I would like you now to turn with me to the chapter which we read together, Romans chapter 6, and I would like us tonight to look at the second half of verse 2. Romans 6, verse 2. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? could read from the beginning of the chapter. 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? Dead to sin. That's a strange statement, isn't it? It would be more accurately translated, how shall we that died to sin live any longer therein? The air is tense. It's talking about something that happened at a certain point in the past. But of course, the effect is the same. If you died to sin, you're obviously dead to sin. So what is it referring to when it says, you're dead to sin? It's important for us to consider the context within the whole book. This book, this letter to the Romans, is, of course, Paul's most theological of his epistles. He gives us the theme of his epistle in chapter 1, verse 16. I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes. That's what he's talking about, the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's what he's expounding in this epistle. So he starts off by showing to people their need of the gospel. In chapter one, he talks about the Gentiles, the pagans, the people who don't have the law, who don't have the Bible. Even they know in their own selves that there's a God. The heavens declare the glory of God. that which may be known of God is manifest in them, even as eternal power and Godhead. God reveals himself in the conscience, he reveals himself in the creation, he gives to each one of us a sense of right and wrong, and none of us reach that standard. The Gentiles have a law in themselves, but they don't keep it. And then he turns in chapter two to the Jews, the Jews who were so privileged to have the law and the prophets who had the Bible, who had the teaching of God telling them what to do, what not to do, and proclaiming to them also the gospel, the covenant of grace. But sadly, the Jews who had the law didn't live up to the law. They didn't keep the law, and they stood condemned by it. And so in chapter three, it concludes, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth. There is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. None righteous, no, not one. And then he introduces the wonderful doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone. to the glory of God alone. And he tells us in the second part of chapter three about the work of Christ, his atoning work, his propitiation, turning away the wrath of God from us onto himself. And so he declares that the way of salvation is not of works, no, it's by faith, being justified by faith. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. So this doctrine, this fundamental doctrine of justification by faith alone, is proclaimed to us in the second half of chapter 3, chapter 4, and chapter 5. So what happens in chapter 6? He turns now to deal with sanctification. Chapter 6, chapter 7, chapter 8. And then in Chapter nine, he turns to election, 10 and 11, and he speaks of those people whom he loved so dearly as fellow Jews, elect in Old Testament times, but now rejected. Rejected because they rejected Christ. And he tells of how one day the Jews will also be brought into the church. but the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. And so all Israel shall be saved. A deliverer shall come out of Zion, turn away ungodliness from Jacob." And then chapter 12, on to the end of the epistle, he deals with the practical implications of this theology. So we're dealing then in chapter 6 to 8 with sanctification. Now, in chapter six, he's dealing with the beginning of sanctification. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Or how shall we that have died to sin live any longer therein? Now, some people believe that this chapter teaches perfectionism and that there's some people and they reach a perfect state in this life. John Wesley and the Methodists, they taught this kind of perfect love, perfectionism, that you could reach perfection in this life. Not that he claimed it for himself, but he thought others did. And then, of course, you got the Kessick theology, theology of the Kessick Convention and the Church of the Nazarene and other holiness movements, the idea that You let go and let God. If only you let go and relax and put your faith in God, in Jesus Christ for your sanctification, as well as your justification, then you'll get the second blessing. Then you'll reach a state of holiness and perfection. Let go and let God. Let us know with the Bible teachers. Bible teachers, geared up the loins of your mind. tells us, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. But it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do. It's not a matter of relaxing. It's a matter of working with all your might, striving to enter in at the straight gate, striving to follow the Master by faith, yes, sanctified by faith, truly. But yet, it's us working with all our might, and God working in us. For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. This chapter is not talking about perfectionism. It's not talking about a few who've attained perfection. Note what he says, how shall we but are dead to sin or died to sin. How shall we? He's talking about himself, yes, but he's also talking about the Romans to whom he has addressed this epistle. And he doesn't say, how shall some of you who have died to sin, but how shall we? He's talking about all the Christians in the church in Rome. This is true of them all. And it's true of every Christian who's here tonight. Every true Christian here tonight has died to sin. