If you return now in your Bibles once again to Romans chapter 6, we're slowly making our way through this epistle. I'll be reading the first 14 verses, though the focus this morning will just be on verses 3 and 4. Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 14. This is the word of our God. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How could we who have died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin, for one who has died has been set free from sin. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died, He died to sin, once for all. But the life He lives, He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law, but under grace. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. We've been making our way through this epistle, Paul's epistle to the Romans, not his first epistle that he wrote, but it is the longest one that we have in existence. Whether those two lost letters to the Corinthians were longer, we of course have no idea. But the fact is, we have his epistle to the Romans here in our Bibles today, and it is an epistle that has really done much to shape the church's theology. and it's imperative that we understand these things. These things matter to Paul. Now, we deal with part of it, even as we talked a little bit in Sunday school, about the issue of justification by faith alone. That's Paul's primary concern, but he goes so much deeper, he goes so much broader, because he's writing to a church which, at this point, he had not visited. He did not find or found the church in Rome, himself had never even been there to that church. Now we do know, as we conclude the book of Acts, that he did make it to Rome, maybe not in the way that he planned to go, but he made it there nonetheless. Paul's concern here, in the book of Romans, the entirety of the book, is to set forth the gospel of Jesus Christ. To set forth Christ alone as being the source of our righteousness before God. The recognition that we are justified, that we are declared righteous. on account of His righteousness, imputed, credited to our account, reckoned to our account, and especially that we understand that we receive this righteousness through faith alone. Much of the epistle dealt with sin. And we talked a lot about sin for the first three chapters. And we joke a little bit that each and every week I got up here and basically beat you over the head about sin. It's because we needed it. Why does Paul spend so much time talking about sin? It's because we need to hear about sin. But then he spends a great amount of time on grace. Grace for us. Righteousness from God, apart from the law, revealed to us. A righteousness that comes by faith. And to prove his doctrine, he goes to the Old Testament. He goes back to, in Romans chapter four, he goes back to Abraham, specifically in Genesis 15, where we're told that Abraham believed the Lord, or even we could say, believed in the Lord. and it was credited to him as righteousness. Righteousness came to Abraham simply because he believed in the promises of God. Chapter five moved into the question of what does that mean for us? Some of the benefits that we have as a result, and also in some respects how this justification can even work. So one of the major benefits that we have is peace with God. peace being more than just a laying down of arms, but a real and a true reconciliation. We have as another benefit access into all this grace, that even now as we gather here to worship, as we gather as God's people, is a testimony to the free access into the presence of God that we have as justified sinners. For only the righteous can stand before God. we're not righteous, yet we who have faith stand before God as though we were righteous. As we move here into chapter 6, last week we saw how Paul was answering the anticipated question because of what he says at the end of chapter five, that where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. And so for those who are of a more antinomian flavor, those who just jettison the law of God completely, their attitude would be, oh, wait a second, maybe we ought to sin so that grace will abound all the more. That sounds like a win-win to me. Well, Paul really throughout much of chapter six is answering that absurd suggestion. How can we who have faith in Christ, how can we, how can we who died to sin live in it any longer? we died to sin. And last week we dealt with that aspect, the objective reality that those who are in Christ, those who belong to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, have died to sin. And we tried to emphasize, especially because I had to go through a list of the various ways that are probably wrong in terms of how we view this concept. But fundamentally, what it does mean is that our dying to sin means that the reign of sin in the believer's life is over. You're no longer under the power and dominion of sin. You've died to it. You've been set free. Now Paul begins to elucidate that, to expand on that, to explain its meaning so that we understand, what do you mean we've died to sin? What exactly are you saying here, Paul? And as you go through really the rest through verse 14, Paul lays out the theological arguments as to why it is we have died to sin. And then also afterwards, we get into the practical side of how it is we've died to sin. In chapter 7, when we get there somewhere