I confess there was a time at Shepshed when we sought annually to preach on this chapter Romans chapter 6. Alan Stenfeld is a name that is probably well known to some of you he was with us in fellowship for a number of years and whenever I preached on Romans chapter 6 and said this is the annual sermon he'd say preach it again next week brother why don't you preach Romans chapter 6 every single week of the year. What's so special about Romans chapter 6? Well, it is a chapter which contains one of the most freeing, one of the most liberating truths a Christian can ever know. The truth that we find here in many ways is basic, it's foundational, it's simple, and it's absolutely glorious. Because here in chapter 6, the Apostle Paul describes the greatest transformation known to the human race. And the marvelous thing about this is that many of us here in this room tonight have experienced this greatest transformation known to the human race. And as Paul describes what that is, he emphasizes that once this change has taken place in our lives, we need to understand what it is that's taken place and then to live it out. that's one of our great pastoral needs is to understand what it is that has happened to us and how we are then to live out what has happened to us. I must confess that whenever I preach on a subject that we're going to look at this evening which is from verse 12 I must say perhaps your pastor would say the same I don't know there's always a personal cost of preaching the subject we're looking at tonight because here in this chapter of great transformation and freedom is a command where we as Christians are commanded to not let sin reign in our mortal bodies that's the command and the great personal cost sometimes is that after you preach something like this you quite rightly in some ways suffer for it in your own life and the relevance of the words physician heal thyself the relevance of the words practice what you preach never become more apparent because tonight our theme is that of mortification putting to death indwelling sin and so from that great liberating chapter let's just focus in tonight on a few words from verse 12 where the apostle writing to believers gives this very clear instruction in verse 12 he says do not let sin reign in your mortal body and we're going to particularly focus on those first words don't let sin reign that's the command that's the instruction and it's to believers it's a command to us and of course it's also a great encouragement to us don't let sin reign And I hope it will come preached out of an encouraging heart this evening. It's a very clear instruction. It's a very stark command. Christian, brother or sister, don't let sin reign. And I want you to notice that that command is evidently, obviously, the very natural consequence and flow of what Paul has been saying in this chapter. Although it sounds stark to us, it's where he must go, he must end up. That's why the verse begins with the word therefore. It's connected with what he's been saying previously. verse 11 he's commanded them to reckon themselves count yourself as a believer dead to sin and alive to God in the Lord Jesus Christ therefore don't let sin reign because verse 11 is true the natural follow-on is verse 12 therefore don't let sin reign You see, verses 2 to 10 have been Paul describing how the Christian is dead to sin. That's why he's able to say in verse 11, reckon yourselves dead to sin, because that's what's true. There's been a progress in the chapter. In verse 2, he's described that once and for all event when he says, hallelujah, you died to sin. once and for all you die to the totalitarian regime and tyranny of sin you die to its power you die to its penalty therefore reckon yourselves dead to sin and don't let sin reign followed by his very helpful then application throughout the rest of the chapter because you died to sin and that's what happened when you became a christian we'll look at that a little later on reckon yourselves dead to sin because it's true and a lie to God and don't let sin reign don't let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts you see that's what will happen if you're disobedient to the command you'll be obeying its lusts Verse 13, don't present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but rather, very positively, present yourselves to God and your members as instruments of righteousness to God and the reason given by the apostle, for sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace. It's a stark command. but it's an encouraging command and it follows on from the glorious truth about what it is that we now are as people who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't let sin reign. I may let me give a little background here, not to Romans or to this chapter, but it does seem to me that at times, and it might seem strange, but we need to raise our awareness or our understanding of sin. Why do I say that? Well, it seems to me that we're in danger, or there is a danger, that sin is utterly disappearing from the national consciousness. Therefore we need to be wise ourselves as to what sin is because we're instructed not to let it reign. And isn't it true that sin is being sidelined and soft-peddled in the church? Even in the Bible-believing church? When we come to discuss sin, are we not in danger of it being recognized in terms only of society's flagrant sins to which some more self-righteous Christians can just stand on the edge and tut-tut at? When it comes to the subject of sin, isn't there a danger of it being recognized only as an issue for others? Friends, isn't it true that when we come to sin there's a great danger that self-righteousness abounds? Isn't it true that the sins of the saints, corporate and individual, sometimes barely seem to register on