The True Believer Is Dead To Sin
Romans 6:1-2
You know, back when Martin Luther unintentionally began the Protestant Reformation by preaching the Gospel--that sinners are only saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone apart from any personal works or merits of their own—one of the charges brought against his preaching by the Roman Catholic Church was that if this is the case—that a person can be saved and in fact, kept saved, by God's grace alone irregardless of a person's works whether they be bad or good--then why be concerned about sin at all?
They went further in their attacks against Luther and his preaching to say that he and his false gospel were actually encouraging people to sin because after all, if God's grace is greater than all of our sin then why not keep on sinning?
But not only was his Gospel offensive to the Catholics—it also upset those groups which believed that whereas a sinner was saved by grace—his salvation was preserved by his own good works. They felt that to emphasize God's grace too much to believers was to do away with the very thing that would motivate them to holiness which was the fear of losing their salvation.
And finally, there were others within Luther's own camp who struggled with the idea that a truly saved person could not out sin God's grace. Whereas, they believed it to be true—they felt it wise not to proclaim it too much for fear that it would lead to believers pursuing sin with reckless abandon simply because they thought God would forgive them.
And it has been my experience in ministry that even today in churches that preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ that some well-meaning believers sometimes struggle with the ramifications of preaching the truth that where sin abounds in the child of God's life—God's grace abounds all the more—especially, when it comes to others. What I mean is this—can you imagine the trouble that could arise within Christian circles if we taught this truth without qualifying it in any way. I mean—even though its true—would it be wise to teach a bunch of Christian teenagers that they can't out sin the grace of God and that irregardless of what their sin may be it can be forgiven by the grace of God and that their sin has absolutely no bearing upon their acceptance with God whatsoever. I mean—you might as well just tell them to go out an live like the devil because God will forgive them. As one man put it: “I love to sin and God loves to forgive so in order to enable God to do what he loves to do I shall do what I love to do and sin to my heart's content.”
Again, if it is true that my performance as a Christian has no bearing upon my acceptability with God and if it is true that I cannot out sin God's grace and lose my salvation—why worry about sin at all? To take it a step further—if indeed grace super-abounds where sin abounds—why not see my sin as the very means of making God's grace look really good in that it will require so much of it to keep me saved—making God look more gracious than ever?
But now—let me ask you—those of you who have been truly saved from your sins by the grace of God—this is not how you think is it?! In fact, all of this kind of thinking is completely foreign and even repulsive to the person who has truly been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. Oh, he or she still struggles with sin and always will until the day they die and enter glory—but they will not revel in a new ability and freedom to sin. That is the mark of an unbeliever not a believer.
You see, the true believer is always amazed by God's grace whereas the unbeliever will always try to take advantage of God's grace and use it as a reason to sin all the more.
Whereas, we all struggle with sin and sometimes the struggle is just plain ugly because we just don't seem to be faring so well in the battle with our sin—as true believers we could never bring ourselves to seriously consider just giving up the fight and pursuing sin with “gusto” and then rationalizing it by saying that we are doing it all for the glory of God. A true believer cannot do this. And if this is where you are—thinking that because you have made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ that you cannot lose your salvation and thus you have a free ticket to sin--then you are not thinking as a Christian thinks but rather as an unbeliever thinks and the reason you are thinking this way is because you are an unbeliever who is still under the reign of sin.
This is exactly the point that Paul is bringing us to in Romans 6 and which he highlights for us in Romans 6:1-2. Open your Bibles and let's read it.
Now the truth that these two verses and really the rest of Romans 6 is communicating is that:
The person who has been justified by faith in Christ Jesus has died to the reign and dominion of sin in his life and thus is no longer a slave to sin and therefore would never see God's grace as the motivation to pursue more and greater sin.
Now, obviously, this statement raises a big question in our minds, doesn't it—namely--”Then, why do I sin?” In fact—if I am truly a person who has been justified by faith and if I have thus died to the reign and dominion of sin in and over my life—why do I still have such an intense struggle with sin? And why, if I am no longer under sin's dominion and reign do I still find myself giving into sinful temptation and feeling as though I can't say “No”. Furthermore, if I have actually died to sin and thus am no longer under its spell or authority—why do I still enjoy sin enough to pursue it in disobedience to the Word of God? These are good questions and they are the questions that Paul wants to answer for us in Romans 6 as he explains to us how and why we have died to sin so as to no longer be held under its captivating spell.
