I've heard this, maybe a weird place to start, but I hope it makes sense eventually. I've heard this a lot lately, that so-and-so manifested something. Now, the manifesting seems to be, you know, I looked it up one day, and I looked it up again for this, and it's some kind of vague notion that if I focus my thoughts really hard on something, that will come to be, right? So at its heart, it's the idea of believing it into existence kind of a thing, right? And there's guides online to how you can manifest anything. I would not advise that you read them unless you want comedic relief, but there's guides all over on how to manifest anything that you want, supposedly. At its heart, obviously, I hope it's obvious, That's a non-Christian way of thinking. We don't create anything by what we believe. But as with many false types of beliefs, there's a kernel of truth in it. What we think about things does matter. How we think about things does matter. It has an impact on us. It has an impact on how we impact others around us, how we present ourselves, how we interact with people. So though I don't want us to think that way, and I want us to see how silly that really is in the context of a God who directs all things to their appointed ends, I do want us to understand from that silly example that it is important how we think about things. And I think this passage, at the heart of it, is an idea that Paul wants us to understand something about our identity in Christ. He's answering particular questions with this understanding that he's sharing with us, but we need to understand something about the death and resurrection of Christ so we understand what they have purchased for us, so they understand what they mean to us as those who are in Christ. Where I'm coming from and where I'm going with this has to do with question 43 of the Heidelberg Catechism. So if you have the outline from today, Pastor Doug covered a number of these things on Good Friday and then covered Lord's Day 17 last week. I'm kind of picking up question 43 in Lord's Day 16. And we're gonna primarily do that out of this Romans 6 passage before us. So just to orient us a little more, what does question 43 say? What further benefit do we receive from the sacrifice and death of Christ on the cross? Answer, that by virtue thereof, our old man is crucified, dead and buried with him, that so the corrupt inclinations of the flesh may no more reign in us, but that we may offer ourselves unto him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Well, I think this passage has something to tell us about our identity, and thinking rightly about it helps us to understand that question and answer that's before us in the Heidelberg Catechism. Now to orient us, since we're jumping into the middle of Romans a little bit, just as way of reminder, prior to this, Paul has talked in depth about the law, has talked in depth about our corruption, our sinful corruption, and then led into discussing justification by faith alone through the free grace that we receive from God. And it's really an answer to chapter 5, verse 20, if you look back on that real quick, that this question comes about in the beginning of chapter 6. So Romans 5, 20, the law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So this super grace of 520 is what leads to the discussion that Paul wants to have at this point. And as a side note, it is interesting to think about the history of theology, the history of the church. Whenever grace is preached fully from the scriptures, I'm summing up a lot of things in kind of a simplistic way, but there tends to be a lot of people that get very nervous when Grace is preached. It's really responses to that nervousness are really at the heart of a lot of doctrinal error. And you've got this spectrum from legalism, the idea that I have to keep the law to get benefit from all the way to antinomianism, the idea that the law doesn't matter, and everything in between, you have all of these different errors that come out of this spectrum in response to various fears that people have regarding this doctrine. For example, after the Reformation, and I'm sure some of you have read this, and if you haven't, it would be worth going and taking a look at. The Council of Trent came out with these canons on justification, right? And these canons on justification, right in the heart of those documents, those statements they made, basically looks on its face, because it is on its face, speaking against the idea of the free grace, right? It's speaking against justification by faith alone. And that's just one example of the many ways which people have responded in fear against this idea of preaching the free grace that we receive from God that has led to doctrinal error and led to things that are simply not scriptural when we have obvious examples of this in scripture right in front of us. that tell us that's the truth and that's reality. This fear is always rooted in a lack of understanding in one way or another, but it primarily seems to be rooted in either a lack of understanding of the law in terms of the depth of sin that we have in our lives, or in a lack of understanding of the comprehensiveness of what regeneration does for the human soul. You know, we've often said in this church, if you get the fall wrong, a whole bunch of things fall down behind that, right? If you have such a low view of sin, that you think sin is like minor correction that's needed in school, then you don't have an understanding that's proper of the law. I think that's largely why Paul preceded his talk of justification with that section in Romans 3 that tells us, hey, we're all corrupt through and through, right? Here's all of the examples from scripture that tell us there's nothing good in us. The corruption is complete, it's full. Because when we get that, we approach the problem in a different way than if we don't get that. If we think that humans just need some minor tweaking, how many songs can we think of, how many movies or, you know, even many of the pastors that are on some of the big TV stations or radio stations out there, that we hear some version of the idea that people are basically good. Well, if you view things only horizontally and you forget about the whole vertical aspect of life, I can see where you'd come to that conclusion. Most people are not serial killers. What type of a low standard is that, though? That's not the standard that we get from scripture. The standard that we get from scripture is we're to be holy as God is holy, and it's obvious that none of us are there, right? So when you have the right understanding of the law, You have the right understanding of then human sinfulness and the depth of it and