Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound
Romans 6:1-14
Turn to Romans 6:1:
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”
Romans 6:1 (LSB)
I want to let you know where we are going over the next three Sundays. This week and next week will be on Romans 6. This week (vs 1-14) and next week (vs 15-23) are both focused on the grace of God, and will really be a part one and part two, as we will not answer all the questions this morning. Then, in two weeks this morning, I want to backtrack and address an issue that some of you have been asking about, as you know, much of Romans 5 was dealing with the sin of Adam, and that Paul teaches that when Adam sinned, we sinned. This brings up a topic which is not directly addressed in the text, but it is indirectly, and that is the whole issue of infants, death, and salvation. At first, I was thinking of sending out a churchwide email addressing this issue, but it got way to long and so I thought it might be good to just talk about this for a Sunday, so that will be Sunday, June 7.
Well, this morning in our passage (Rom 6), Paul is bringing up a question, and this question arises because Paul has been teaching from Romans 2—5 that grace covers sin. And so, the question that Paul brings up is a great question, because after what he has taught, everyone may be thinking the same thing, and that is, how concerned do we have to be about personal purity and sin? That if upon salvation, all my sins are forgiven, and God imputes or gives to me the righteousness of Christ. So, what’s the point? It’s a great question. I mean, when it is all said and done, and I stand before God forgiven, and stand clothed with the righteousness of Jesus Christ, why does it matter how I live? And I believe we would want to discover this morning a biblical answer. What is the biblical answer from God’s Word to Paul’s question?
Well, Paul does not mess around with this one, for he says right away (vs 2), “may it never be!” So, the question in (vs 1), are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? And Paul would say, “No, no.” It is like when one of your children asks you for something, can I do this or can I go there? And your answer is, “No, no, certainly not!” Now, sometimes with your children, it may not always end there, as there might be another question that may come from your kids. What might that be? Well, why? And the classic answer is because I said so.
Well, Paul is kinder here as he begins to explain why he has just said “no” to the question of “are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” And his answer really begins a whole new theme presented here that carries through really to the end of Romans 8, which is built upon the major theme that Paul has already established, which has been justification, as Paul has clearly taught the fact that you and I are under the wrath of God, that God has made Himself known to us (Rom 1) and that we have ignored His revelation, that all of us with or without the Law are condemned. For even those, Paul said, without the Law judge one another, (Rom 3) that no one is righteous, no one seeks after God, and no one fears God. And that no work can gain us favour with God, no obedience, no deeds, no actions can ever grant us any kind of relationship with Him. But (Rom 5) introduced a new hope, that peace can be found with God by faith through one Man, Jesus Christ. Paul says that though you were God’s enemy, through Christ, you can be reconciled with God, as the last two Sundays we saw how through one man’s sin—the sin of Adam—condemnation came to all. But through the one Man, Jesus Christ, many were justified.
So, Paul turns another page and begins to address how the man who has been justified by God. How will that new believer live while he is still on the earth? Not only how he has changed positionally, but how he will change in the way in which he lives. So, now Paul has changed his teaching from justification to sanctification. Look at:
“But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you have your benefit, leading to sanctification.”
Romans 6:22a (LSB)
So, this is where Paul is going, as when you and I receive Jesus Christ, and He changes us positionally, meaning that I now stand before Him as righteous. But something else changes. In other words, my whole course in life has changed, for I am now on a completely different path than I was before salvation. See, becoming a Christian not only changes my destination, but with it comes a whole new life which must be now lived, as every single Christian life, yes, has a destination, but it will also have a unique path and outcome in life. Now, to help us better understand the question in this opening in Romans 6, I want to quickly remind us of the background of those Paul is writing to, the culture and the times. Much of the influence would be the Jewish culture, in which many Jews would have grown up believing that acceptance with God came through the obedience of the Law. And we see that kind of thinking all through the gospels, as Christ was butting heads constantly with the religious teachers of His day, as they rightfully understood that God was holy, unlike the teaching of the many pagan cultures that taught such things as sexual worship or of gods who were evil. But many Jews knew that the Lord God was not anything like that, as their God was holy and pure. Therefore, to be accepted by Him, they were to live holy and pure lives, and this is still believed by many Jews and by many Christians today.
The problem, of course, is not only that this is impossible, but that even if it were, Paul has been teaching something else extremely radical, that people were already condemned when they were born because of their connection with Adam. That was Paul’s whole point in Romans 5:12-21. The doctrine of the imputed sin of Adam to all of mankind, which the Jewish people, even today, interestingly, do not accept, as they would not place any weight, of course, on Paul’s Romans 5. But Paul is teaching to the current Jewish culture of his day, a culture that would have been saturated with a belief that acceptance with God came through obedience, and also having those who would be part of this church, this group of people who would have come out of a pagan culture, teaching that they were saved by grace. That by believing in Christ, they have all their sins forgiven and are given the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ, apart from any good works or good deeds. And Paul has been so convincing in teaching this, that the obvious question would come up, does it really matter then in how we live?
