here this afternoon. All hail to Emmanuel. That has always been one of my favorite hymns that we sing at camp, and like Emma, we never hear it enough. If you have your Bibles, open up to Romans 6. Pick back up where we were in the book of Romans. And we're going to read the first 14 So Romans 6, beginning in verse 1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Know ye not that so many of us, as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into His death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin, for he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal bodies, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Nevertheless, yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. for sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace." That's a mouthful, and there's a lot to unpack here. If you've been with us as we've been going through Romans, Paul has been laying out Justification, God's method of salvation, how man sinned before God, and how we are justified by the work of Jesus Christ by grace alone through faith alone. How Abraham and David were also justified this way. And now we notice in this chapter that the tone changes a little bit. That Paul is now addressing a different topic of what shall we say then? Well, say to what? Say to the things that we've previously been discussing. So justification in Christ, by grace, through faith. So what shall we say to these things? And Paul here is beginning with an argument. Now, this could have been an argument that he had been approached with or one that he had heard or one that he anticipated. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?" Now, you can look at that one of two ways, and many of the commentators do look at it different ways, but you can look at it from a legalistic standpoint to a predominantly Jewish audience. They would be saying, Paul, you're telling these people you can't keep preaching this because people are going to sin like mad. They're going to run rampant. You can't say this." And he addresses those folks in Romans 3, if you remember where he said, it is slanderously reported of us that we say, some confirm that we say, let us do evil that good may come. Their damnation is just. That is Romans 3, I believe, 28 there. So we know Paul's already had a run-in with people accusing him and slandering him, saying, he's preaching do evil that good may come of it. And of course, you could also look at it in the light of the church at Corinth, where they had abused grace and were living lifestyles that were just rampant with sin, even in the church at the communion table. And I think both of those categories, the reason I bring them up is both are going to fit into this, and Paul is addressing either one in this passage. Both are wrong. It's just two different ditches. So, shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? If what he said in chapter 5, where sin hath abounded, grace hath much more abounded, then are we doing God a favor by sinning? Is it okay? for us to continue in sin? And the answer is, God forbid. God forbid. We've mentioned the last couple times Paul used this as may it never be, but the definition I've discovered on this is contempt. It's a disgust that this would even be mentioned. If you could use a triple negative, it's no, not never. No, absolutely not. because it's an impossible thing. He says, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? How can this be? How can we that are dead to sin live any longer in sin? It's an impossibility. And live in sin is a habitual lifestyle. It's something that is that is characterized in your life. It's not something that's being warred against, but something that's being harbored and held on to. And Paul says that's an impossibility for us who are dead to sin to harbor sin in this way, to live in sin. It's a state of life. So we're going to break this passage up into three sections. That is the argument, verses 1 and 2. But starting in verse 3, going on down to verse 10, Paul's going to lay out the facts. If we're going to war against sin, then we need to have the facts about what our position is. In verse 11, we need to have faith. We need to believe what the facts are. And then in verse 12-14, we need to fight. We need to fight. So beginning with the facts, beginning in verse 3, Paul says, "...know ye not..." He's laying out something here that wouldn't have been a mystery to these people. This is something that you should know. You should have an intimate knowledge of this reality. And we need to know of our union with Jesus Christ. what the true power of our union with Christ. He says, therefore we are, know ye not that we were baptized into Jesus Christ, we're baptized into His death. So we were in Christ in His life, but we are also in Christ in His death. And that is what our baptism symbolizes. When a person is baptized up here, they're submerged under the water signifying, I died with Christ and I'm raised with Him. Paul goes on in verse 4, "...therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father..." The word glory there is the glorious power of the Father. It's God's power that raised Christ from the dead. "...that we should also walk in newness of life." So when we are We died with Christ and when we are made alive, it