down the road in the future sometime, chapter 7 will deal with the reality subjectively of how we deal with sin every day, even as true believers. But suffice to say that Paul is still dealing with objective reality, things that are absolutely true for one who has their faith in Christ. And as a reminder again, these objective truths should be the basis of your assurance. Too often, we try to look at ourselves, and then when we do that, we lose assurance. We need to remember it is the God who saves. It is the God who has declared these things that forms the basis of whatever assurance we can have. We try to look to ourselves for assurance. Yeah, you're gonna be sorely disappointed. And so Paul spends so much ink on the objective reality. of what God has accomplished through Jesus Christ. And here we're expanding on the notion of the fact that in Christ, we have died to sin. Well, how does this play out? What does this actually look like? Well, Paul's gonna spend a lot of ink on this in the remaining portion of chapter six. Suffice to say that it's connected to baptism. But interestingly enough, the fundamental reason is not baptism per se. The fundamental reason is the objective reality that those who have faith in Christ are really, truly, and vitally united to Him. That's the foundation of it all. And so you see the sermon title there, baptized into Christ. But the truth of the matter is the emphasis here is on the into Christ, into Christ, union and communion with him. And so what I hope to show this morning out of verses three and four is simply this, that our union with Christ is the proof and the motivation for godly living. Our union with Christ is the proof and the motivation for godly living. We're going to look at this under two headings. First of all, baptism into death. So yes, we have to talk about baptism. Baptism into death, and then secondly, newness of life. baptism into death and newness of life. So first of all, baptism into death. Look again at verse 3. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ, Christ Jesus, were baptized into his death? Really, verse 3 is just a lengthy rhetorical question. Do you not know The implication and the way that it is worded here assumes that they should know. Of course, look, you know this to be true. And it's the type of question, or at least the tone of it, if you will, is the kind of thing that Jesus did. Have you not read? And he asked this of the Jews so often, have you not read? The assumption there is you have read this, so how do you not make this connection here? You've died to sin. Now, don't you realize what this means? Don't you realize that what it proves, the fact that you have died to sin, is found in Christ Jesus? Paul had heard enough about these believers. Remember, this is a group of Christians that Paul has not been a part of. He has not been to this group. He has not been to this church. And yet Paul is astute enough to realize what it is they should already know. This is something that should be foundational to them. It's not a new concept, but they apparently have not made the proper theological and doctrinal connections. And Paul is trying to bring that out to them with a concept that they should already know. And see, all of this is an answer to that absurd question, shall we sin that grace may abound? In other words, We take just a step back. It's a reminder to us that our doctrine, our theology, and the connections that we make have implications for our practical lives. They should determine what we do and what we don't do and the reasons behind it. Here it's, we died to Christ, or died to sin. We died in Christ. Why would we live in sin any longer? Do you not know? And so the emphasis here in what Paul is trying to answer This overemphasis of grace, divorced from all else, could lead to all kinds of foolish thinking, and in particular, an antinomian way of living, that is, a way that just jettisons any kind of law whatsoever. Paul is here connecting what they should already know with the fact that they've died to sin. And so again, our orthodoxy, our doctrine, our theology, influences our orthopraxy, our way of living, the practical side of things. His proof is found in baptism. Well, not baptism per se. Notice what he says. Still, in verse 3, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? All of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus. Now, all of us, as the ESV has it, is not a wrong translation. It works. But actually, the language is better to understood as, as many of us as were baptized into Christ. In other words, he's trying to, I get all of us, but the stress seems to be for us to consider and to think that each and every one of us without exception, all of us is not just a generic term, but all of us who have truly been baptized into Christ, all of them, that's his emphasis. What does it mean then to be baptized into Christ? Well, here's what it doesn't mean. That the mere act of baptism suddenly makes you united to Christ. That would be what we call sacerdotalism. That's what Roman Catholicism teaches. That the mere act itself accomplishes it. They do this with their version of the Lord's Supper, too. That's why if you've ever witnessed a Catholic Mass, and you see the priests so carefully getting all the crumbs, it's not because they're trying to be neat and tidy. It's because they truly