I said many weeks ago that some of Paul’s critics had said (Rom 3:8) when he said, “Let us do evil that good may come,” for they were questioning Paul’s teaching that salvation is apart from the works of the Law. Now, if Paul were teaching here that salvation was based upon some kind of moral Law, the question would not have been brought up. So, likewise, a similar question is asked here: “Are we to continue to sin so that grace may increase?” See, this question would have never been asked if Paul were attaching some kind of Law to grace and faith. So, you can imagine the can of worms that Paul opened up here, the reaction to his message. I could imagine if I went into some churches this morning and preached that salvation is based solely upon the work of Christ, His righteousness received by faith, apart from works, there would likely be some negative response to that. In fact, (Rom 5:20) “but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.” So, Paul is aware of the questions out there because of his teaching.
So, are we to continue to sin, Paul, so that grace may increase? Because in that culture, we might react the same way, as that might be the first sarcastic thing we might think of. Yeah, okay, Paul, we will keep right on sinning to make God’s grace look even better. It’s a great argument. And this whole argument brought to my mind the story of the prodigal son, as the father is so honoured in the story. Why? Well, he waited, he loved, he forgave, he ran, he kissed his son, who was what? So bad! And the greater the sin of the son, the greater the wastefulness, the gall, the drunkenness, the foolishness, the more sinful that he was, the more we are amazed by the father, aren’t we? The more we stand back and marvel and say, “Wow!”
Just think for a moment, if the son had come to his Dad in a kind way before he ever left home, and explained that he wished to try to make it on his own. And he asked his Dad for some help, to which his father complied. And throughout his time away from home, he kept himself pure and he worked hard and started a business, and saved his money. But a famine came, and the economy sort of fell apart, and he lost his money and came back home, and his Dad helped him out. And we might conclude, good job, Dad! But we may have also thought, that’s what the Dad should have done. You know, showed him a little grace and gave him a little bit of help. You see, the praise of the grace of the Dad in the story is actually magnified by the amount of sin in the son’s life. The greater the sin, the more we are amazed at the Dad. That’s why when Jesus told the story, He was sure that the son was depicted as very sinful.
Well, this is the exact basis of the question in Romans 6:1. In other words, the more that you and I sin, and God still forgives. His grace even looks better, like amazing grace! Romans 4:5, “God justifies the ungodly!” And I would have to think that God delights in that. That God delights in justifying the ungodly, after all, He sent His Son so that He could justify the ungodly. That should teach us a few things: never over-emphasize our goodness, since God delights to justify the ungodly; secondly, be amazed at God, since God delights to justify the ungodly; and thirdly, serve Him endlessly, since God delights to justify the ungodly. Paul has spent five chapters now dealing with our ungodliness, reminding us of how gracious God is to forgive, considering we were already condemned before we even sinned. So, don’t ever read Romans 1—5, and think that somehow you are not included in that description, that somehow God is describing really bad people, but not you. Don’t ever read words like (Rom 3), you are not righteous, you don’t understand, you don’t seek after God, you are worthless, you do not do good, you deceive, you curse, you are swift to kill, you are destructive, and you do not fear God, thinking that somehow you are elevated above that desperate condition. Because when you do, you steal from God His amazing grace.
Yet, when this question is asked, are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? Paul quickly says, “No.” Why? Well, before we answer that question, I want to comment on something Paul did not do immediately. Notice, he did not immediately go back on what he had already preached. This is important. He didn’t say, “Well, I didn’t really mean that salvation is apart from all works, for there are some that are needed.” But it is still mostly God, say 90% God and 10% you. No, Paul gives the real reason why he said “no,” and it is this, (vs 2b) “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” So, do you see the importance here of a biblical answer? This is not Paul’s opinion, for he is making a sound theological argument, as Paul has been teaching God’s truth, so he is not going to renounce what he has just taught simply because someone brings up a question. Have you ever given an opinion about something, and someone immediately brings up a good point that you didn’t think of that directly contradicts what you just said? And that may happen sometimes when we give an “opinion” about the Bible, or how we might interpret something. But it does not happen when we know an exact truth from God’s Word.
So, Paul quickly responds, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” What does it mean to say “I have died to sin?” Well, we need to notice here that the word “sin” is singular. In fact, Paul has never used the plural for ” sins ” in these six chapters of Romans. Therefore, Paul’s focus on sin has not been on individual sins such as lying, gossip, or lust. No, he is focused on sin as an authority over your life. David Allen wrote:
“What Paul intends to convey is this: ‘How shall we who have died to sin’s authority still live in it?’”