the radar? Rarely confessed in the prayer meeting at all. I'm not encouraging us to completely pour out our hearts in front of others but where in the prayer meeting is a confession of sin, together as a people? Largely it seems to me it's absent. and that's frankly because we are guilty as charged we are unlike our better forefathers who wrote and then read and devoured books for the title of the sinfulness of sin or the mischief of sin or the anatomy of secret sin or the exceeding sinfulness of sin they're not likely to be your best sellers on Christian bookshop stores today are they? Yes, we recognize something of its seriousness, as we should. It's nothing short of lawlessness, nothing short of transgression, of falling short. It's iniquity. All sin is Godward. All sin is deserving of eternal condemnation. But once it was very clearly seen as those things and the adjectives that I'm about to read to you were found in describing it. Diabolical, vile, ugly, odious, malignant, pernicious, which means gradually harmful, hideous, poisonous, deadly. I suspect that our forefathers had a raised awareness of sin compared to ours. Well, we know it's serious because it's the issue that Jesus came to deal with. He will save his people from their sin. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. But this evening, I'm just putting forward the view and then from the Scriptures. Is it not true that the issue of indwelling sin for believers is something that has to be addressed as a priority? You know, in our own hearts tonight we ought to be able to name those sins that we're not letting rain, those sins that we are battling against. You see, it seems to me the New Testament letters abound in ethical commands that address the indwelling sin of believers. Paul describes it as a daily warfare, does he not? Galatians 5.17 For the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things you wish. And isn't it true tonight that this struggle is experienced by all of us on a daily basis? Don't you know there's a war on? And if we're followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, then we know that our battle is against the world, the flesh, and the devil. And if you're anything like me, then the battle really, most of all, is against the flesh. It's a battle against indwelling sin. You see we're told here that sin has a continued presence and a ceaseless activity in the life of the believer. You die to sin, sin is dethroned as a reigning power. It no longer says jump and you say how high. As a power it's been dethroned, yet it still exerts a controlling influence or seeks to control, seeks to exert a controlling influence. and that's why the commands are fulsome Paul says in Romans 8 if by the spirit you put to death the deeds of the flesh you will live to the church at Corinth he says and I quote him let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit perfecting holiness in fear of God To the Colossians, he says, put to death your members which are on the earth. Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature. To Ephesians, he says, put off concerning your former conduct the old man which grows corrupt according to deceitful lusts. I'm just trying to show you that this message that we're looking at tonight is not only found in Romans 6.12. James says that we're to lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness. Peter instructs us we are to abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. Do we not need a growing awareness of sin that we might obey the commandment not to let it reign? Jerry Bridges in his interesting little book on what he calls respectable, he's being ironic, respectable sins, speaks about the Apostle Paul's growing awareness himself of indwelling sin. He makes an interesting point. He says how in A.D. 55, when writing 1 Corinthians, Paul describes himself as the least of the apostles. The least of the apostles. Five years later, writing his letter to Ephesus, he describes himself as less than the least of all the saints. He seems to have gone down even in his own estimation. And then three or four years later, when he writes to Timothy, he describes himself as the chief of sinners. And Jerry Bridges argues that it seems that Paul had an increased awareness of his own sin as he matured in the Christian faith. Now it's both a relief and a heartache to know that all true believers have sin remaining in them in this life. It is not supposed to comfort us that we should become complacent about sin. It reminds us where our daily fight really lies. We are commanded to constantly kill the sin that remains in our lives. It's not optional. This is mortal combat. Sin dies or we do. Not ever that we become perfect in this age. We go on killing sins as they attack us from day to day. But friends, it's a really healthy reminder, isn't it? At least to me. We are not to settle in with sin. We're to fight it and to kill it. and John Owen particularly has many helpful things to say about how we do that and I wanted to begin with this tonight after that introduction I think it's really helpful for us as believers to develop a growing awareness of what the Bible says is our deadness to sin in other words in this battle where we are commanded not to let sin reign it's really healthy to develop a growing awareness in a sense of the gospel because as believers we kill sin in the context of the gospel in the context of the cross there's a great danger we set ourselves to work on an area of sin in our lives and we forget the gospel and so the work that we do becomes a work of the flesh and not a work of faith We forget that God has forgiven us our sin because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. We forget that he's also credited to us marvelously, wonderfully, the perfect righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Our sins are forgiven and we are accepted as righteous by God because of the sinless, sin-bearing death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we're to kill sin, not to let it reign in the light of the wonderful work of Jesus on the cross. And it seems to me that's what Paul is saying here. The way to not let sin reign to begin with is to firstly remember that you died. It seems to me here that Paul is outlining what happened, how it happened and why it happened. And that's what we need to remember and reflect on. Don't let sin reign in your mortal body. Where do I start? Well, you start where Paul started. And you remember that you died to sin. You take to heart, or you take heart from the truth, that the old sinful you, all you were in Adam, is decisively already dead. You died once and for all to sin. what was once true of you is now no longer true of you sin once mastered you it masters you no longer verse 14 it once held you in dominion verse 17 it once enslaved you verse 20 it once imprisoned you and hallelujah you've been set free you died to sin paul says chapter 6 and verse 2 he doesn't say you are dying to sin he doesn't say you ought to have died to sin he doesn't say we are dying as a process he says once and for all complete and in the past you died to sin it's in the light of that that he says don't let sin reign you died to sin that's what happened how did it happen well remember how you die Paul says it was by faith. By faith you are united to the Lord Jesus Christ so that his death on the cross for sin was your death. He died for you to do away once and for all with your sin. Which means that the mortal blow to your old man was struck. And the old man will not succeed in domination now. His final obliteration is certain. The old self was crucified. The Lord took a hold of him, made it part of himself, and did away with it once and for all on the cross. I died to sin. And by coming in repentance of faith to the Lord Jesus and being united to him as we've sung this evening, had died to sin. And why did that happen in our lives? Well, the old man died and he's dead. Why? That we might walk in newness of life. Verse 4, we were saved to live a new life, a clean life, a life that's pleasing to our God and our What happened? You died. How? By being united to Jesus in faith. Why? That you might be a new creation, no more in condemnation. Here in the grace of God, I stand to live a new life that's pleasing to God. So seek to live in that freedom. Live out the reality that you are. That's the proof that you are what you claim to be. If you can reckon yourself dead to sin, if you're instructed by the Bible to reckon yourselves dead to sin and alive to God, it must be true and it is. And in the light of that, Christian brother or sister, don't let sin reign. Remember the glorious transformation which has taken place in your life. And if you're an unbeliever here this evening, then you cannot reckon yourselves dead to sin, because the Bible says that you are still dead in sin. Massive difference in those two little words. But if we're not a Christian tonight, if we've not trusted Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, then we remain dead in trespass and sin. And I urge you to throw yourself upon the mercy of God this evening. To turn from your deadness and your unbelief. To repent of your sin and to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In believing you will be united to Him. And then these wonderful words will be true for you as well. What happened to me? I died to sin. How? By being united by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? That I might live in newness of life. Secondly, tonight, the first was develop a growing awareness of your deadness to sin. Remember the gospel. Preach the gospel to yourself each and every day. And then secondly, develop a growing awareness and hatred of sin and fight it now many of us here tonight are thinking it's been a while since I heard something, it's been a while since I've done anything about this come on friends let's develop a growing awareness and hatred of sin and fight it how do we do that? number one very simple we we read the Bible you see we can't afford not to be in our Bibles every day when we're living the life of faith when we're fighting the fight of faith we need to know what it is that we're fighting so we need to be reading our Bibles because as we read our Bibles it brings to our minds and our sight an array of sins that we are obliged to be killing all sin is sin and frankly we may need to identify some specific sins to which we ourselves are particularly partial you see for some of us there are sins which in all honesty and we know it are dangerously established in our lives they're what our forefathers would have called besetting sins they're so ingrained they're a real issue pastorally because they're so ingrained they tend to argue deceitfully of course that sin hasn't been dethroned at all when it has but it's a real issue when they are so ingrained so prominent so much part of us that sometimes even perversely we barely want to lose them because sometimes the sin has almost come to define us and to be part of our identity miserable missus or mister so-and-so is known to be miserable and sometimes part of their problem is that they don't want to lose their misery because it's so much part of them it's their identity and being so miserable gets them the attention that it does and so there's no desire within them to kill the sin there are other sins aren't there that we've compromised with because we've received a buzz and so much pleasure from them that they've made them feel better about ourselves so we've let them in they've given us a high we've not employed this verse at all to not let