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? It's not a second blessing. It's not some baptism of the Holy Spirit. It's not some special Christians who have attained to some state of holiness or perfection. It's something that is true of all of us. And yet, there's something else we have to remember. There's no contradiction in the Scripture. And John says in his first epistle, John 1, verse 8, he says, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, chapter 1, verse 10, if we say that we have not sinned, we make them a liar. We make God a liar. We've all sinned, and we all sin. Every one of us sin. So, this passage is saying, we're dead to sin, and John is saying, we all sin. And indeed, so is Paul when we come into the next chapter, chapter seven, he says, I am carnal, sold under sin, verse 14. For that which I do, I allow not. I don't like it, I hate it. For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. If I do then that I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. He says further, the good, verse 19, for the good that I would, I do not, and the evil which I would not, that I do. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this dead? So, Paul himself is saying, you've died to sin, and yet sin is still there. So, what is all this referring to? Well, it's referring to what Professor John Murray called definitive definitive sanctification. What is sanctification? Well, our best definitions for our theology are, of course, to be found in the Shorter Catechism, that excellent little book. Sanctification is a work of God's grace whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God and enabled more and more to die unto sin and to live unto righteousness. There we have a brilliant definition. a definition of progressive sanctification, a work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man, bit by bit, after the image of God, shaped and formed into his image, an act of grace that's all of God, glory be to God, enabled more and more to die to sin and to live unto righteousness. progressive sanctification, but there's more to sanctification than progressive sanctification. Sanctification can be thought of as involving three steps. First, there's definitive sanctification, the big leap that people make in holiness when they're converted. And then that's followed by progressive sanctification, struggling against sin, the ups and downs, making headway, falling back, making headway again. And then at the end of our life, when we die, the completion of sanctification. The souls of believers are at their death, made perfect in holiness. and to immediately enter glory, and their bodies being still united to Christ, to rest in the grave until the resurrection. So you've got these three steps. First of all, when you're converted, you make a leap in holiness. And then there's the ups and downs of your life, and then when you die. up to perfection, the perfect state where sin is left behind forever and will never be tempted again. So, definitive sanctification, then, is the first step, and it's very important. It's important for us to realize what it's about. This whole chapter, chapter 6 of Romans, is dealing with definitive sanctification, that big leap in holiness, that radical break with sin. that radical cleavage with the past life. Definitive sanctification, it's not a work, it's an act. It happens in a moment. And in that moment, you know what happens? A sinner becomes a saint. Every Christian is a saint, and every unconverted person is a sinner. So you see the huge difference, a change from being a sinner into being a saint. It's interesting how Paul addresses the Romans in Romans 1, verse 7. He says, he addresses you, call to be saints. But if you look a little bit more closely, you notice that the words to be are in italics. They're not in the original. The Romans are called saints. That's what all is saying, called saints. You find the same thing, interestingly, in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 2, called to be saints. But the to be is added by the translators. It's in italics. Corinthian church, Corinthian Christians are called saints. Thankfully, in Philippians 1, verse 1, the translators didn't add the words to be. Paul writes in Philippians 1, verse 1, to all the saints in Christ Jesus with the bishops and deacons. Every Christian is a saint. A saint is not, as the Roman Catholics say, some special Christian who performed a miracle and has been dead so many years. And the saints are not simply those who are in heaven. Every Christian is a saint and stands out in this world as different. radically different from the unconverted. Conversion isn't a little decision. It's not a small change. It's a huge change. The new birth. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things have passed away. Behold, all things are made new. Do you think of yourself as a new creature? Old things have been passed, all things new. Do you think of yourself as somebody who's dead to sin? This is what Paul is saying in this chapter. He's talking about this huge change that has taken place. Let's go on down through the chapter and notice how he's referring to the Christians. Chapter six, verse three. Know ye not, as so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ, were baptized into his death? What is baptism? Baptism is essentially union, engrafting into Christ. It's being baptized into the Trinity. in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." So this is talking about unity, unity with Jesus Christ. And we are united to Christ in his death. 