David L. Allen
Now, according to Allen, there are two things to clarify what this verse does not mean. One, it does not mean I have reached a place of sinless perfection in my life. You may have met someone who has said to you, yes, since coming to Christ, I do not sin anymore, in fact, living right has become easy for me. That kind of response from someone shows they lack a knowledge of the great holiness of God and are unaware of the depth of the sinless life of Christ, as sinless perfectionism outside of Christ is not taught in the Scriptures, not in this life. There will come a time at glorification when that is true. But the fact is, we are still capable of sinning, and we remain in that condition as Christians until the Lord takes us to heaven. So, this verse does not mean that I have reached a place of sinless perfection in my life. And secondly, it does not mean that I am somehow now unresponsive to sin, that the appeal of sin is completely gone.
Now, there may be sins that a Christian learns to gain greater control over, but there are also sins that appeal every day to Christians. And it may be different for each of us as to what we may struggle with. But just thinking of the sin of pride, or desiring attention, or selfishness, or materialism can often be kicking at our door. We should know this because if we are honest, we still experience the temptation to sin after becoming a Christian. We also know that Paul continues to write to Christians and warns them of sin and commands them not to sin. If there was no attraction to sin for the Christian, why would Paul waste his words to Christians, warning them of sin? So, what does it mean to have “died to sin”? Well, Paul is going to give us some answers to this question.
“Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection.”
Romans 6:3-5 (LSB)
Paul is saying this, “you died with Christ to sin’s authority by virtue of being united to Christ in His death, His burial, and His resurrection.” For when a believer is baptized, that baptism symbolizes not only the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, but it also shows that you were identified with Christ. Verse 5, we have become united with Him. My union with Jesus is settled now and for all eternity. I have been, I am now, and I always will be united with Christ. If you know Christ as your Saviour, you are united with Him, for as a Christian, you are permanently identified with Christ.
And why is Paul explaining all this? Well, he is teaching us why we would not keep on sinning and why he can say we are dead to sin. Answer, we are united with Christ. But there is something else we should know.
“[K]nowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died has been justified from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.”
Romans 6:6-8 (LSB)
Someone put it like this, “Your crucifixion, burial, and resurrection with Jesus puts your old sinful life out of business.” Paul uses the term “old man” or “old self.” This is referring to your old self prior to salvation, the person we were “in Adam.” And notice here the past tense, that our old man was crucified with Him. That by your identification with Christ, you died with Him. In other words, that old relationship of who you were in Adam has been broken and has changed, and that change means that the authority of sin or the dominion or power of sin is now gone. For what was the power of sin? Death. See, there is a massive change in the relationship of sin with the believer, that sin no longer has authority over the Christian, for death now has no power over the Christian. Why? (vs 6) “in order that our body of sin might be done away with.” What does the phrase “body of sin” mean? Well, when we sin, it always includes sin somehow through our bodies: my eyes, my tongue, my ears, my hands, and my mind. That sin always is an action of some sort of the body, and now Paul says that this “body of sin” has been done away with. In other words, the power for victory of sin is forever gone. Yes, our old nature is still present, as we still sin, but it is not who we are in Christ, and therefore, sin is now an intruder to us; it is alien to us. This is why, for the Christian, sin brings grief, and for the Christian, sin is repented of. As it is no longer welcomed by us, as it now not only bothers our conscience, but it is also not who we are in Christ.
Verse 8, if we have died with Christ, we shall also live with Christ. This presents for the believer, who is fully aware of this issue with sin, the glory of living with Christ, which begins to outshine the attraction to sin, something that we did not possess prior to our salvation. For it is not only that we dislike sin in the sense that we know it is wrong, or that we know that sin is not good for us, but even its attraction begins to diminish as we grow closer to Christ, and as we learn and now love the purity and the beauty of Christ. The unbeliever does not have this understanding. But also:
“[K]nowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all, but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:9-12 (LSB)
Even so, “consider.” Some of your Bibles say “reckon” or “count” yourselves to be dead to sin. This is the Greek word logizomai, and that Greek word begins with the word “log”, which refers to what we would call a log or ledger. Therefore, this means to bank on this. Consider this as absolutely true in God’s ledger or God’s books, that you are dead to sin and alive unto God. Bank on this. God gives us in the Bible many times where He desires His children to be certain. Jesus told His disciples to rejoice that their names were written in the Book of Life or in God’s logbook. In other words, they did not need to wait to get to heaven to rejoice in this security, but were to rejoice in it now. Paul referred to his fellow workers (Phil 4:3) and stated with certainty that their names were written in the Book of Life. Jesus said that no one was able to snatch the believer from His hand. John said that he wrote the Gospel of John so that those who believed would know that they have eternal life.
