Romans 6:1–23
Jesus sets us free from the Law of Moses. But He sets us free not only from the Law. He also sets us free from sin. And the way we are freed from sin is the same way we are freed from the Law — through our identification with Christ. To be “identified” with Christ means to be “united” with Him (v.5), to become one with Him, to “participate” in Him (v.3). For in Romans 6:6 the apostle Paul says:
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— (Romans 6:6)
Notice, here it says that our old self was “crucified” together with Christ on the cross. And I told you: “The key is in our identification with Christ.” And we see that this is not something we do — on our own initiative — but it is God who “takes us and places us” in Christ. For 1 Corinthians 1:30 says: “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus.” Because of Him — God is the One who has placed us in Christ.
HOW MUCH DOES SIN WEIGH?
Let me begin by sharing with you an illustration that shows the weight of sin. Because for some of you what I am saying may not even be interesting if you do not recognize the danger of sin. If it does not interest you to hear how you can be set free from sin, then you have a problem. That is because, if you do not recognize the “weight of sin,” then you are spiritually dead.
A flippant young man once asked a preacher: “You say that unsaved people carry the burden of sin. I don’t feel anything. How much does sin weigh? Five kilos? Forty kilos?” The preacher answered by asking the young man: “If you laid a weight of five hundred kilos on a corpse, would it feel the weight of the load?” The young man answered: “It would feel nothing, because it is dead.” The preacher concluded: “Truly, the spirit that does not feel the load of sin, that is indifferent to its burden and careless about its presence, is indeed dead.” The young man was forced to fall silent! (— P. L. Tan, Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations)
The question of sin is not a trivial one. It is bound up with our salvation and with where we will spend eternity. But, glory to God, Christ set us free from the burden of sin, from the weight of sin, from the slavery of sin, and He did it by dying on the cross in our place. And if we have been crucified and buried together with Christ, we are set free from sin.
But let us read the opening of the chapter:
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1–2)
Here the apostle Paul deals with a possible objection to the teaching of grace. He anticipates that his imaginary opponents might twist his words from the previous chapter, where he says that “where sin increased, grace increased all the more” (5:20). Paul is concerned that his opponents might distort his words and interpret them like this: “Well, if grace increases all the more where sin increases, then believers should sin even more so that grace toward them may abound all the more.” But the apostle rejects this absurd claim in the strongest possible way: “By no means!” or “Not at all!” The purpose of God’s grace is not to encourage sin but to defeat sin! And immediately the apostle Paul says:
2 We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:2)
Notice, here it says that we “have died to sin” — just as we have died to the Law, so we have also died to sin. And clearly believers cannot live in sin, with sin, or for sin once they have died to it. So we must consider ourselves dead to sin — that is what God’s Word says. The fact that in Christ we are a “new creation” means that the “old” has passed away; it is dead.
RUSSIAN NESTING DOLLS
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (Romans 6:3)
You see, here the apostle Paul points us to what we “know” — “or don’t you know…?” And several times at the beginning of this sixth chapter he uses this word: “since we know,” “knowing,” and so on. We “know” that through baptism we were placed “into” Christ. So, in fact, God is the One who places us in Christ, but through baptism we receive this act of God’s placing us in Christ for ourselves, and by faith we “validate” it for ourselves — we take it personally, so that it becomes valid for us. Through baptism we “participate” in Him. This means that if we are “in” Him, then whatever happens to Him legally — even though we were not there — happens to us as well.
Have you ever seen Russian nesting dolls? Those little Russian dolls — wooden and made in such a way that the smaller one fits inside the larger one. In relation to Jesus we are like a small doll that is inside the larger doll. Whatever happens to the larger doll happens to the smaller dolls that are inside it, doesn’t it? That is why, according to the apostle Paul, whatever happened to Christ happened to us as well, because we are “in” Him.