the comprehensive nature of it. And from that can follow a better understanding of exactly what happens and what's needed to happen in regeneration. So Paul's led us here, but he wants to deal with this issue of free grace. And so he asks the question, Well, what shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? So the idea behind the question is, if you go back to chapter 520, hear this again, the law came in so that the transgression would increase. Okay, so the law came in and increased transgressions, and then where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. If I can just logically follow that through, does it make sense then that we should sin all the more so that grace can be put on display? That's essentially what's behind the question. And Paul's answer to it is the Pauline may it never be. It's an emphatic, May it never be. This is ridiculous. This is ludicrous. This isn't something that we should even consider. This is not, like you think it is, a logical outcome of what I said in 520. This is completely wrongheaded thinking. Don't go there at all. And he immediately cuts to the chase and gives us the reason as to why it's such a strange idea and to be immediately rejected. with a simple question that he follows it up with in verse two. How shall we who died to sin still live in it? I probably say this too much when I teach or when I preach, but I think it's a very autobiographical, by the way, tend to read things way too fast. and tend to skip over things that are very powerful and not stop and ponder what they mean. So slow down with me here. We tend to think things need to be wordy to be meaningful at times. Like it's gotta be said a lot of times in a lot of ways. It just has to be said once for it to be true and for it to be deeply meaningful. But how shall we who died to sin still live in it. We've died to sin. So how is it possible for us to still live in it? The idea is ridiculous because you're not understanding something about what regeneration means. You're not understanding something about the gospel. There's a fundamental reality at play here that if you can even ask the question, you're showing that you misunderstand what has happened to you. You're not understanding your reality. You're not understanding, to go back to the beginning here, your identity and how it has changed. There is something that's happened in terms of our regeneration that should prevent us from ever thinking this way. Christians not only should not think this way, but we cannot think this way because we have died to sin. Now, as a side note, we do think that way at times because we still have indwelling sin and we still have all that that brings with us, and we struggle with that. And we'll get to that as we go throughout the message today. But Paul's telling us when we think rightly about the reality in which we stand, we need to understand that we have died to sin. He goes on to explain further in verse three, or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? Now he's asking these questions in a way that maybe the readers know, maybe they've been told before, maybe they've forgotten, or maybe it's something that's new information to them. But he's telling us something essential about who we are, our identity in Christ, and we need to take it in for us to understand what's behind this question and the right answer of it, and how to think rightly about ourselves. Now as a side note, it is interesting here that Paul connects this next part to the idea of baptism. And there's much debate here. The sermon today is not about baptism. But I do want to just make a couple comments on it. The baptism that he's talking about, the word Paul uses, is generally used for water baptism. Some people think it's spirit baptism that's being referred to here. Some people think water baptism. Some people think other thoughts. I think the reality is that we have to connect the two together. Spirit baptism and water baptism should generally be connected together in the Christian life, right? We don't know the exact time. We don't always know the exact place. But that's how baptism is to be rightly understood. And my question to us, without going too much into the question of baptism, would be, should this raise our idea of baptism? or should this lower our idea of baptism, how we think about it? Well, I think that the connection that Paul makes here ought to make us think more highly of baptism and ought to think more highly of the importance of baptism. Whatever it is that we conclude along those lines of what exactly it means, clearly it's critical in the Christian life. So much so that he connects this idea of our dying with Christ to baptism and all that that entails. So do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death? The next thing I want us to see that's taking place here, notice that it's not saying that we have somehow been the recipients of the benefits of Christ's death, we're actually being told that we've literally been baptized into his death. And it's interesting, you know, translations from one language to another and trying to convey the thought that's present in the original. The idea here, and it comes later as well, primarily in verse five, There's an idea here of this into his death and then in verse five, if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death and then in the likeness of his resurrection. There's an idea there that seems to be hard to convey from the original to English. But what it's trying to communicate to us is there is a level of participation, there is something very unique about the death and, as it brings up later, resurrection of Christ, that is very unique to him, in that his people, us, those who have believed upon him, actually participate in the death and resurrection of Christ. To the point where we can actually say We have died and we have been raised again, as he will say later. So if you have trusted in Christ alone and been baptized, then you have been baptized into his death. Like I said, not just a participation in the benefits that come from the death of Christ, but participation in the actual death of Christ. to where we can say with Paul, as he says later, the old man has died and a new one has taken its place. Now he goes on to emphasize the reality of this death even further in verse four, that therefore we have been buried with him through baptism into death. The word for Buried is basically the word for entombed. Who gets buried? Do sick people get buried? Well, we hope not. I mean, we've heard those stories, right? But generally speaking, sick people do not get buried. Dead people get buried. See, this is the place where if you have a faulty understanding