sin reign we've not put to death the misdeeds of the body at all you see there are some sins which are even regular companions aren't there We can almost treat them as old friends. If there was a photograph every day of our lives, they're always there. They're such companions. To lose them would almost be a grief. We get so much comfort from them. We've accepted them. And back to Jerry Bridges' little book, Respectable Sins, many of them are the things which we regard foolishly as respectable. We need to be reading our Bibles to identify what it is that is not to reign. Secondly, we are to stir up a hatred of sin. You see in Romans chapter 8 and verse 13 when we're told to kill sin, sin is no friend. You don't kill your friends. You kill enemies. And sin is an enemy. And sometimes we need to meditate upon that truth. We need to meditate afresh as we mentioned this morning upon the cross because at one level it was our sin that held him there until it was accomplished. At one level it was our sin that killed our Saviour and Lord. We need to remind ourselves of the sinfulness of sin. It's godliness. It dishonours the Father. It aims to destroy you. Don't shirk from calling it what it is. You see, we downgraded, for example, adultery, haven't we? Well, it's now only an affair. All sin is sin. It's all a departure from God. It's all defiance. It's all a despising. It's all a dishonouring. It's all despicable. It's all a denial. It's all daft and adrift. Sometimes we simply never stirred up any hatred towards it. Read of its consequences in the Scriptures. read of Achan's sin in Joshua and what happened to him and his family read the sins of Ananias and Sapphira and what happened to them number one as you develop a growing awareness and hatred of sin read your Bible to identify what you need to be addressing and secondly stir up a hatred against it thirdly are we not to rebel against its presence and its ceaseless activity it is attempting a coup And it is our responsibility to diligently pursue all practical steps for dealing with our sins. And sometimes we simply need a healthy reminder as a wake-up call. We're to refuse to be bullied by its deceits and its manipulations. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Those temptations to sin that we are prone to listen to are at best half truths and half lies. Paul calls them the fruit of the lusts of deceit in Ephesians. we're to be rebelling against its presence and ceaseless activity we're to fight our sinful impulses with all of our might Paul says he did like a boxer fights an opponent and a marathon runner fights fatigue that's how Paul those are the pictures Paul uses when he describes how he fights his own sinful impulses I was reading a blog this week by the director of the FIEC, not often that I would quote John, but there in the context of pastors he said these, I found really helpful words, they're about this very subject. He said contemporary Christian culture seems to teach that the way to avoid sin is to love Christ more. so that we fight sin by delighting in the beauty of Christ and the greater treasures we have in him. And you may be familiar that that is how contemporary Christian culture seems to teach us to avoid sin. John then says, and I think he's right, he says, I'm sure that this is true, but it is an unbalanced perspective if taken alone. he goes on to say this and I thought he was spot on in the desire to avoid cold legalism we must not forget that scripture also calls us to fear sin and to fear the consequences of sin and we should be dishonouring our Lord Jesus Christ and dishonouring the Gospel testimony of the Church and dishonouring our wives and becoming disqualified from our ministries. That was his context. There can be no complacency or no downplaying of the inevitable consequences of failure. We need to fight the ceaseless activity of sin within our lives. And then fourthly, we're not to make any plans to open the door to sin. Aren't we stupid? Is it not our habit that we like to go right to the edge very often? You know, oh, we're not playing with fire, but we're standing there as close as we possibly can without getting burnt with sin. Whereas if you've got a cliff there and a cliff there, you'd stand in the middle, wouldn't you? But we don't. In our foolishness, Paul says, make no provision for the flesh to gratify its desires. I hope you don't mind me saying that you don't prove your purity by going into a pornography shop. You do not prove your commitment to simplicity at an upmarket shopping mall. You stand in the middle, you don't get close to wearer's temptation. but prone to wander Lord we feel it prone to leave a God that we love. Paul says don't feed the flesh. though it's a matter of the heart we all know that we're particularly vulnerable aren't we in certain circumstances when certain people are present when certain conversations develop some sins as it were have their triggers and we need to wise up and survey what's ahead and anticipate and say you know there's no harm in going to that but for me I can't go I just know that I'm so vulnerable they will be there this will develop and for me I'm so weak I've got to acknowledge it and I've just got to stay away make no provision for the flesh you know be honest with yourself and know yourself and the lie of the land and stay clear of the end I've encouraged you first of all tonight to develop a growing awareness of what it is to be dead to sin. Secondly, I'm still encouraging you to develop a growing awareness and hatred of sin, fighting it. Read your Bible to be clear what it is you're fighting. Stir up a hatred of sin, rebel against its presence and ceaseless activity, and don't make any plans to open the door for sin. And then fifthly, to add to those, read the Bible and memorize certain