Sanctification for Life! – Romans 6:1-7
by Pastor Lee Hemen
November 19, 2006
At no time did I think that when my best friend and I got caught for taking pop bottles from the back of John’s Grandway, a local grocery store, that we would be told not to do it again and let go. And make no mistake we never dreamed that because we were forgiven the first time that we should press our luck and try doing it again. Yet there are those who actually think this is true! They think that God is their best buddy and that He just kind of winks at sin, because didn’t Jesus die for our sins, and God is love after all, right? This is convoluted thinking.
We discover that there were those in Paul’s day who had the same misguided notion about Jesus. They may have not actually believed that what they were saying was true, but they wanted others to think that this is what Paul was teaching about God and His view of our sin. Now before you think I was a Juvenile delinquent and that I made a habit of pilfering pop bottles, it simply is and was not true. We found them piled in a heap in the back alley and never thought that this was where the store actually kept them. We were only about 8 or 9 years old at the time. Hardly Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but still I admit that we had sinned. However, when confronted we realized our mistake, asked for forgiveness quickly, and were even willing to make amends. To our surprised relief we were let us go with a warning not to do it again. Paul relates to his readers that salvation should lead a person to better living. Holy living, in fact. It is sanctification for life. Let’s discover how this is true this morning…
READ: Romans 6:1-7
Here in chapter six Paul moves on and begins to relate what happens to people’s lives when their sins are forgiven and they are declared righteous in God’s sight. It begins a lifelong process of holy living known as sanctification. Paul said that sanctification is for life because of two factors. The first being that…
I. We Are Dead to Sin (vv. 1-4)!
1. Paul had just written that where sin increased, grace increased all the more. The question would be immediately raised, “Why not sin even more and get even more grace?” This is spiritual nonsense of course. That would be like my buddy and I saying, “Hey! Since we were so graciously forgiven once for taking pop bottles, let’s go do it again, and this time let’s take even more of them so we can earn even more forgiveness!” Of course the answer to such a stupid idea is, “No way!” Paul says that the believer dies to sin, “how can we live in it any longer?” While sin does not die, we are to die to sin! If we obey sin in our lives, then it is alive to us. But when we say “NO!” to sin and live for Christ, we live holy lives! Sin lies on the other side of the grave for the believer. Paul would emphatically state that we “were baptized into His (Jesus’) death…. in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life!’ In fact, Paul was incredulous and asked, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Paul knew that sanctification for life begins with knowing that we are dead to sin.
EXAMPLE: When we rode our bicycles home that afternoon, we knew the store manager would phone ahead to our parents and let them know what had happened. Everyone knew everyone in the small town of Wenatchee. At first we dreaded going home, but we knew there was no alternative. No circus was in town we could run away with, and we were too young to join the Marines. Yet, by the time I hit the front screen door of my house, I had determined that I would just come clean to my life of crime. Let the pop bottle caps fall where they may. My heart sank when my Dad immediately asked, “So, find any pop bottles son?” I knew he knew, so I related the whole sordid tale of my miscreant afternoon. My Dad just looked at me, smiled, and said, “So, I guess you learned a lesson about honesty, huh?” And that was that. What a relief! It was like a ton of bricks being taken off my shoulders, I can tell you. I vowed right then and there never to take another pop bottle that did not belong to me. And that is what God’s grace is to incur in our lives as well. For Paul it was so marvelous to be forgiven of one’s sin, why would anyone want to sin more? Wouldn’t that be foolish? If you are saved, you are dead to sin, why make it alive again in your life? Sanctification for life begins with knowing we are dead to sin!