4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death (Romans 6:4)
Not only were we crucified on the cross when Christ was crucified, but also when He was buried, we too were buried together with Him “into death.” No one buries living people, do they? That is why, when someone wishes to receive water baptism, we insist on being sure that he has already identified himself with Christ, has repented of his sins, and is already a new creation — the old has passed away and he has become new. Because I, as a preacher, do not wish to “bury” through baptism people who are still “alive to sin.”
in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:4)
Glory to God! Things do not end with death. They continue with resurrection! On the third day after He was buried, Christ rose from the dead. And when He rose, then we too rose to new life. In the letter to the Ephesians the apostle Paul continues this thought, and there he says not only that we have risen from the dead, but also that when Christ ascended into heaven, then we too were raised up together with Him and were seated “with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). In this way we are placed in a position above the satanic principalities and powers of this world, because He is above them, and we are in Him.
5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Romans 6:5)
Look, this word “united” is very important. The fact that we have identified ourselves with Christ means that we have been “united” with Him, that we “participate” in Him.
6 For we know (see, again the word “know”) that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. (Romans 6:6)
When it speaks here of “the body ruled by sin,” it means our “old self.” If you have believed in Christ, if you have been baptized in water in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit — through that faith and through that baptism your old self has been crucified, “done away with” on the cross, and you must consider it dead.
KILL THE SPIDER!
Here I will give you another illustration that speaks to us about the fact that we should not busy ourselves with the consequences, but should seek out the root of our problems.
An old deacon who prayed at the prayer meeting every Wednesday evening always ended his prayer the same way: “And, Lord, clear out all the cobwebs from my life.” For him the cobwebs were those things that should not be there but had accumulated during the week. One of those attending the prayer meeting grew tired of this unchanging phrase at the end of all the deacon’s prayers. So the next time the man was praying this prayer for the clearing out of the cobwebs from his life, the visitor sprang to his feet and cried out: “Lord, Lord, don’t do it! Kill the spider!” That is what needed to happen. (— Gospel Herald)
Do you understand, the way to deal once and for all with the “cobwebs” in our lives is to kill the “spider” that makes them. This is what we need too. Not to deal with our problems “piece by piece,” but to discover and remove the one who causes them. Setting up rules and standards solves problems “piece by piece.” Our identification with Christ and our dying to sin solves our problems radically, from the foundation, once and for all, and this is the way the problem of sin must be solved. So, if you are a Christian, if you have been baptized, then you must believe one thing, and that is that you are “dead to sin.” No more sin! How will you go on living in sin, when you have died to it? There is no “spider” — there are no “cobwebs”!
THE PATTERN OF TEACHING IN WHICH WE WERE TRAINED
7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:7)
Look how many times in this chapter the apostle Paul speaks of this death. He says: “We are dead to sin; we have died to sin; we are crucified; we are buried.” Everything that is done with the dead, he recounts at length and applies it to us.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. (Romans 6:8–9)
Glory to God! Christ set us free from the Law, Christ set us free from sin, Christ set us free also from death. And He did it by dying on the cross for us! That is why we preach “Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23). Because in Him is the key. In Him is the key to our salvation, to our deliverance, and to our sanctification.
The way to be free from sin and to live a life free from sin is to submit to that “pattern of teaching in which we were trained” (6:17) — to submit to “sound doctrine.” Titus 2:1–15 tells us what “sound doctrine” is. What is “sound doctrine”? “Sound doctrine” is that once you have been forgiven, you must leave sin. You cannot, if you have been bound by alcohol, go back to the tavern after you have repented, and if you were a drunkard start getting drunk again. You cannot, if you were a thief, keep on stealing. You cannot, if you were an adulterer, after repenting of your sin go back to the same woman with whom you were being unfaithful to your lawful wife. It is finished! You are a “new creation,” and you must leave sin. Because repentance is not only to be sorry for sin, but to leave it and to “demonstrate their repentance by their deeds” (Acts 26:20).