of sin, and it's corruption upon us, you can go down the wrong path because you think, well, this seems really extreme. It is extreme. The resolution that we need is a very extreme resolution because the problem is an extreme problem that we have. Going back again earlier in Romans that Paul talks about, it's one of complete corruption. Nothing good in us. Nothing comes out of our mouths. Nothing we do is good. It's a corruption that is complete. When we understand that, then we understand that the problem is so catastrophic to the human body and soul that the only solution is death and resurrection. Death of that old man and new life that results in being participants in the resurrection of Christ as well. Think of the metaphors of scripture here. And again, I think sometimes we jump over these too quickly. The blind receive sight. Humans didn't need corrective lenses, right? The metaphor is not that we needed contacts or corrective lenses. The metaphor is that we couldn't see at all. We needed sight. We were blind and we needed to be recreated so that we could see. The metaphor is being deaf, not hard of hearing. We weren't just hard of hearing, we couldn't hear at all. The metaphor of the heart, the heart being stone and being made flesh. What's that meant to convey to us? A stone heart has no responsiveness to it whatsoever. It can't respond to any stimuli. It's not doing anything of which it's supposed to be doing. We don't need fixing. We need recreation. And the good news that Paul is bringing to us is that's what we have in Christ. In his death, we have that resolution that we so desperately need. We've been buried with him because we were alive, or because we were dead, and we come alive in Christ as he is raised from the dead. So as that verse continues on, verse four, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. So we see that there's a, coming alive with Christ, and then we see the first of a few purpose statements that he's going to give us. We're raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so what? So we too might walk in newness of life. We're not being asked to do anything here. I want to make it really clear. that what we're talking about is something that has been done for all believers by the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're not being asked to make ourselves able to walk in newness of life. We're not being asked to kill ourselves and raise ourselves up again. We're being told that Christ, who knew what we needed, has accomplished those things for us, and that our identity now, the very heart of who we are in Christ, is those who have died, and who have been raised up again with him, and who do walk in newness of life. Want to continue on in verse five, for if we have become united with him, which we have if we are in Christ, in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him, couple more purpose statements here, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. So remember then, back to the question, we're still trying to answer Paul's original question. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? And he's continuing to go deeper into the answer to explain to us what has happened to us who are in Christ. What are the new realities of our life in Christ as those who are united to him to explain to us how ridiculous that question is when you understand properly the position that you have in Christ. So when we're united to him, we participate in his death, we participate in his resurrection, and this is what's happened, verse six, our old self was crucified with him. Our old self, not just part of ourself, I sometimes heard it as like the sinful part of you. There was no sinful part of you. All of you was sinful. All of us is sinful when we are born into this world. So that old self is crucified with Christ in order that our body of sin might be done away with. So you think of It's maybe not exactly the right example, but I think it brings the point home a little bit. You think of someone's body of work, right? If I'm a writer and my body of work is all the things that I've written. It's kind of that idea. Our body of work, you know, our list of achievements, our CV, our resume, was lots of sin. That was who we are. Outside of Christ, that's who we are. But in Christ, we are crucified with him in order that that body of sin might be done away with. The penalty for that sin has been completely paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. So sticking with that example, so what's our resume today? It's Jesus' achievements. That's the resume that we have now. Our body of work, by being united to Christ, is the active and passive obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because that's what he gives to us. And he's put us away from that old body of sin so that, at the end of verse six, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. That's the reality that all of the people of God need to grasp. That's the reality that Paul wants us to understand about our identity in Christ. If you've been made a new creation, you can't go on living in sin the way that this is talking about it, because you've died to sin. I've died to sin. My body of sin, that whole work, My lifetime's work up to that moment of nothing but rebellion against the Lord has been done away with in the death of Christ. And we have been raised to walk in newness of life. So then what's our answer to the question? Well, the more we understand this, the more we should agree with the Apostle Paul It's a ridiculous question. If you've been regenerated, and if you've died to sin, and if you're no longer a slave to sin, and if you've been raised to walk in newness of life, there's no other reality for you. There can't be any other reality for you. The work and death of Christ has purchased this benefit, and nothing can take that away from his people. If you can go on sinning in this way, and for example, trying to increase grace, according to Paul, the way he's talking about it here, the only answer can be it's because you've not been regenerated. Because for all who've been regenerated, these are the benefits that have been purchased. So what do we do with the reality of indwelling sin? Because the reality is that, of course, none of us are free from sin in our lives. Well, we need to understand that in the same way that justification freed us from the penalty of sin, What Paul is talking about here is that we have been freed from the power of sin. He'll talk later in this same chapter about how when you were slaves to sin, you were free from righteousness. What does he mean by that idea that you're free from righteousness? Was anybody ever free from the righteous standard of