applicable scriptures. How did Jesus face temptation? By reciting the word of God. Your word I have hidden in my heart that I might not sin against you. And hidden means to store up for future use. You know yourself. Find those verses which are most applicable to you and store them up. Hide them in your heart that you might not sin against God. Remind yourself of your deadness to sin because of the gospel. Develop an increasing hatred. Stir up a hatred as you fight sin. And then thirdly this evening add to that taking positive steps. I know it's a bit of a cricketing analogy which is probably still more male than female in our society and I apologise for that but we need to be on the front foot don't we when it comes to the battle. So often we're on the back foot and they're bowling bouncers at us or whatever and we're just ducking and we need to be on the front foot. We need to be developing good mental habits that are constantly renewing our minds in God-centeredness, Romans 12 and verse 2. Surely that's why we're instructed to fix our daily attention on the things that are above, Colossians 3, 2, or on the things of the Spirit, Romans 8 and 5. How much of our difficulty with sin is that we're not first of all putting into practice these very positive instructions? Let your mind dwell on whatever is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtue and praiseworthy. That's how Paul instructs the church at Philippi chapter 4 and verse 8. And how many of our problems begin when our minds have not dwelt first on whatever is true or noble or just or lovely or praiseworthy. And so we're caught on the back foot and we're towards the edge. Secondly, we are to declare, as Paul makes clear in this chapter, our radical allegiance to the other side, to God. some of us seem to be quite fearful of doing this lukewarmness abounds but we are consciously to put all of our heart and mind and body at his disposal for righteousness and purity's sake and how many of us are struggling because we're not thinking upon those things which are above and then we're not declaring a radical allegiance to God yes i am yours with all of my heart and soul and strength and mine surely that's why paul in this context says come on present yourselves to god as those who have been brought from death to life and present your members to god as instruments for righteousness positively offer yourself to god every day and the members of your body to god as instruments of righteousness be on the front foot Develop those positive steps. And admit your failure. Confessing all your known sin to God. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. I can hear now Stuart Olliop preaching on that verse many years ago. We sin every day, we're sinned against every day, and here's what to do. sin every day we are sinned against every day forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us when we confess our sins he's faithful and just to forgive us all of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness i do hope that personal confession is part of your daily war I sometimes go to churches where there are people who've joined independency from Anglicanism and on occasion they'll make the comment at the end of the service, it was just so good to have a prayer of confession this morning. They were so used to it in Anglican church and they find it's a missing mark sometimes in independency. Thankfully it's not been a missing mark here this evening. We're to confess our sins to God and ask for his forgiveness. Before I conclude, can I mention one other very important aspect? It's why we sang what we sang. Ask for the Holy Spirit's help in prayer. It is by the Spirit that we put to death the sin in our lives. Humble yourself to ask for His help and power in all of these things. We don't do these things by our own willpower. Our need of the enabling of God the Holy Spirit is constant. All that is good in us is a fruit of the Spirit. Ezekiel and Isaiah both tell us that it's He who causes us to walk as we should. So ask Him to show you where you fall short in this area. Ask Him to show you if you have those besetting sins, those sins which are a comfort, those sins that would be a bit of a grief to you if you were obedient in putting them to death. Ask Him. You may need humility and a willingness to face the answer, but ask Him. Lord, what are those sins under my own roof, my own family, with my own wife, or my own husband, or my own children? Lord, Daily I'm committing and they're going unnoticed and they're hurting others but Lord all sin is firstly against you. Where am I just blind? Where's the sin I've compromised with? Where are the regular companions? But Lord help me to cleanse myself from all. And do that in your general prayer times and in those arrow prayers. Those moments when you feel vulnerable, those moments when you know the tug of sin to do something. Be very specific in prayer. Lord, please don't let me go down that road. Lord, don't let this thought develop. Lord, please help me. We're too proud to ask that prayer today. Paul says, brothers and sisters, don't let sin reign. Develop a growing awareness of what is your deadness to sin because you died to sin through being united to our Lord Jesus Christ that you might live in newness of life. Preach the gospel to yourself. Secondly, develop a growing awareness and hatred of sin and fight it. Reading the Bible, cultivating a hatred of sin, rebelling against it, making no provision for it, memorizing and using the scriptures for the fight against sin. Take positive steps, setting your heart and mind on things above. Declare that radical wholehearted allegiance to God in Christ. And make confession of sin a daily exercise. Asking in prayer for the Holy Spirit's help. That way, God helping us, we will not let sin