Repentance has three sides. The first is mental — it is to “realize” that you have sinned — like the prodigal son, of whom it is said that at one point he “came to his senses” (Luke 15:17), realizing that he was in sin and had to come out of it. The second is emotional — “tears of repentance” (Luke 7:38). There is, however, a third side of repentance, which is called the “volitional side of repentance” — this is your will, that once you have repented of your sins, from then on you no longer sin, but you come to hate sin and leave it. Or as John the Baptist says, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Luke 3:8). Are “the deeds in keeping with repentance” sin? No. “The deeds in keeping with repentance” are certainly not sin. They are righteous deeds. These are the deeds through which we are saved — the deeds in keeping with repentance. Otherwise, there is a danger that the warning given both by the apostle Peter (2 Peter 2:19) and the apostle Paul (Romans 6:16) may be fulfilled in us, namely, that whatever we submit to enslaves us — “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them” (2 Peter 2:19). If you give yourself over to sin, you become a slave of sin! And yet, were you not set free from it? And here the apostle Paul says that through God’s grace we have become “slaves of righteousness.” That is why the way to live a life free from sin is to offer (this is the other key word in this chapter) our life and the members of our body as “instruments (weapons or tools) of righteousness.” This means every day to make the decision to live a righteous life and to submit to Christ, and not to sin, because this decision of ours depends on us! Look at what the apostle Paul says in Romans 6:12–22:
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. (Romans 6:12)
Here is the conclusion of what we have said so far — from what we “know” and what we must “count” as fact. And it is that sin must not “reign” over us. We must not obey its desires. Sin may demand all sorts of things. It will always want its own way. But, set free in Christ, we are no longer obligated to obey it. Free in Christ, we can freely say to it: “I will not obey you!” Our King is Christ, not sin. And as those who are free in Christ, we can say to sin: “Sin, I will no longer obey you! As one dead to sin and risen to righteousness, I will obey Christ!”
13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Romans 6:13)
Look, as Christians we must live as people who have died and risen again, who have died to sin and risen to a “new life” (Romans 6:4). If you have been “brought from death to life,” if you are a “new creation” and live a “new life,” then is this new life a life of sin? No. It is a life of holiness.
COUNT YOURSELVES DEAD TO SIN!
There is one thing it is important for every Christian to believe, and it is that through faith and trust in Christ and His death on the cross he is dead. He is also risen. But before you believe that you are risen to new life, you must believe that you are dead. You must believe that you are dead to sin, dead to your old life. “Knowing” (v.3;6;9) that we “participate” in Christ through baptism, we must “count” ourselves dead to sin and alive to God (v.10–12). See, the word “count” is very important. Because up to here in the chapter the apostle Paul speaks of what we “know.” These are the facts. We have been placed in Christ, and through His death we are dead to sin. Through His resurrection, we too have risen to a new life to live for God. And here the apostle Paul tells us that, since we “know” all these facts, we must apply them personally to ourselves and begin to “count ourselves” dead.
10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Romans 6:10)
On the cross Christ took upon Himself the sin of all mankind and He bore it. During the crucifixion the burden of my sin and your sin was upon Him. And for this He died. Because the penalty for sin is death. But His blood was so precious that when God placed the weight of the sins of all mankind on one side of the scale, and on the other side of the scale placed the blood of Jesus Christ, the “precious blood” of the Lamb of God tipped the scale, and God said: “For all these sins this price is enough. It is paid! It is paid for these sins! It is paid for everything! The blood of the only-begotten, holy, and perfect Son of God is enough.” That is why, since Christ has already paid and there is nothing more to pay, He cannot remain any longer in death. He must live, and that is why God the Father raised Christ from the dead.
But from that point on, does Christ still have any dealings with sin? No. That is why Hebrews 9:28 says that when Christ comes a second time, He will no longer have any dealings with sin — He will “appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him” (Hebrews 9:28). And if Christ no longer has any dealings with sin, do we have any more dealings with sin? No. We too no longer have any dealings with sin.