the law? No, that would be a complete misunderstanding of it. What he's saying there is you could do nothing righteous. Even those works that on a horizontal human level look like nice things to do for other people, they couldn't be righteous because everything about you was corrupt and sinful. When we're freed from the power of sin, We are enabled to actually do what God has commanded us to do. But we're not yet freed from the presence of sin. Sin is still present in every one of us. And Paul will go on to talk about that reality as well, right? The remaining indwelling sin and our wrestling with that as part of the Christian life. So we are freed from the power of sin. We are freed in the sense that we are able to do good works because he has enabled us to do that and he has raised us up to walk in newness of life. But we still have to deal with the presence of sin. So the old inclinations are still going to oppress, trouble, and have the upper hand for a time, but sin is not our master. Sin does not have dominion over us. We don't do anything to make that the reality. The work of Christ has made that a reality for all of his people. His death, his resurrection have purchased these benefits for his people. I hope it's helpful, but here's from the Westminster Larger Catechism, which talks about the difference between justification and sanctification. So the question is, wherein do justification and sanctification differ? Again, Westminster Larger Catechism. Although sanctification be inseparably joined with justification, they have to go together, Yet they differ in that God in justification imputes the righteousness of Christ. In sanctification, his spirit infuses grace and enables to the exercise thereof. In the former, sin is pardoned. In the other, it is subdued. The one does equally free all believers from the revenging wrath of God, and that perfectly in this life. that they never fall into condemnation. The other is neither equal in all, nor in this life perfect in any, but growing to perfection. So in justification, we've been freed from the penalty of sin. There is never any hint of God's condemnation ever again upon our sin because Christ has paid that penalty. In sanctification, in what we're talking about in our passage today, as it states here, the other is neither equal in all. We're going to differ in our levels of sanctification, our levels of indwelling sin. Which sins does one person struggle with versus what another struggles with? And in this life, it's never going to be perfect in anyone, but it's growing to perfection. The promise of when we will be free from the presence of sin is when we are with Jesus for all of eternity. We're freed from the penalty today. We're freed from the power today that has a different impact across different people in the church in terms of their ongoing sanctification. None of us will be free from that presence of sin until we are with Christ at his return. And in Romans 6.18, Paul will, as he's furthering this argument in other areas, he will sort of sum it up in the sense that we are now slaves to righteousness. Romans 6.18, if you want to look there quickly. And having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. Not slaves in the sense that we're bound under some heavy burden, but slaves in the sense that our nature has been changed. We have been made new creatures in Christ, the benefit that comes from his death and resurrection. So what do we do with this? Well, number one, we need to believe this. This is the reality of what Christ has purchased for us. And when we find it difficult to believe this, we need to pray for the grace to believe it all the more, which we often pray that we would be able to understand the gospel all the more. And this is one of those elements of it. We need to pray that God would reveal more and more to us this truth and this reality, that our hearts would take hold of it and know it to be true. We need to stop acting like we are slaves of sin. I know at times in myself, and I see it and I kind of assume it's probably there in others, we pretend like this isn't true. We pretend like indwelling sin sort of takes away the reality that we've died to sin. and we act like we're still slaves to sin. We just saw that God's told us that's not true. We need to believe it, and we need to stop acting like we are slaves to sin. We need to believe that we are slaves of righteousness, and we have been freed from the dominion of sin. And we need to be eager to put to death the remaining sin that is within us. There's always these conundrums, these sort of what appear to be on the surface opposing ideas that we're saved apart from any works on our own and therefore any kind of striving can't be called for. Well, our question at the beginning tells us that we're supposed to offer ourselves unto him a sacrifice of thanksgiving. Well, we're supposed to be striving to put to death the sin that is in us. And we're supposed to be striving to pursue good works. We can be assured that that matters because Christ has raised us to walk in newness of life. not because of anything I can do, but because he has given to us a new identity in him, an identity that's no longer a slave to sin, no longer under the dominion and control of that sinful nature which has died, but we're new creatures. We are a new creation, one that has been raised up, that has been freed from sin because we have died to it, one that has been raised up to walk in newness of life, and because of those realities that he's given to us, that his death and resurrection have purchased for us, that becomes our sure hope that those things will happen because he has assured they will happen for all of his children. May the Lord grant us the grace all the more to believe his gospel, to believe all parts of it, this included, and to see the great benefit that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ and to walk in light of that reality. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank you that in the death of Christ, we died to sin. And in the resurrection of Christ, You raised us up to new life, to new life, to walk in that newness, that we can say that we are no longer under the dominion of sin and are no longer slaves to sin, but are slaves to Christ and to righteousness. We pray that you would help us to grasp this in our heads and our hearts. And we ask that you would give us the grace to put to death the sin that is in us, and to seek to do good works, to walk in them, those good works that you have created for all of your children, that we would honor you, that we would glorify you, and that we would be a blessing to those around us. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.