Christians have often lately misapplied the term “born again.” It is more than a new code of conduct or finding a new way to live life through twelve easy steps. It is no triviality. It is a new birth. A spiritual rebirth. The lives of people who claim Jesus as their Savior and Lord are to be different from that moment on. It does not mean that sin no longer exists, nor that you may not fall prey to it again. However, it does mean your life will take on a new direction. A holy change of course. In fact, Paul relates that while we are dead to sin, the second factor for sanctification for life is that…
II. We Are Raised for Life (vv. 5-7)!
1. There is a good reason why this is true: Paul says that “since” (not “If,” like the NIV) “we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.” He was completely assured of his relationship with God! He knew that a seed has to die and be buried in the ground before it can produce a crop! In fact this should be a liberating thing for the believer! Why? Paul would say, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).” In fact we will discover that Paul dramatically writes that “now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life (v. 6:16)!” We “know” with certainty that “our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin!” We had to die in order to be resurrected! We had to die in order to be born again! And when we are born again, we are not bound by our sin because we are dead to it! When we died to sin, we were reborn into grace. In Christ we are set free. Sin only brings about death. Death of the sacrifice, death of the one caught by its power, death of the Son of God, and eternal death to those held in its power, but to us who are saved—we are raised for life! Sanctification for life means being alive to Christ and dead to sin. Because He lives, we too can live. We are raised for life!
EXAMPLE: Whenever we would ride by the alley where we had taken those pop bottles from, we would tease one another and ask, “Want to go get a pop?” Neither of us ever went into that alley again. In fact, it was kind of like it was off limits to us. Radioactive or something. And because of that we never had to worry about it again. Did that mean I never sinned again? No. Did it mean that I became perfect? My mother would vouch that this was never true! Yet, I was never again tempted to do a pop bottle caper. I also learned that when I was honest with my father, he respected me for it and it later made talking to him a whole lot easier. The same is true for the Christian and their lives in Christ. Knowing that sin holds no power over you unless you let it, and that when you do blow it, you have someone who loves you and is willing to listen to your cry for help. In fact, He will give you the strength to endure and triumph over it. Why? Well, Paul would tell you it is because we are dead to sin and raised for life!
Conclusion:
We are dead to sin and raise for life! What two wonderful factors to know and live by. Now, what will you do with what you have learned?
by Pastor Lee Hemen
November 19, 2006
At no time did I think that when my best friend and I got caught for taking pop bottles from the back of John’s Grandway, a local grocery store, that we would be told not to do it again and let go. And make no mistake we never dreamed that because we were forgiven the first time that we should press our luck and try doing it again. Yet there are those who actually think this is true! They think that God is their best buddy and that He just kind of winks at sin, because didn’t Jesus die for our sins, and God is love after all, right? This is convoluted thinking.
We discover that there were those in Paul’s day who had the same misguided notion about Jesus. They may have not actually believed that what they were saying was true, but they wanted others to think that this is what Paul was teaching about God and His view of our sin. Now before you think I was a Juvenile delinquent and that I made a habit of pilfering pop bottles, it simply is and was not true. We found them piled in a heap in the back alley and never thought that this was where the store actually kept them. We were only about 8 or 9 years old at the time. Hardly Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, but still I admit that we had sinned. However, when confronted we realized our mistake, asked for forgiveness quickly, and were even willing to make amends. To our surprised relief we were let us go with a warning not to do it again. Paul relates to his readers that salvation should lead a person to better living. Holy living, in fact. It is sanctification for life. Let’s discover how this is true this morning…
READ: Romans 6:1-7
Here in chapter six Paul moves on and begins to relate what happens to people’s lives when their sins are forgiven and they are declared righteous in God’s sight. It begins a lifelong process of holy living known as sanctification. Paul said that sanctification is for life because of two factors. The first being that…
I. We Are Dead to Sin (vv. 1-4)!
1. Paul had just written that where sin increased, grace increased all the more. The question would be immediately raised, “Why not sin even more and get even more grace?” This is spiritual nonsense of course. That would be like my buddy and I saying, “Hey! Since we were so graciously forgiven once for taking pop bottles, let’s go do it again, and this time let’s take even more of them so we can earn even more forgiveness!” Of course the answer to such a stupid idea is, “No way!” Paul says that the believer dies to sin, “how can we live in it any longer?” While sin does not die, we are to die to sin! If we obey sin in our lives, then it is alive to us. But when we say “NO!” to sin and live for Christ, we live holy lives! Sin lies on the other side of the grave for the believer. Paul would emphatically state that we “were baptized into His (Jesus’) death…. in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life!’ In fact, Paul was incredulous and asked, “We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” Paul knew that sanctification for life begins with knowing that we are dead to sin.