10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:10–11)
Remember this verse 11. This is our faith. We count ourselves “dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” This is the key to a holy and righteous life. Not the imposing of legal rules or other such things, but faith in the fact that we are “dead to sin” and alive only “to God.” This word — “count yourselves” — in Greek is logizesthe — it is a form of the verb logizomai and also means “keep reminding yourselves that,” “hold to the view that,” “take into account that,” “come to the conclusion that,” “think that”… What? That we are “dead to sin” and “alive to God”! We must keep repeating it to ourselves, we must keep thinking about it, we must believe it and count ourselves dead to sin.
Let us look at this spiritual truth from another angle as well. If you are in Christ, you are a “new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17)! And Christ said: “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again” — not merely enter, but they cannot even see it. That they cannot enter — they cannot, but they cannot even see it, they cannot so much as glimpse into — the “kingdom of God” (John 3:3)! If you are not “born of the Spirit,” you have no hope at all. But if anyone is in Christ — if you have believed in Him, if you have been baptized — “the new creation has come.” But if you are a “new creation,” then you must also know this: that the “old creation” has “passed away.” What does it mean that the old has “passed away”? It means that it is dead, it is gone (2 Corinthians 5:17)! And in the verse we just read (v.13) it says “as those who have been brought from death to life.”
…but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life (Romans 6:13)
To be “brought from death to life,” you first have to have died, don’t you? And indeed it is so — you have been “crucified.” So, “knowing” that through baptism we “participate” in Christ’s death and resurrection, we must “count” ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. We have been “brought from death to life,” but not in order to return to our old life. Rather, we have been “brought from death to life” in order to live a new life with God. And “counting ourselves” alive to God, we must “offer” ourselves to God as slaves of righteousness, which produces holiness and eternal life. That is, if we are “brought from death to life” in order to return to sin — then shame and disgrace! But if we rise from the dead in order to live for God, we are truly risen “new creations” who grow in holiness and sanctification!
…but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Romans 6:13)
Here is our decision and what we must do — which depends on us. To offer “ourselves” and the members of our body to God. Which “parts of the body” are we talking about here? Our tongues, our eyes, our hands, our feet, and every single part of our bodies.
14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)
Look here, the question of sin and of the law is connected. If we are under law — we are also under sin. Because where there is no law, there is no sin either.
We will never be perfect until the day when God makes us perfect. But we strive toward perfection. And this sincere, not hypocritical, striving toward perfection is sanctification. Yet I would rather be a sinner saved by grace than a “righteous man” who tries to save himself by his own strength by keeping the Law or some rules that he imposes on himself, or thinks God imposes on him. Because such a person has no chance of being saved, while the sinner who is saved by grace has a chance. For it is through God’s grace and through Jesus Christ that we are saved. But immediately the apostle Paul says:
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! (Romans 6:15)
Saved by grace, we cannot remain in sin. We must “offer ourselves” to God and to righteousness, we must make every effort, every exertion, to flee from sin and not to let it into our lives. In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul says: “Flee from idolatry!” (1 Corinthians 10:14); “Flee from sexual immorality!” (1 Corinthians 6:18); “Flee from the love of money!” (1 Timothy 6:9–11); flee from every trap! But offer yourselves to God. As the apostle Paul says in Philippians 3:13–14, we must be “forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead,” pressing on “toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Not that we have already taken hold of it, nor that we have already arrived. If anyone thinks so, then “they do not yet know as they ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:2), or he has become proud. But our attitude must be like that of the apostle Paul in Philippians 3:12:
12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. (Philippians 3:12)
“IS CHRIST A SERVANT OF SIN?”
We must not abuse our freedom! We are not under law, but this does not mean that we are without law toward Christ. Because, in Christ we are under Christ’s Law, and Christ’s Law is the law of love and the law of holiness and purity. Why must we not abuse our freedom in Christ? Because abusing our freedom brings us back into slavery to sin! So, if you say to yourself: “There, since I am under grace, I can go back to sin,” and you begin again to sin deliberately, then by the very fact that you begin to sin again, you are saying to sin: “Come and be my master once more!”