In essence, Romans 6 is going to teach us how to fight sin for the glory of God and for the assurance of our salvation. And if we were to outline the passage it would go something like this:
In order to fight sin so as to glorify God and ensure that you truly are a person who has been justified by faith and thus is perfectly accepted by and acceptable to God . . . .
1.You need to understand what is true of you as one who has been justified by faith and thus saved. (Romans 6:1-10)
2.You need to believe what is true of you as one who has been justified by faith and thus saved. (Romans 6:11)
3.You need to act upon and live out what is true of you as one who has been justified by faith and thus saved. (Romans 6:12-23)
Now, if you listened carefully to my outline you will have noticed that I did not say: “In order to fight sin and win . . . you need to do the following”. Rather, what I said, is that “In order to fight sin . . . you need to do the following”. You see, Romans 6 is not teaching the doctrine of what is often referred to as “Sinless Perfectionism” in which some people claim that true believers should progress in their spiritual lives to a point of perfectionism in which they no longer sin. This is not what this chapter in Romans is teaching.
Rather, what it is teaching is that since the true believer will be engaged in a fight with sin throughout his earthly life—he better learn how to fight it. And the promise in this chapter is that if he fights these battles with sin God's way and with God's provision—he will see progress in the fight.
Well, today we are going to deal with the first point in how to fight sin as a justified sinner and the fact is we will probably not finish with this point today.
So....How does a truly justified sinner fight sin so as to prove he really is a justified sinner and thus glorify God?
1. He must understand what is true of him as a person who has been justified by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's take a look back at Paul's original question in Romans 6:1 as we begin to flesh this out. His question—to be very specific and quite literal is simply this—“Can we who have been justified by faith continue to abide or live in sin in order that the grace may increase?” Now let's break this question down a bit.
First of all, his question is asking if something is possible for a true believer to do. And the thing he is asking about in regard to the true believer—the one who in Romans 5:1-2 has been justified by God and therefore is at peace with God and the one who in Romans 5:10 has been reconciled to God and the one who in Romans 5:12-19 was transferred out of union with Adam and into union with Christ and the one who in Romans 5:20-21 has been rescued from the reign of sin and placed under the reign of grace—is it possible for this one to continue to live in and abide in “the sin”, all the while thinking God's grace will cover it anyway.
Now the word that he uses for “continue” in this question is epimenomen. It comes from two Greek words, epi and meno. Epi is a preposition which has the idea of being in or moving toward close proximity to something so that you end up in it, on it, or resting upon it. Meno means to remain or to abide or to live. It is used of abiding and living in a house, in a country and even in Christ in John 15:4. The idea is that of living and abiding comfortably in a certain situation. Joined together to form epimenomen, the word has the idea of remaining, abiding, and continuing, in a place or a state of being that would appear comfortable for one to remain in.
Thus, what Paul seems to be asking is this: “Is it possible for a true believer in Christ Jesus to continue to remain, live, and abide comfortably in sin because he believes God's grace will increase enough to cover him in so doing?
Now, before we move on let's make sure we understand what Paul is not asking. He is not asking: “Is it possible for a true believer to sin?” That is not the question Paul is posing in this verse. Nor is he asking if it is possible for a true believer to struggle with sin.
What he is asking is: Is it possible for a true believer to live his life in a state of continued and persistent sin and be comfortable doing so presuming all the while that God's grace will cover it anyway?
And what is Paul's answer to this-- “May it never be!” Now in the Greek text his answer quite literally is: “Not...May it Be” or as we would say--”No Way....Is This Possible!”
And then, Paul asks another rhetorical question in order to help us understand why it is impossible for the true believer to peacefully and comfortably co-exist with sin. Look at the second part of verse 2. Paul asks: “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” Now let's unpack this question to see what Paul means.
The fact that it is a rhetorical question tells us that that the answer to the question is built into the question. In other words, when you were a kid and your mother asked—Johnny how do you expect to keep your room clean when you won't put away your toys? Well, the answer to this question is obvious—Johnny won't ever keep his room clean if he never picks up his toys. And in Paul's question the answer is just as obvious—we who have died to sin can't live in it—it is an impossibility.
Now in this verse the word “live” comes from the Greek word zao, which has to do with the act of living life. So, the point Paul is making is that true believers—because they have died to sin—cannot continue to live their lives in sin. They can't just exist and pass their days living in a peaceful, comfortable, and unconcerned coexistence with sin—it is impossible.
Now, we all know people or have heard of people who all the while professing to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are involved in openly sinful activities and are not troubled by it in the least. They don't see anything wrong or abnormal with their pursuit of sin and in fact, they even brag about it. And when confronted with it—they either become offended or just shrug it off saying something like--”Isn't God's grace a wonderful thing?” Well, it is a wonderful thing but it is not an excuse to sin.
