Romans 6:1-10 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) 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. (5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (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. (7) For he that is dead is freed from sin. (8) Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: (9) Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him. (10) For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

We are continuing our look at Romans chapter 6 and how it deals with the Christian walk and following God. Because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, those that believe on Him do not have to be in bondage to sin. We can walk in obedience and love to Jesus Christ. The believer has the Holy Spirit indwelling him or her to guide, direct, and chastise when necessary. However, the believer needs to be responsive to the guiding of the Holy Spirit. How does the believer gain guidance from the Holy Spirit? Through time spent with God, reading His Word and prayer. Writing about God’s sure guidance, British pastor Frank W. Boreham recounted a time when a minister visited his home in New Zealand.  Being young and inexperienced, Boreham sought the counsel of his guest. He said that one morning they were sitting on the veranda, he asked the minister, “Can a man be sure that in the hour of perplexity he will be rightly led by God? Can he feel secure against making a false step?” “I am certain of it,” exclaimed the minister, “if he will but give God time! As long as you live, remember that. Give God time!”

Romans 6:1, 2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Romans chapter 5 deals with sin and sanctification: sin came into the world through one man, Adam; and sanctification came because of one man, Jesus Christ. We all know what sin is: an act or thought of disobedience toward God. Sanctification is act of making someone holy. Sin is an action by man against God. Sanctification is an action by God for man. Man cannot make himself holy, although people constantly try to make themselves holy. At best, man can only appear to be holy to others, but God knows the heart. Sometimes people will try to make themselves appear holy by pointing out the sins of others while not noticing their own sins. John Flavel said: It is easier to cry against one-thousand sins of others than to kill one of your own. True sanctification can only come from God working in a person’s life and God is only going to be able to accomplish that when a person is willing to humble themselves before God. “They that know God will be humble,” John Flavel has said, ‘ and they that know themselves cannot be proud.” Andrew Murray wrote: Humility is perfect quietness of heart. It is for me to have no trouble; never to be fretted or vexed or irritated or sore or disappointed. It is to expect nothing, to wonder at nothing that is done to me, to feel nothing done against me. It is to be at rest when nobody praises me and when I am blamed or despised. It is to have a blessed home in the Lord where I can go in and shut the door and kneel to my Father in secret and be at peace as in a deep sea of calmness when all around is trouble. It is the fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ’s redemptive work on Calvary’s cross, manifested in those of His own who are definitely subject to the Holy Spirit.

It is only through Jesus Christ that anyone can live a sanctified life, anything less is a sham. We must be willing to humble ourselves before God and not worry about the consequences by our fellow man.

When a person is born again, they have been justified by the All-Holy God – in other words they have had their sin-debt paid for by Jesus Christ and they are longer considered guilty of their sin. Albert Barnes said this about justification: What is justification? It is the declared purpose of God to regard and treat those sinners who believe in Jesus Christ as if they had not sinned, on the ground of the merits of the Savior. It is not mere pardon. Pardon is a free forgiveness of past offenses. It has reference to those sins as forgiven and blotted out. Justification has respect to the law, and to God’s future dealings with the sinner. It is an act by which God determines to treat him hereafter as righteous–as if he had not sinned. The basis for this is the merit of the Lord Jesus Christ, merit that we can plead as if it were our own. He has taken our place and died in our stead; He has met the descending stroke of justice, which would have fallen on our own heads if He had not interposed.

Justification is not the same as sanctification. Justification is an one time action by God toward the believer, whereas sanctification is an ongoing process by God upon the believer. Justification occurs when a man trusts Jesus Christ for salvation. God declares that man righteous and free from the guilt of sin. At that point, God begins a work on that man that does not stop, guiding that man toward living a holy life for God. Justification is the means, sanctification is the end. Justification is for us; sanctification is in us. Justification declares the sinner righteous; sanctification makes the sinner righteous. Justification removes the guilt and penalty of sin; sanctification removes the growth and power of sin. (J. Vernon McGee)

Sanctification gives the believer the ability to not be enslaved to sin and to walk in obedience and love for God. It requires the believer to recognize their sinful condition and appreciate the blessings of God. John Newton said: I am not what I might be, I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I wish to be, I am not what I hope to be. But I thank God I am not what I once was, and I can say with the great apostle, “By the grace of God I am what I am.