In Galatians 2:17–20, right after he has declared that we are saved without the works required by law and only through faith in Christ, the apostle Paul says:
17 But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! (Galatians 2:17)
Is Christ a servant of sin? No. Then how could we go on sinning? As redeemed and born-again brothers of Christ, we can no longer live a life in sin. Christ is not a servant of sin, and if anyone thinks that he is saved by grace in order to sin, he is very, very, very deeply deceived! We are not saved by grace from sin in order to sin. Because Christ is not a “servant of sin,” He is a “servant of righteousness.” In several places in the New Testament the apostles call Him a “holy Servant,” because He is holy, because He is God’s, and He calls us to holiness.
And look what the apostle Paul says here:
18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker. (Galatians 2:18)
So, if we as human beings, even though we are redeemed and justified, still go on sinning knowingly or unknowingly — because there is no one who is sinless — this does not mean that Christ is a servant of sin. If we sin, Christ is not to blame for it — we ourselves are guilty and must repent. If we sin, then we have strayed from Christ. Because Christ is not a servant of sin, He is a servant of righteousness, and if we sin, then we have “stepped out” of Christ, and then the fault is in us, not in Him. And what we must do is return to Christ through repentance.
And look, when the apostle Paul says “if I rebuild what I destroyed,” what is it that he has “destroyed”? He has “destroyed” his old self, because it is said that Christ died on the cross so that on that cross the “body of sin” might be crucified. And the apostle Paul says, if I revive again this “body of sin,” then what I am doing is a transgression — “I really would be a lawbreaker.” This is another way of saying that you are going back into what God has delivered you from. Through the death of Christ you have “destroyed” your old self, which had been given over into slavery to sin. But if you rebuild again what you have destroyed, then you “really would be a lawbreaker” — it means that you are a sinner and not a justified saint, you show that you are not a child of God but a child of the devil. This is what the apostle John said about Christ (1 John 3:5–8):
And in him is no sin. (1 John 3:5)
Christ bore all our sins and died for them, but in Him is no sin. He was the holy and “without blemish” Lamb of God and our Substitute.
6 No one who lives in him keeps on sinning; (1 John 3:6)
By this you can tell whether you live in God. If you knowingly make compromises with sin, you do not live in Christ.
No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him. (1 John 3:6)
And here — since we said that there is no person who does not fall into sin (1 John 1:8,10) — it is important to understand that the tenses in Greek in this verse are such that they mean not a single fall into sin, but continual sinning — sinning as a practice, as a way of life. The apostle John, however, is quite clear and categorical here that a person who “lives in sin,” who “keeps on sinning” continually, has nothing to do with Christ — he has neither seen Him nor “known Him.” So if you live in sin and think you are saved — you are not saved — you have neither seen Christ, nor known Him, nor understood what the gospel is about.
7 Dear children (see how good and gentle the apostle is, and how he exhorts us as his own children. With what love he says to us: “It is for your good that I correct you, not for harm!”), do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 8 The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. (1 John 3:7–8)
So let no one be deceived or think that in our church it is preached that “you can go on sinning and still be saved.” If anyone has gotten such an impression, then he does not read his Bible. Because the Bible clearly says that “the one who does what is sinful is of the devil.” As stewards of God’s church, we as its leaders require that whoever has believed in the Lord Jesus deal with his vices. How? Through prayer, through “offering” the parts of his body to God, and through a conscious and deliberate striving toward a holy life.
Dead to the Law and to sin, we do not rise in order to live for ourselves or again in sin. We rise to a new life with God. And if Christ lives in us, we will hardly go on living in sin! Christ is not a servant of sin! He is a servant of holiness! If Christ lives in us, then He will do righteous deeds that glorify our heavenly Father.
19 For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. (Galatians 2:19)
He did not say “so that I might live for sin,” he said “so that I might live for God”!
20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
Here is love, beloved, this is what we must realize. To realize that we are sinners deserving death, and yet Christ loved us. And He loved us so much that He gave Himself for us. And because He gave Himself for us, we in turn give our life for Him, by no longer living for sin, but living for God! Because Christ is a “Servant of righteousness,” and therefore we too must be servants of righteousness! Christ is a servant of holiness, and therefore we too must live a holy life. If we give ourselves over to sin, then we return back into the slavery from which Christ has delivered us, and we must be absolutely certain that Christ will not come with us into sin. And then we become “children of the devil.” So you can choose — whether to be a child of the devil or to be a child of Christ.