believe that that is the body of Christ, and we need to carefully preserve it. There have even been some that said if a mouse got into the cupboard and started chewing on those crumbs, they'd actually be participating in the body and blood of Christ. So it's not talking about this. The mere virtue of the act itself does not mean we suddenly become united to Christ just by virtue of this. Rather, baptism is a sign and seal of that to which it points. It signifies something. It represents our union with Christ. And so to say you've been baptized into Christ means that you're an individual that recognizes that all of grace is found in Christ. It is a sign and seal of membership into the body of Christ. In fact, the reality is, as we think about this, as Reformed and Presbyterian folk, part of the reason we perform baptisms, aside from the fact that it's commanded by Christ, that should be enough, it's not so much to make them members of the body of Christ, it's because they already are. That's the same thing as circumcision in the Old Testament. Circumcising the boys on the eighth day was not a way to make them an Israelite, it was because they already were an Israelite, and the circumcision was a sign of that. Baptism is given to those who already belong to Christ, and of course, as reformed in Presbyterian, that applies to our children as well. But before going off on a tangent on paedo-baptism, let's stick with our text here. The reality is, is that being baptized into Christ, what we have in baptism, is a sign of our union with Christ. Those who have faith in Christ, that's what your baptism signifies. You're united to Christ. That is a real and true and objective truth. It's a sign and seal of membership into his body. And of course, given the language here, it signifies union with Christ and all the privileges and graces which he embodies. I got that from John Murray. I highly recommend his commentary, even though it is a little hard to read. It is not just union into Christ as his person. It's all the benefits that he has secured for us. That's what it is. That's what's being talked about here. Christ and all his benefits. We've died to sin because we're in Christ. We have all the benefits that Christ has secured for us. That's what's at issue, and that's what baptism represents. It represents not what I do, it represents what God has done in Christ. It is union with Christ, all that he is, and every aspect of his work as our mediator. In other words, it's not merely his person, but his graces and his benefits. Well, how do these benefits come? Of course, the obvious answer is, well, we need faith in Jesus Christ, and that's true. But Paul is keeping the argument in the perspective of a God-word perspective. Notice, we were baptized into Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death. Into his death. Now, that should actually make sense to us. Because being baptized into Christ, that's the totality. Being baptized into his death is just one aspect of that totality. It's included in there. But if we've got this whole thing in Christ, then every aspect that's there, we have as well. And that's having been baptized into his death. And what happened at his death? That's where our sins were laid upon him. We've died to sin. because Christ died. That's also what baptism signifies. It's participation in the benefits that we have in Christ's actual, true death. He died for your sins. That's an objective truth. So as often as you may struggle with assurance and you think to yourself, I don't really feel like God loves me. The objective reality is that any amount of true saving faith gets all the benefits of Christ. You've died to sin. You have been baptized into his death. Being baptized into Christ necessarily means baptized into his death. Now, as an aside, this is actually why baptism, in terms of mode, is not taught in this text. I've had one or 20 arguments with fellow brothers who are baptistic in their nature about the mode of baptism. And they will look in particular at verse four, they will also look at Colossians 2.12, buried with him in baptism. But it's not just the burial that we're talking about. We're baptized into Christ. were baptized into his death. How did he die? Well, actually, he was up on a cross. Second, the imagery of burial doesn't really work because Jesus wasn't buried like we are today, underground. He was put in the side of a hill. Now, you take those two things, and if you want baptism to represent what happened to Christ, that's all well and good, but you understand that he was dead for three days. Are we supposed to keep somebody under for three days? I realize that's kind of an absurd argument. but he was put on the side of a hill when he was buried, not immersed underground. The symbolism just doesn't work. The emphasis here is not on the mode of baptism. The emphasis here that Paul is bringing out is that we are baptized into Christ, united to Christ, mystically, But nevertheless, vitally and truly, this doctrine of union with Christ, all the other blessings that Christ has secured for us, flow from this rich doctrine. I've said before, many years ago, I did a search using Bible software, it was with the NIV. I'm sorry. But in the New Testament, The phrase in Christ or in him, just those expressions occur more than 70 times, which shows us the importance of the doctrine