INTRODUCTION

1.          There are two problems God faced in saving men.

a.          What shall be done with the sinner with regards to the penalty of sin?

b.         The problem concerns the power and pollution of sin that controls the life of a sinner.

2.         God’s answers

a.          To deal with the sinner and the penalty of sin, justification is the answer.  Justification deals with the guilt of sin.

b.         Sanctification

Sanctification is the work of God which deals with the power and pollution of sin.

c.          Justification cannot be separated from sanctification.

3.         The preaching of salvation by grace alone.

a.          One of the dangers of preaching salvation by grace alone is that it can be misinterpreted as a licence to do whatever one wishes.

b.         Paul was aware of this tendency (Rom 3:8; 5:20b).

c.          The apostle John said the same thing in 1 John 3:9 — “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.”

4.         There is a way to be freed from the power of sin.

Here are three key words in Romans 6:

(1)        know (6:3, 6, 9)

(2)        reckon (6:11)

(3)        yield (6:13)                       

I.    know

1.          We must know what is dead to sin.  “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (6:2b).

a.          We are not dead to its influence (Rom 7:15, 19), its presence (7:21) and its effects (7:24; Ps 51:3).

b.         We are dead to its penalty and guilt — sin cannot condemn us (Rom 8:33, 34).

c.          We are dead to sin as a master who rules over us — Christ is now our Lord and Master (6:16–18).

2.         We must know our union with Christ.

3.         We must know that baptism into Christ is baptism into His death and resurrection (6:3–5).

4.         We must know that our old nature was crucified with Him.

a.          Paul says that “our old man was crucified with him” (6:6a).

That “old man” was crucified with Christ at the Cross.

b.         “That the body of sin might be destroyed” (6:6b).

 (1)       What is that body of sin?  It is the body we have, in which sin uses it as an instrument — tongue, hands, mind.

(2)        Because we were crucified with Christ, the body of sin is actually powerless in our lives. 

II.     RECKON

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom 6:11).

1.          The word “reckon.”

Reckon” does not mean “I suppose.”  It means that we must know our old nature, our former self, did die.

2.         Our biography is  written in two volumes.

a.          Volume One is the story of the old man; “old self” of me before my conversion.

b.         Volume Two is the story of the new man, the new life in Christ, the life of me after I became a Christian. 

III.    YIELD

“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body” (6:12a). “Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (6:13).

1.          The word “yield” is the same word as “present” in Romans 12:1 — “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service”

This is a presentation of yourself for service.

2.         The word “yield” in Romans 6:13 is the same.

a.          The idea here, is of the surrendered life. We must present everything to God for righteousness.

b.         Have you done this?

(1)        Refusing to yield your body to the service of sin.

(2)        Take and use my entire life, Lord.