Romans 6:1, 2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

What is the apostle Paul saying in verse one? Romans chapter 5 dealt with salvation and chapter 6 deals with the life that the born again believer is to follow. So the reader sees in chapter 5 about salvation by God toward the unholy, and Paul asks, “What shall we say then?” Well, the born again should shout, “Praise God!” This should bring joy to the believer’s heart knowing what God has done for them through Jesus Christ, His Son. Jesus Christ died for the ungodly: that is everyone before anyone gets saved! Romans 5:6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. People are familiar with John 3:16 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son... but there is to the passage than that! You cannot stop at For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son… because that is not what saved anybody! People want to think that they are a child of God and yet still live like a child of the devil. Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Yes, God so loved the world, but He does not force Himself upon the world, the world still needs to believe in Jesus Christ and the world needs to understand the consequences of refusing Jesus Christ.

John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (17) For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (18) He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Paul asks: Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? Paul is asking, “What shall the believer say about the salvation by God through His Son, Jesus Christ?” Then Paul asks, “After a person is saved, shall they continue to live in sin? Thank God, a person does not have to choose to continue to live in sin. Paul is asking, “Shall we continue to do something negative, so that something positive will come forth?” Paul is asking an argumentative question, but it is a question that people do not vocalize, but they demonstrate it in their lives. It is never right to do wrong to do right. (Dr Crowley) For example, telling a lie is a negative thing and it never ultimately produces a positive outcome in the end. There may be a positive outcome at first (short term), but the lie will catch up to you in the end. We may fool ourselves into thinking that we are only protecting someone else’s feelings when we lie, but we are actually only protecting ourselves.

People do not fall into sin, so much as they choose to sin. Why would Christians choose to sin rather than choose what they know God wants them to do? Four answers are commonly given today.

1. Some would point to Romans 8:16 and explain that Christians who willfully sin have forgotten their true identity as “children of God.” While it is true that Christians can forget who they are and sin as a result, Christians can also be well aware of who they are and sin anyway.

2. Some say Christians choose to sin because they have lost sight of what God has done for them. 2 Peter 1:9 indicates that Christians can be “blind or short-sighted, having forgotten [their] purification from [their] former sins.”

3. Some wisely state that Christians consciously choose to sin because they have forgotten that God will severely discipline disobedient believers.

4. Some have said that Christians who consciously sin have lost their focus on the future. These Christians have forgotten that God will reward in heaven only those who have lived faithfully for Him here on earth (1 Cor 9:24). Christians who fail to keep eternity in mind often sin in the here and now. (J. Kirk Johnston)

Romans 6:1-2 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Paul answers his questions with, “God forbid.” Paul declares that there is no good reason to choose to sin. And why? Because the born again believer in Jesus Christ is dead to sin. The believer has been declared justified by God from the penalty of sin, but not from the power of sin in this life. Believers still do sin, but why? Because they do not always choose to live a sanctified life. So what does Paul mean when he wrote, How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Paul does not mean that no believer sins anymore, because every believer here today should realize that we do sin. Think about the verse this way: Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and He paid the penalty – the debt – that everyone has when they sin and are disobedient to God. Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. When person comes to Jesus Christ for salvation, we state that they have been born again. Think about it: in order to be born again, doesn’t that person have to die? That person dies in order to be born again. Jesus Christ had to die first before He could be resurrected from the dead. Go to Romans 6:6. When a person trusts Jesus Christ for salvation, they essentially have died on the cross with Jesus Christ. Romans 6:6 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.

Paul puts it like this in Ephesians: Ephesians 4:22-24 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; (23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; (24) And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. And in Colossians. Colossians 3:1-3 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. (2) Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. (3) For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Believers are not walking around dead, but they have died to sin. Believers are not dead to sin, because we still choose to sin, but believers have died to the penalty to sin through the substitute: Jesus Christ. Believers died to sin in Jesus Christ. J. Vernon McGee wrote: We are never dead to sin. Any honest person knows he never reaches the place where he is dead to sin. He does reach the place where he wants to live for God, but he recognizes he still has that old sin nature.

Because of His death on the cross, Jesus Christ freed all believers from the penalty of sin. Because of His resurrection, the believer now has the power to walk in newness of life and away from the power of sin. That can only happen when the believer humbles himself or herself and realizes how holy God truly is and how unholy they are. Paul recognized that in his life, How about you?