EXAMPLE: When we rode our bicycles home that afternoon, we knew the store manager would phone ahead to our parents and let them know what had happened. Everyone knew everyone in the small town of Wenatchee. At first we dreaded going home, but we knew there was no alternative. No circus was in town we could run away with, and we were too young to join the Marines. Yet, by the time I hit the front screen door of my house, I had determined that I would just come clean to my life of crime. Let the pop bottle caps fall where they may. My heart sank when my Dad immediately asked, “So, find any pop bottles son?” I knew he knew, so I related the whole sordid tale of my miscreant afternoon. My Dad just looked at me, smiled, and said, “So, I guess you learned a lesson about honesty, huh?” And that was that. What a relief! It was like a ton of bricks being taken off my shoulders, I can tell you. I vowed right then and there never to take another pop bottle that did not belong to me. And that is what God’s grace is to incur in our lives as well. For Paul it was so marvelous to be forgiven of one’s sin, why would anyone want to sin more? Wouldn’t that be foolish? If you are saved, you are dead to sin, why make it alive again in your life? Sanctification for life begins with knowing we are dead to sin!
Christians have often lately misapplied the term “born again.” It is more than a new code of conduct or finding a new way to live life through twelve easy steps. It is no triviality. It is a new birth. A spiritual rebirth. The lives of people who claim Jesus as their Savior and Lord are to be different from that moment on. It does not mean that sin no longer exists, nor that you may not fall prey to it again. However, it does mean your life will take on a new direction. A holy change of course. In fact, Paul relates that while we are dead to sin, the second factor for sanctification for life is that…
II. We Are Raised for Life (vv. 5-7)!
1. There is a good reason why this is true: Paul says that “since” (not “If,” like the NIV) “we have been united with Him like this in His death, we will certainly also be united with Him in His resurrection.” He was completely assured of his relationship with God! He knew that a seed has to die and be buried in the ground before it can produce a crop! In fact this should be a liberating thing for the believer! Why? Paul would say, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).” In fact we will discover that Paul dramatically writes that “now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life (v. 6:16)!” We “know” with certainty that “our old self was crucified with Him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been freed from sin!” We had to die in order to be resurrected! We had to die in order to be born again! And when we are born again, we are not bound by our sin because we are dead to it! When we died to sin, we were reborn into grace. In Christ we are set free. Sin only brings about death. Death of the sacrifice, death of the one caught by its power, death of the Son of God, and eternal death to those held in its power, but to us who are saved—we are raised for life! Sanctification for life means being alive to Christ and dead to sin. Because He lives, we too can live. We are raised for life!
EXAMPLE: Whenever we would ride by the alley where we had taken those pop bottles from, we would tease one another and ask, “Want to go get a pop?” Neither of us ever went into that alley again. In fact, it was kind of like it was off limits to us. Radioactive or something. And because of that we never had to worry about it again. Did that mean I never sinned again? No. Did it mean that I became perfect? My mother would vouch that this was never true! Yet, I was never again tempted to do a pop bottle caper. I also learned that when I was honest with my father, he respected me for it and it later made talking to him a whole lot easier. The same is true for the Christian and their lives in Christ. Knowing that sin holds no power over you unless you let it, and that when you do blow it, you have someone who loves you and is willing to listen to your cry for help. In fact, He will give you the strength to endure and triumph over it. Why? Well, Paul would tell you it is because we are dead to sin and raised for life!
Conclusion:
We are dead to sin and raise for life! What two wonderful factors to know and live by. Now, what will you do with what you have learned?
Comments
In Christ
Angie