Let us remember the nesting dolls. Christ lives in us. But does He commit sin? Never. Then, if we begin to live in sin, Christ has left us. For Him to be within us, we must offer ourselves to Him. Otherwise, there will be division and a lack of harmony. We must walk in the light (1 John 1:5–7). In 1 John 2:6 the apostle reminds us:
6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did. (1 John 2:6)
FOR GOOD WORKS
We must also understand that God did not save us through good works, but “for good works”! God did not make us new creations so that we might live in sin! That is clear, isn’t it? God has made us new creations so that we might live in righteousness, that we might live in goodness. In Ephesians 2:8–10 the apostle Paul says:
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)
Because by our own strength and by our own works we cannot save ourselves.
10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)
So, if anyone thinks that freedom from the Law and salvation by grace are an occasion for the indulgence of the flesh and for a life in sin, he is extremely deeply deceived! I cannot say it more clearly than that. We are not new creations created for a life in sin. We are new creations created for a life of holiness and righteousness — a life far from sin! So, “Where are the works?” some asked. Here they are, right here. But they are not works by which we are justified, because we are justified through the work of Christ; rather they are works for which we are born again. We are born again “for good works.” And if we do not do them, and if they are not there in our lives, then we are not born again. If you do not do the good works in which the Father has prepared in advance for us to walk, you are not saved at all. You may think you are saved, but you are not. Because if the new seed of God is in you, you will hate sin. The seed of the new creation, which God has placed in you, cannot take pleasure in sin. We cannot produce the “good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” by our own strength. They are the fruit of the work of the Holy Spirit in us. That is why we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that we can have the fruit of the Spirit in our lives and can do God’s will — the good works. If we have these good works, the glory belongs to God, not to us! And if we do not have them — and think that we are born again and saved — we are deeply deceived. Because the works, the good works, are our fruit. They are that by which we can be recognized. As Jesus said: “By their fruit you will recognize them!” and “A tree is recognized by its fruit!” So too the born-again person is recognized by the fact that he does the will of his heavenly Father in his life. In John 3:8:
8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)
You see, we cannot see the wind, but we see its effects, the result of its blowing. You do not see the wind, but you hear “its sound.” What is the sound? The sound of the wind is the result of its blowing. The rustling of the leaves is that by which we know the wind is blowing. So too the born-again person is recognized by the fact that he stops living in sin and begins to do the good works for which the Father created him. So, if you are born again, in your life you will have the result of being born again. And the result of being born again, if you are born again, is righteous and good works. You will love to go to church, you will love to praise God and to worship Him, you will love to read your Bible. You will hate sin. You will hate theft, immorality, gossip, drunkenness, drugs, and so on. What did Jesus say? “By their fruit you will recognize them…” What is the fruit? The fruit is the deeds. And what did He say? A tree is recognized by what? By its fruit, isn’t it? So too a person is recognized by his deeds (Matthew 7:16–21).
16 By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. 21 Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 7:16–21)
So too the born-again person is recognized by the fact that he does the will of his heavenly Father in his life. Or if at times, because of the imperfection of his old self, he sins, then he repents, leaves his sin, and strives to live righteously. He does not remain in sin. His nature has simply been changed, his character has been transformed. As we have mentioned before, about the sheep and the pig. The pig lies down there in the mud and finds it pleasant. But the sheep may fall into the mud, but it will never stay there — it gets up and shakes off the filth. Why? Because the sheep is not a pig. So, if you are a new creation, you will never love being in sin. You may fall into sin, but you will not remain in it — you will not like it, you will hate it, you will fight against it. You will fight against it.