of union with Christ. I commend to you, I've mentioned this book before, again, John Murray, but his book, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, the chapter on union with Christ is alone worth the price of the book. You've died to sin because you who have faith in Christ are united to him. Sin no longer reigns over you. The reign of sin and death is gone. Now it is the reign of Christ and his grace in your life. You are united to him. And that's why it's absurd for any professing Christian to say, let's sin so that grace may abound. You're now in Christ! Your sin was put to death! And you belong to King Jesus. You belong to Him. We're baptized into His death. Our sins were propitiated in His death. That is, the wrath of God was turned aside from us And on the cross, Jesus Christ bore it in our place. That's how we died to sin. That's what the benefit of union with Christ brings us. Believers died to sin. And so the question comes up again that we see at the end of verse two. How can we who died to sin still live in it? How can we do this? It's your status in Christ that is the proof that you died to sin. Your baptism signifies this. And because you are in Christ, because you have died to sin, and because baptism signifies this, this is the sense in which you can look to your baptism for assurance. That almost sounds Roman Catholic. But if you remember that as you look to your baptism, what your baptism does is point you to Christ and to Christ alone. I can look to my baptism because it is what God has done for me. And your baptism serves as a reminder of God's promise to you that you who are in Christ, you've died to sin. That's your baptism into death, and specifically, His death. This brings us then to our second point, newness of life. Look now at verse four. We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death. Now, the grammar here of the verse, it gives emphasis to the verb. That's where the emphasis is. So you look at the expression, we were buried therefore with him. Buried with him, or buried with is a compound word, it's a verb. So there is a bit of redundancy because it could be translated, we were buried with in him. And sometimes I wonder if that implied redundancy is deliberate on Paul's part. The man was a master of language. The man was a genius, there's no question about that. But this emphasis, again, on union with Christ, to bury with, is the verb. It's compounded with the prefix with, and so buried with, in him, is not an impossible translation here, as wooden as it may sound. Why this expression with burial? Isn't it enough that what we just saw in the previous verse, that we were baptized into his death, isn't that enough? Why burial also? Well, burial is a definitive stamp that death has occurred. It's also a way of a contrast of sorts, such that it's parallel in latter portion of the verse is being raised. Going from a state of burial, which proves his death, to a state of resurrection, which proves his life. Buried with him in death. Again, not a statement indicating the mode of baptism. In the end, that's why I'm saying and stressing here that the passage is not about baptism per se. It's about our relationship with Jesus Christ. The fundamental answer to the question The absurd suggestion, let sin so that grace may abound. The fundamental response has to do with your relationship with Jesus Christ. Are you in union and communion with him? Well, I'm not sure, am I? Do you trust in Christ alone as your savior? If your answer to that question is yes, you're in union and communion with him. And that's why it's absurd to think you can sin that grace may abound. Grace has abounded in Christ! And so baptism, as that sign and seal of the covenant of grace, the sign and seal of our union with Christ, it becomes the reason why. All of this, the union with Christ, tells us the reason why we've died to sin. Union with Christ, union with his death, forms the basis as to why you've died to sin. You've died to it. in order that. There's a purpose here. There's a result. There's a direction that Paul is going with his argument. There's another benefit of our union with Christ. Justification has really taken up so much of our time, from chapters one through here, and these are further implications of that justification. The reality that we have this justification in Christ, united to him, in order that another result, another benefit, another purpose of our union with Him and our union in His death. And He does so by way of analogy. He does not go right to the end. He could have, but He makes the analogy. Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, We need to understand that first. This is probably one of those things the Romans should have known clearly. It's what you and I should know clearly, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father. And most commentators note that glory of the Father here means His majestic power. It is His power that raised Christ from the dead. It's the resurrection of Christ by the glory of the Father? And see, while it's only implicit here, the rest of chapter six does bring it to bear, but the significance also of our union with Christ and his resurrection, not just his death, but his resurrection, just as the glory of the Father raised Christ from the dead, here now comes the conclusion. The last clause is the ultimate reason and purpose and benefit for you as a believer, united to Christ, that we too might walk in newness of life. And that's why this is an analogy, not an identity, because Christ's resurrection was physical. Our walking in newness of life, that's a spiritual concept. Christ really was truly dead physically. Before God's grace came into our lives, we were truly and truly dead spiritually. So it's an analogy that's being brought forth here. Just as the glory of the Father raised Him from the dead, you could almost supply the words, that same glory of the Father raised you to walk in newness of life. You've died to sin, now you get to walk in newness of life. And in fact, that walking in newness of life really does have physical results. Because as Paul will argue later on, He will tell us to stop using our members, our bodies, as instruments, or dare I say weapons. That's a legitimate translation there. Weapons of unrighteousness. So the spiritual does affect the physical. So that our whole being will be used in the kingdom of God. But so important is this concept of newness of life that it's actually first in the clause. It has great emphasis in newness of life. In newness of life, you should walk. What is being brought out here in chapter six? in this response and attitude to the form of antinomianism brought out in verse 1. This idea of sin boldly so that grace may abound is that it's really absurd for one who is now raised in Christ in newness of life to walk in the old ways. as though sin still reigns in our lives, as though death reigns in our lives. Christ was raised in part so that you can walk in newness of life. You may sit there and even think, well, I'm not struggling with this form of antinomianism. What I'm really struggling with is I can't get rid of this sin. Actually, you who are united to Christ, you're able to. You see, another flavor of antinomianism that sometimes even creeps into our reformed circles is the idea that Christians, as true believers, are totally depraved. That's unbiblical! When we consider that the doctrine of total depravity, the heart of it deals with man's inability to choose the good for salvation. What does regeneration do? But change our nature, give us new birth so that we can choose and rest upon Christ. Enablement happens and it's because Christ has been raised from the dead so that you might be able to walk in newness of life. You can walk in newness of life. That's an objective reality. even if subjectively we struggle with sin. The power of sin, the dominion of sin has been conquered in Christ and we've been raised with him to walk in newness of life. You died to sin. This came about because of your union with Christ. Because of your union with Him, you're united in His death, in which your sins were taken, and He was raised. You're no longer under the dominion and power of sin. You passively have changed hands. You were once in the hands of the kingdom of darkness. Now you're in the hands of your Savior, Jesus Christ. He is your master, he is your king, and he has enabled you to walk in newness of life. And so when professing Christians say, well, I can't do this, or I can't change because I was born this way, But you profess Christ. You say you've been born again. Christ enables you to walk in newness of life. That is simply a truth that cannot be denied. We cannot just simply say, well, this sin is too hard for me. It must have been too hard for Jesus then. Do we not see the absurdity of such arguments? My friends, the beauty of this is, is that even though we consider this passage as kind of a purpose clause, as kind of a benefit that we have because of Christ's resurrection, that now we walk in newness of life, even though grammatically there's not an imperative there, there's an understood idea, you ought to be walking in newness of life. And you can. Because Christ has been raised. You see, this could have been an Easter sermon. That would have made it awkward preaching the same text in just three weeks. The reality is, brothers and sisters, your union with Christ is proof positive that you've died to sin and you can now walk in newness of life because in the totality of Christ are the benefits that he secured, secured by both his death and his resurrection. You have died to sin and now you can walk in newness of life. you've been set free. And that's where Paul's going to go as he continues this argument in chapter six. There will be a lot of redundancy on this question of union with Christ, because it's that important to recognize our status because of who we are now in Christ. And so, friends, Don't say you can't, because Christ has enabled you. By his resurrection and by virtue of your union with him, walk in newness of life. Amen. Let's pray. Our Father in God and heaven, we do thank you for your word and what it teaches us. The reminder of being in Christ, and all that it means, and all the benefits that flow as a result of our union with Christ, most especially that we have truly died to sin, and that now we can walk in newness of life because Jesus has been raised by your glory, your majestic power. Father, we do pray that we would take these things to heart. May it instill within us a greater motivation to press on and live in obedience to your commands because you've redeemed us, you've saved us in Christ. We pray all this in his name, amen.