is the power of God that makes us that way. That we are brought from death unto life, translated from darkness to light by the power of God and the same power that raised Christ from the dead is the power that is at work in us. And so, this should produce a newness of life, a new walk of life. Not the same, because we're not raised the same. The same person that comes up is not the same person that went down. In verse 5, he says, We have been planted together in the likeness of His death. I thought Brother Steve this morning where he was talking about the engrafted. We're engrafted. It's a similar meaning here where Christ, if you recall in the Gospels, where He says, I am the vine and ye are the branches. We are engrafted into Jesus Christ. We are joined to Him in union. And so when He died, we died with Him. And all that entailed, all the victory that He obtained in death, we obtained it as well because we were in Christ. And when He rose and the glory He received from the Father, we received that too. We are in the likeness of Christ. We are unified with Christ. Now, if you can't get your head wrapped around that, don't feel too bad. I've spent all week listening to message after message, hoping I could, reading it over and over. And the problem is it's too glorious for us. We can't understand just the majesty of being unified with Christ. But that's the reality. That's the reality that we were unified in Christ, in His death. Not only in His life, but in His death and His resurrection. And we'll get to that more here in a minute. So beginning in verse 6, we need to know that we are a new man. Verse six says, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Well, what is the old man? The old man is what we're talking about in Romans chapter five, where he's saying all men are in Adam. We were engrafted into Adam. Adam was our union, and it was a sin nature that we had from Adam. And now, being unified with Christ, the old man was crucified with Him. It died. Our old man was crucified with Jesus Christ. The nature of that was permeated with sin, so that when Christ died, again, we died in Him. Our old man died in Him. And so, I'll say it again, it's not the same person that is raised with Him. Turn to 2 Corinthians 5. I'm going to look at a couple passages that expound on this a little further. 2 Corinthians 5. We're going to begin reading verse 17, or just read verse 17. 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, and behold, all things are become new. So friends, when we are in Christ, when we are raised with Christ, we are a new creature. It's a new creation. Some have translated it, but we are new. We are not the same as we were. And we see that in, I remember in my conversion of the things that you once loved are now bitter. They don't have the same sweetness to them. And the things that you once detested, I'll be honest, I used to hate Camp Moriah. I'll say I said it. I used to hate it. I used to listen to the one rap song that I knew on the way up there and just utter rebellion. Couldn't stand it. And I'd see the good Christian boys that were more mature than me at the time running, and I'd go, oh, those goody two-shoes. Hated it. And now it is the most precious thing. Every year. I love it. Broke my heart when it was destroyed by the tornado. The old things become new. The old things are passed away. The friends that we used to have so much enjoyment out of, that we were so alike, now there's nothing in common. And it makes your skin crawl. You can't be there. And we could spend days going over our experiences, and that is the truth. So when the work of Christ occurs in our heart, we're not the same. We are a new creation, a new creature. Turn to Galatians 2.20. Galatians 2.20. I'm going to read it from the words of Paul in another section here. Galatians 2.20. It says, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I am crucified with Christ. I died with him. Nevertheless, I live. Paul, that doesn't make any sense. How could you be crucified with Him and yet you live? Well, it's not me, yet not I. Well, who is it? Well, it's Christ that liveth in me. I am now indwelt by the Spirit of God, and He is conforming me, as Brother Lewis preached this morning, that we are being transformed degree by degree into the image of His Son. that we're not the same as we were. We are no longer in Adam. We are in Christ. Ezekiel puts the reality this way, we won't turn to it, but, I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you. And I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh. You know, a stony heart is not producing much life, is it? If you had a cinder block for a heart, you wouldn't be doing much living. And Ezekiel says, I have given them a new heart. They had this heart. They had a heart of stone, and I've given them a heart of flesh. A hymn I've really been rejoicing in, the Beecham brothers recently did an album. And there's a song in there, I Am a Little Scholar, and there's a line in that song I think really sums this up too. I am a little Christian. The Lord hath made me so. All over a new creature, what wonders He can do. I love the things I hated and hate the things I loved. The Lord is now preparing me to reign with Him above. Now that sums it up better than I ever could. We