thinking you can live like the devil and be a Christian. Such actions are foreign to the Scripture. Again, I'm not speaking to Christians who slip up and fall into sin. We all do that. But again, when a true Christian sins, they have a conviction from the Spirit. And the mere fact that you have that conviction of sin as a Christian is a very good sign that you aren't using grace to justify your sin. No, Romans 6 speaks to those who say, hey, I'm a Christian. I can do what I please. It speaks to the hypocrite. So examine yourself this morning. Examine your life. If you discover this morning that you are using the grace of God to justify your sin, or that you don't have conviction of sin when you rebel against God, then today, turn to Jesus. Trust in Him. Cry out to Him right now wherever you are and ask for His mercy and He will give it to you. Cry out to grace for grace and God will save the person who cries to Him. Come to Christ this morning if you can live in sin and then try and justify your actions. What I want to do now is something we don't normally do. I want us to pause for just a couple of minutes and I want us to sit in quiet reflection as individuals before the Lord knowing that he searches the hearts and I want us all to ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to us if we are saved or not or if we are justifying our sin. May the Spirit this morning reveal to us our sin and may he call us to come and do business with God. This morning I encourage you to sit just silently for a couple of minutes asking the Lord to to search you, to know you, to reveal any wicked ways in you. And if you find that the Spirit does point out you're not truly God's, then today cry out to him for mercy. Confess your sins to the Lord and pursue the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will save. Let us quietly reflect for a couple of moments, then I'll close in prayer.