You know, I enjoy growing roses and have the “prime” roses in the front garden. Now, if one of my rose bushes does not do all that well, it goes from the front garden to the far back garden, what I call the Garden of Shame! And if a rose ends up in the Garden of Shame, it is not carefully labelled. But if you are in the front garden, you get a name sign that says the name of the rose. Example, Pretty Lady, a floribunda, grandiflora, hybrid tea, or whatever kind of rose it is. So, you have those roses that are in the front with a name written on them, and then those in the back in the Garden of Shame. And I keep a log with all the information about them, such as where they were introduced and what year. In fact, I will rate them at the end of each season (A, B, C, D). And if you get a “D” or a C- and you are in the front garden, you can expect that you will go back to the Garden of Shame for a time until you die, or until you recover enough to gain some kind of renewed favour with the rose gardener, which sometimes happens. Yet, I admit, this is where my spiritual analogy begins to break down, as my Garden of Shame is sort of like purgatory. For we know biblically, there is no bouncing back and forth as a Christian. No, if you know Christ, you are one of His, and your name is written in His book. And therefore, that word “consider,” the Greek word logizomai means that you are logged as one of His, and you should consider yourself to be dead to sin, and therefore:
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God”
Romans 6:12-13 (LSB)
What Paul wants these Christians to know is that they do not have to live under the authority of sin, for the war has ended. Therefore, commit yourself or consecrate yourself in service to Christ. So, do not present your members as instruments of sin (vs 13), but present them as instruments to God. That word “instruments” is literally the word “weapons” in Greek, as Paul is employing a military metaphor. And spiritually, as Christians, even though we are saved from the penalty of sin, we can still choose to surrender our bodies to sin’s power. In other words, when we sin, we are surrendering our body to the enemy. And Paul is saying, “Why would you do that?” Now, a Christian may think that he cannot get past a certain sin, lying, gossiping, or lusting, or whatever sin that causes him or her to concede to the enemy. But Paul says to remember what God has said, that we are to consider ourselves to be dead to sin’s authority in our lives. And therefore, Paul says, do not concede, Christian, to the enemy, and recognize that you are united with Christ. So, do not present your body as an instrument or weapon for the enemy to use. But rather, commit yourself to serve God, for this is the army for which you belong. Present yourselves first to God, then your body as weapons for righteousness.
“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
Romans 6:14 (LSB)
Interesting, that when Paul was speaking about Christ (vs 9) “knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.” And now he speaks to the Christian (vs 14a) “For sin shall not be master over you.” Do you see the great unity we have in Christ? Never forget this, for sin shall not be master over you.
When we think of those words that we are saved “by grace through faith.” a term that we all have likely known for years. But what does it really mean? It is interesting in our passage that Paul begins the chapter by saying, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” To which he quickly says “no.” But then you would think that he would spend the rest of the chapter explaining what kind of moral code we need to keep, but he actually closes with “for you are not under the law but under grace.” Paul attacks sinning, but he does not attack grace. Charles Spurgeon wrote:
“Grace is the soul of the gospel: without it the gospel is dead. Grace is the music of the gospel: without it the gospel is silent as to all comfort.”
Charles Spurgeon “The Doctrines of Grace Do Not Lead to Sin”
How can something which confronts the sinner in love and forgiveness, and which deals with a person not based upon any goodness in their past or their future, but freely pardons and saves, and promises to bring them to glory in the end? How can that be something that would keep us from sinning? In fact, grace keeps working in the heart of a believer, as Spurgeon said, grace continues to work until the deed of grace is complete and that it perseveres until all is accomplished in the life of the redeemed sinner, I suppose, until the day we stand before Christ, and He says, “Well done.” Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God” (Eph 2:8 [LSB]). He will later write to the Romans, “So then it does not depend on the one who wills or the one who runs, but on God who has mercy” (Rom 9:16 [LSB]).
You know, this really flies in the face of human pride and human thinking, as we might place a higher grade on the goodness of the nature of man. Yet the Bible presents such a rescuing mission towards man, making man appear as if he is a condemned criminal or something even worse. So, it is hard to understand the Bible’s free offer of the gift of grace, and the argument against it is not merely that it presents man in his sinful condition, but his complete inability to save himself. But it also begs the argument that such grace—as Paul taught—will only lead a man or woman to greater sin, and that, of course, is the question that Paul began with, that man will choose to sin because God is so gracious. So, we may think, if only man were saved by his works, that would resolve the issue. Then man would bear down and strive to be obedient and be good. Well, I wish to address this further next week, so that we might gain a greater understanding of this whole doctrine of grace, and I want you to consider a statement this week: Does the work of grace result in a deeper walk with Christ, or does the work of grace result in a deeper life of sin? As Paul transitions into the next section with these words:
“What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!”
Romans 6:15 (LSB)
Let’s pray. Father, for what we know not, would You teach us. For what we have not spiritually, would You give us. And for what we are not, would You make us. And all God’s people said, amen.