no longer love the things that we did love and we hate the things that we... I messed that up. We love the things that we once hated and we hate the things we used to love. Because we are a new creature. We are no longer the same. Because he that is dead is freed from sin. Friends, when we die, that's the end. There's no sinning that goes on in the grave. And we are dead to sin in Jesus Christ. That is the reality here. That when Christ died, He died unto sin, and we were in Him. And so now we, by extension, being joined in a union with Christ, are dead to sin. If we be dead in Christ, we know that we shall also live with Him. So friends, if we died with Christ, then we shall also live with Christ. You have both. So we not only get the benefits of His death where He died bearing our sin, the justification that Paul has been laying out throughout all the Book of Romans thus far, that we are not only declared legally righteous, but we are set free from the power of sin. Its chains are broken over you. And now we live with Him as He lives, because He lives in us by the Spirit. So we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. And one day, the reality is we will live with Him for eternity. Just as He conquered death and the grave and sin, we also shall conquer death and sin because we are unified in Christ. The next section here. is we need to know what the death of Jesus Christ means. We need to know what the death of Jesus Christ means. And to frame this, we need to understand Romans 6.23, for the wages of sin is death. Death and sin go hand in hand. Sin produces death. That is the reward, the earnings, the right payment for sin is death. And so when Christ died, He died for our sin. It wasn't because of His sin that He died. It was for our sin, the sins of His people that were placed upon Him. And so He died bearing the penalty of our sin. And when He was raised again, It confirms exactly what Jesus said in His last breath. It is finished. Because, friends, there is no resurrection if God the Father was not satisfied with the payment for sin. If God the Father was not satisfied, then death would still have its victory. But He was. He was completely satisfied with the payment of Jesus Christ. And he exclaims that in the resurrection, that he rose again by the power of God. And that shows that it is finished. We don't have to wonder any longer. Is there a penalty for sin? Friends, it is finished. It is paid for. If you are unified with Christ, it's over. And the power of sin is not over you. It no longer has the dominion over you. And now that He has risen, death cannot touch Him. It says, I found my place here. For in that He died, He died unto sin once. Once is all it took. And it satisfied God's requirement. When Paul says in Romans, you are justified freely by His grace, then friends, we are justified because it's done. And now that He is risen, death and sin can touch Him no longer. And friends, if we're unified with Christ, that's our reality, that we are free from sin. He has no need to die anymore. And so in verse 11, we need to have faith to lay hold on these things. Because again, this is like thinking about the Trinity. It's too glorious for our finite minds to wrap around the depths of our unity with Christ. Just what all that means. What all that entails. We can't understand it. You mean he died unto sin and so I died unto sin too? How is that possible? Friends, we will not understand it fully until we get to glory, but Paul is saying here, it's true. And so verse 11, he says, reckon, reckon, believe it to be so, believe it to be so. Believe that you yourselves are dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God." So friends, the reality is that so often we can have a defeatist attitude about sin. We can have a defeated attitude where we say, I can't help it. I can't help it. I've always been this way. There's nothing I can do about it. And friends, that's not the reality. Paul says that is false. God forbid. We cannot have a defeated attitude about sin. Because the reality is that we need to reckon in our own minds is you are dead to sin. The shackles that you are so convinced are locked around you have been busted loose. They don't tie you down any longer. The cage is unlocked. Now that's a harder reality. It sounds easy saying that, but in practice, it's very difficult sometimes. Sometimes it feels that we are under the complete bondage of sin. But friends, it's the reality that we are dead to it. Turn with me to John 8. I thought this verse goes along with this as well. John 8. These are the words of Jesus Christ. John 8. We're going to read verse 34. Actually, we're going to start in verse 33. It says, They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou ye shall be made free? And Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. And this is what I wanted to get to, verse 36. If the Son, therefore, shall make you free, you shall be free indeed." You shall be free indeed. Friends, we need to realize that sin is a harsh master. The world makes sin look fun and appetizing. It looks good on a billboard. But I thought about this, that sin is really like a glue trap. You ever set out a glue trap to catch a mouse? You put a little dab of peanut butter in the middle, and you catch a mouse