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, even so should we also walk in newness of life. Something amazing happened. You died. You were buried, and you rose. You died, united to Christ. You were buried, united to Christ to the old life, and you rose to a new life. The Baptists make a lot of this passage, and they say that it's teaching the mode of baptism, and that there has to be immersion. But when Christ was buried, he wasn't buried under the ground. He was buried in a cave. Didn't go under the ground. And to dip somebody under the water so that they're under the water for half a second, that's scarcely a picture of burial. They'd have to remain under the water for a time, wouldn't they, to be really buried. So, no, it's not talking about the mode of baptism. Rather, it's talking about the radical change that took place when we were converted. It's talking about definitive sanctification. buried with Christ and risen with Christ to a new life. Verse five, for if ye have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. You get the same idea there, grafted into Christ, united to Christ, planted with Christ, in Christ, in his death and so in his resurrection. And the same thing in verse 6, 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. The old man, crucified. The air is tense. Something that happens at a point in life. You died. Crucified. The old man crucified. We're not two men. People use that sometimes. They talk about the two men fighting within us, the old man and the new man. And of course, there is a war within us. And Paul talks about that war in chapter seven, talks about the law, the law of the spirit, and the law of sin and death, two principles. battling away inside us. Yes, there is that. Galatians 5, the flesh wars against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. There is a war going on inside us. That's not what Paul's referring to here. That's an ongoing thing. It belongs to progressive sanctification, which is referred to in chapters 7 and 8. But here in chapter 6, he's talking about the radical change, the break with the past. Don't have two men inside us, the old man is the unconverted man. Leave him behind you. You're a new man, be new. Sometimes people say that the Christian has two natures at war with them, and the old nature and the new nature. No, we only have one nature, human nature. Christ had two natures, divine nature, and a human nature united in one. But we don't have two natures. We only have one nature, one human nature, one human nature that's been transformed so that we are new men, new women in Christ Jesus. Knowing this then that our old man is crucified with him, but the body of sin might be destroyed. What's a body of sin? Some people think that the body of sin is a kind of lump of sin. But the term body is never used for a lump. It refers to our body. And sin sadly expresses itself in our body. Christ spoke of the heart as the source of all blasphemies and lusts and envies and so forth. Everything wicked comes from our heart, but from our soul through the body, that the body of sin might be destroyed. The body destroyed, the soul destroyed, because we're new. Be new, be new bodies, be new souls, be different. This is what he's saying to us. Remember the change that has taken place, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. A change has taken place. Don't go on serving sin. Don't be following sin and temptation and the devil. You have a new master, it's Christ. Satan used to be your master, but you've been set free from him. Walk in the liberty that is yours in the gospel, for he that is dead is freed from sin. You are dead with Christ. You're no longer slaves to sin. You were slaves to sin. There was a time when you couldn't do anything else but sin. Every moment of your life you were sinning. But now a change has taken place. You have been set free 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. We died with Christ, we're buried with Christ, we live with Christ. It's talking about the change that took place at conversion. Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him. Death will never again touch Christ, it can't. He's risen, he's conquered death, and so we too should be risen with Christ. For in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. So it's talking about something that happened once. Christ died once, and now he's risen. You died in Christ, and now you're risen. And then he comes to the exhortation. He comes to the great practical exhortation. Verse 11, likewise, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Think of yourselves as dead to sin. Consider yourself dead to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies. It used to reign in your bodies. Don't let it reign. Don't let sin reign over you. You're dead to sin. Don't let it come back as your master. Don't let it come in and dominate you. that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Don't be using your hands, your eyes, your mouth to sin the parts of your body, but yield yourselves unto God as those who are alive from the dead. Think of the change 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." At one time, you were under the law. You were under the covenant of works. You were under a broken covenant, cursed by that covenant, and the law had you in bondage, and the law was condemning you to hell. but you've been delivered from the covenant of works and brought into this new relationship of the covenant of grace. The law is your schoolmaster, yes, to bring you to Christ, and the law shows you your sins so that you came to Christ. There was no hope for you to keep the law, but you came to Christ, you believed in him, and so what happened? You were set free from the law. You're under grace. By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Set free by grace. from the law, no longer under its condemnation. You still have the law, of course, but it's as the rule of life for the Christians, not a law which condemns, it cannot condemn. And all your sins, past, present, and future, were forgiven the moment you were justified, all forgiven. You are not under the law, you are under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Will we go on sinning then because all our sins are forgiven? We're not under the law, the law can't condemn us, so go away, eat, drink and be merry, live and sin. How ridiculous. How shall we Look at the way it's put at the very beginning of the chapter. Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? How can you say such a foolish thing? How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer? If you're saying, yes, I'll go on and sin and sin and sin because all my sins are forgiven, shows you are never born again. You're still unconverted. You're not a Christian. Anyone who's a Christian loves God, and they love God's law, and they don't want to sin, and they hate sin. And if you love sin, a very bad sign indeed. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? away with such a foolish thought. Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. So if you yield yourselves to sin, to be the servants of sin, to the devil to serve him, you're the devil's servants and you are never, you've never experienced conversion. You're never born again. You are never definitively sanctified. but God be thanked that you were the servants of sin. You were that in the past, but ye have obeyed from the heart by the grace of God and the effectual calling of God and the work of his Holy Spirit. You have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered unto you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. You're not sin servants, you're the servants of righteousness. So, verse 19, I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity, the weakness of your flesh. As ye have yielded your members, servants, to uncleanness, unto iniquity, unto iniquity, even so now yield your members, servants, to righteousness, unto holiness. Just think back. Think back to your unconverted days. Think of how you used your body, the parts of your body. You yielded your members, servants, to iniquity, unto iniquity. Now, because this great change has taken place, let your body, every part of your body, be yielded up to God, to serve God. Use your whole body as members of righteousness unto holiness, servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when you were the servants of sin in the unconverted days, you were free from righteousness. You had no righteousness then in your unconverted days. What fruit had ye then of those things whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. That past life. What fruit did that past life have? It was just death. But now, being made free from sin, you've died to sin and become servants of God. You have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life. What a change. What a huge change. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Maybe you're here tonight and you don't know the change I'm talking about. It's never happened in you. Maybe you're still unconverted. Well, this verse tells us the wages of sin is death. Don't carry on the way you're going. It's death, death in the soul, death in the body, death forever in hell. But the gift of God, a free gift really available for you tonight, the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God is offering you a gift. Will you have it? Will you take it? Will you ask God for it? Will you put your trust and the Lord Jesus Christ, who's freely offered to you in the Gospel. But then, what is the implication of all this for us then as Christians? Yes, there is such a thing as progressive sanctification. Paul talks about that so clearly in Romans 7. the struggle, the two laws, the two principles fighting within him. He says in verse 14, I am carnal. I am so fleshly, I feel so fleshly, sold under sin. Not like Ahab selling myself to sin, but I feel sometimes like I'm sold under sin. The good that I would, I do not, and the evil which I would not, that I do. I find myself so often doing the very thing I hate. And he cries out, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Is Paul despairing here? Definitely not. Look at what he says. I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Yes, there are times when we feel like despairing, but we always thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. We're not under the law, but under grace. We are more than conquerors through him who loved us and gave himself for us. And we, through the Spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body so that we shall live. Yes, we will crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts, we war against it, we go on warring as Christians, but we rejoice that a huge change took place when we were converted. Be the light of the world, be the salt of the earth, be different from those who are around you. Think of the huge change that has taken place and live. in the light of that change. Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ your Lord, and set yourself on the side of the Spirit, warring against the flesh. More and more, by God's grace, overcome the flesh. I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. What a wonderful truth. You cannot be condemned and God who has begun the good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. O Lord our God, we rejoice in thy saving grace. We rejoice that thou didst not leave us dead in trespasses and sins. Thou didst not leave us under the wrath and curse of God, slaves to Satan, but thou didst do a huge thing in our lives. We thank thee for definitive sanctification. We thank thee, O Lord, that thou didst call us with an effectual call, a powerful call, called out of darkness into thy marvellous light, and thou didst regenerate us so that we were born again, so that we are a new creature in Christ Jesus. Thou didst sanctify us. We praise thee for it, that we are not sinners like those around us, but saints. And yet, O Lord, we are so conscious that we still sin, but help us more and more to die unto sin, and to live unto righteousness, and to be conformed to the image of Christ. from day to day, grant to us victory, to wrestle, to fight, and to pray, to be more than conquerors, through him who loved us and gave himself for us. Strengthen us then with all might in the inner man, forgive us for all our sins, for Jesus' sake. Amen.