Then there are others who, while professing to know Christ are secretly involved in personal, private, and hidden sins. And they have no problem pursuing these sins. They hide them because they know they would be embarrassed if found out—but they experience no conflict in their souls when it comes to pursuing these sins and often wonder why their more committed believing friends see them as such a big deal.
What both of these kinds of “professing” believers have in common is that they are living in peaceful and comfortable co-existence with their sin and not experiencing any kind of conflict over it in their souls. And this is what Paul is saying is an utter impossibility.
On the other hand, the experience of the true believer is that he too involves himself in openly sinful activities from time to time and even has his private sinful habits that he often desperately hides from others--but he cannot continue to pursue sin and live in his sin with any sense of joy, comfort, peace, or satisfaction. His heart is filled with conflict and strife as he pursues sin and continues to try to hide it. He is like David, who in Psalm 32:3-4, wrote: “When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer.” The true believer cannot continue to comfortably and peacefully co-exist with sin in his life—and not experience terrible conflict in his soul. Check out Romans 7:14-24 and you'll see the tremendous heart wrenching conflict the Apostle Paul endured in his fight against his own sinful lusts. This conflict will eventually lead the believer to engage their sin in spiritual combat because they cannot peacefully remain in this state of sin because they have in reality “died to sin”.
Now what does Paul mean when he says that the true believer has “died to sin”? Well, in the Greek text—it is an aorist indicative active verb, which simply means that Paul is talking about an act that took place once and for all in the believer's life. In other words, in every believer's life, without exception, there was a moment when he or she died to sin once and for all. Now—this is really what the rest of Romans 6-8 is going to explain. Suffice it to say today—that when you truly placed your faith in Jesus Christ and were justified by God and placed in union with Jesus Christ—you were removed from the reign of sin, the realm of sin, the dominion of sin, and thus the jurisdiction and the control of sin and the deceitful spell of sin in and over your life. Paul reiterates this very truth in Romans 6:7 where he states that “he who has died is freed from sin.” He further restates it in Romans 6:14 when he says: “For sin shall not be master over you . . .”
Now, this does not mean that you and I as believers in Christ will not sin and will eventually on this earth and in this body reach a state of sinless perfectionism. What it means is that we have been freed from a state of being in which sin is normal for us and comfortable to us and something we can continue to purposely and deliberately pursue and co-exist with.
One aspect of dying to sin and the aspect we are considering this morning is that when we came to Christ we died to sin in the sense that we died to sin's spell and ability to blind us to God and God's beauty and the utter ugliness of sin, which had caused us to live as those who not only enjoyed sin and pursued sin but who couldn't live without sin and thus who could live and co-exist indefinitely in and with our sin. Now, be careful to note that it is not that sin died—sin is still as powerful and as captivating and as alluring and as deceitful as ever—it is alive and well.
As Jerry Bridges writes in his book, The Discipline of Grace,
“Sin is like a defeated army in a civil war, that instead of surrendering and laying down its arms . . . continues to wage a guerrilla war. . . . Sin as a reigning power is defeated in the life of a believer, but it will never surrender. It will continue to harass us and seek to sabotage our Christian lives as long as we live.”
But—we who have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ have died to sin's power, captivation, allurement, and deceit in the sense that we can no longer live peacefully and comfortably and enjoyably in it as one who can co-exist with it. We have to fight it and the true believer will fight it. Oh, the battle may not always be pretty or seem successful but if you are a true believer there will be a battle and there will be a fight and there will ultimately be sanctification.
If there is no battle, no fight, and not even a desire to fight sin in your life—it is because there has been no justification. As Paul teaches us in Romans 6:1-2, it is impossible for the true believer to live in a state of peaceful co-existence with his sin—he must fight it and it is the desire to fight and continue to fight sin rather than to peacefully co-exist with it that is the proof of his justification and ultimately the growing substance of his sanctification.
On the flip side, Romans 6:1-2 is teaching that it is impossible for the person who loves his sin and will not take up arms against it to truly be a saved person. Everyone of us in this room is either a lover of God or a lover of sin. There is no middle ground. And if in your heart of hearts, you know you have been a lover of sin but you desire now to turn from your sin and become a lover of God—that desire is called repentance. If you will give yourself to this desire and turn from and renounce your love for your sin and then by faith turn to the Lord Jesus Christ as your new love and embrace Him alone as your only Lord and only Savior from sin —you shall be saved and set free from the power and penalty of sin and given new life in Christ.
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