on it, and a lot of times that mouse is still trying to get to that peanut butter, just sitting there struggling. Friends, that's the reality of sin, is we don't realize that we're stuck and we're dying the world doesn't, that they're stuck and they're dying trying to get to this thing that they think will satisfy them. And friends, that is not our reality. We are free. Christ says, if the Son of God hath made you free, you shall be free indeed. There is no question about it. And that we are now alive unto God. What a glorious reality that before, we could not please God in even our best work. You know, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, the Scripture says. So even the best we can muster and offer, we have no ability to please and honor God in anything that we do. And yet now, we have been made unified to Christ. We have been made dead to sin. We have victory over sin. And we can now glorify God. And even our frail attempts, we glorify God because we are unified to His beloved Son. Unified to Christ. So we need to believe these realities. Lay hold of them. And then lastly, we need to fight. in light of these realities and these facts that we embrace by faith, we do not let sin reign over us. We can no longer say, I can't help it. Friends, if you are in Christ, you have all that you need to resist sin. And again, that's an easy reality to say on a Sunday here, you know, dressed up and it's hard in practice. And yet it's the reality that we are no longer under the bondage, dominion, the slavery of sin. I love the way Martin Lloyd-Jones, he gave an illustration that illustrated this and I thought it was excellent, helped me wrap my brain around it. But he says, imagine two fields. You have two fields, and one is under the dominion of Satan and sin. And then there's a road, and then on the other field, there's God's field. Well, friends, the reality is we were purchased from sin and Satan's field and brought over to God's field. Now, the problem is Satan still tries to bark orders from across the road. Friends, that is our reality. hearing the orders from sin and Satan from across the road, but we are not in His field anymore. We are not under His power any longer. And so for us to sin is to, as James puts it in James 1, we are drawn away by our own lust and enticed. It's when we want to. When we decide, I desire this more than I desire God in this moment. But friends, we do not have to sin. We have power over it. The chain has been broken. Jesus Christ has set us free. It says, let not sin reign. The word reign there means to reign as a king, to have complete and ultimate authority. Complete and ultimate authority. and it has no power to do so because of Christ. Neither yield your members. Do not surrender yourself, your body, as an instrument of unrighteousness. You know, that's what the word yield actually means, make available, to offer. That puts a little bit different meaning on it. When we sin, we are literally offering our bodies up as an instrument to unrighteousness. And Paul says, don't do that. But offer your body as an instrument to righteousness, of righteousness unto God. So we yield unto God, offer our bodies unto God. And that made me think of Romans 12.1, where it says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Friends, it is our reasonable service to present our bodies as a sacrifice unto God. in light of all that Christ has done for us, that we are showered in His love and mercy. We have received the atonement of Jesus Christ. And now we are justified of nothing that we can muster or do in and of ourselves. And yet that's our reality because of what He did. And not only that, but we only have a taste of the glory and the richness of His grace and mercy that we shall one day attain. It's just a, I love the illustration of just, it's a dew drop of the rivers of love and grace that God has in store for us. And then we have this wonderful promise at the end in verse 14. For sin shall not have dominion over you. It cannot have dominion. Friends, if you have been made free by Jesus Christ, then you are free indeed. It cannot regain dominion over you. It can't do it. It is lost. The battle is over. And so it cannot dominate us and be our master any longer. For we are not under the law, but under grace. We are under grace. We are under God as our master now. And how much better a master is he than sin? So may God help us to walk worthy of the calling we're with we were called and to lay hold of the reality that we have died to sin and to fight sin in our daily lives. Let's pray. Our gracious heavenly Father, Father, We admit that these realities are too great for our minds to wrap around. Just the magnitude of our unity with Christ. Father, we pray that you would increase our faith, help us to lay hold of these realities. And Father, that we would walk in a newness of life, that you would renew our efforts in our fight against sin, help us to realize that we are dead to sin in Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you for your son. We thank you for his sacrifice on the cross and just. Oh, the wonders of that, that all that entails. Father, we we love you and we thank you for today. We pray that you would bless us and as we go throughout our our day in Jesus name, I pray. Amen.