THE DOG RETURNS TO ITS VOMIT
16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? (Romans 6:16)
As I have already told you, and as the apostle Peter says the same: “people are slaves to whatever has mastered them” (2 Peter 2:19). If you abuse your freedom, you fall back under slavery, and what the apostle Peter says a little further down in the same chapter happens to you: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud” (2 Peter 2:22). So the pig not only, if it falls into the mud, does not consider it a problem, but even if you wash it and take it out of the mud, it goes right back to where it was taken from.
And as for the fact that “a dog returns to its vomit,” I have told you about this before too. I remember how once I saw our dog Gina do exactly this, and it became terribly disgusting to me. She was tied to the heating pipes in the hallway of our little apartment. That day she was somewhat sick and threw up. And because everything is visible there — it is not out in the yard, it is a tiled floor — and while I went to get a rag and clean it up, I saw her go back to what she had thrown up and begin to lick it up. Then God showed me that His Word is true, and that this proverb is indeed “true,” because it says that this is what the “true proverb” says (2 Peter 2:22): “A dog returns to its vomit.” Well, what is so surprising — it is a dog — it had not been transformed into a lamb. This is the picture of the justified saint who returns to sin. So, if you think you are a justified saint and you return to sin, then you are like the dog that returns to its vomit. You were never changed at all. Disgusting, isn’t it? I simply want sin and the return to it to become repugnant to you. Because this is exactly how God sees us when we return back to the vomit, to the filth, to the mud and dirt of sin from which He has delivered us. I know this is disgusting, and I do not enjoy speaking of such things, but this is the Word of God. Because God wants us to be disgusted by sin, for it to become repugnant to us, and for us to come to hate it.
- Sin is mud.
- Sin is filth.
- Sin is a disease.
- Sin is an infection.
- Sin is sludge.
- Sin is sewage.
- Sin is the filthiest of the filthy you can think of.
- Sin is the most disgusting of the disgusting.
- Sin is an abomination.
- Sin is a vile thing…
So, what I am preaching to you today is:
- Hate it!
- Flee from it!
- By the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body that push you toward it (Romans 8:13)!
- Do not think about how to gratify your desires (Romans 13:14)!
May God help us never to remain in sin, never to take delight in sin, but to be disgusted by sin and to live in God’s presence!
WHAT IS SIN?
People in this world gloss over it. They say that it is not necessarily anything bad.
Man calls it an accident; God calls it an abomination.
Man calls it a blunder; God calls it blindness.
Man calls it a defect; God calls it a disease.
Man calls it a chance; God calls it a choice.
Man calls it an error; God calls it enmity.
Man calls it a fascination; God calls it a fatality.
Man calls it a weakness; God calls it a transgression.
Man calls it a luxury; God calls it leprosy.
Man calls it liberty; God calls it lawlessness.
Man calls it a trifle; God calls it a tragedy.
Man calls it confusion; God calls it madness.
Man calls it instability; God calls it a bent. (— Moody Monthly)
There are countless different sins, and the devil has a whole palette of temptations for different people. For some there is “the lust of the flesh,” for others “the lust of the eyes,” for others — pride and vanity (“the pride of life”) (1 John 2:16), for others a little wine and a little brandy (alcohol), drugs, for others — gossip… You know your own weak spot. And knowing it, that is exactly where you must guard yourself most, so that you are not tempted.
16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin (we are no longer slaves to sin!), you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. (Romans 6:16–17)
This “pattern of teaching” includes “faith in God,” “repentance from dead works,” “instruction about baptisms,” “the laying on of hands,” and “eternal judgment” (Hebrews 6:1–2).
18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:18)
Notice, we are “slaves to righteousness.” We are not “slaves to sin.” We were “slaves to sin,” but God set us free and made us “slaves to righteousness”! When the apostle Paul was speaking to the Romans, he was speaking to “slaves of righteousness,” and when I speak to you today, I am speaking to “slaves of righteousness”!
19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, (Romans 6:19)
Sin is like a seed. Just as a seed, once sown, multiplies, so too sin, once committed, begins to multiply (Galatians 6:8). That is why “wickedness leads to ever-increasing wickedness.” But not only sin is a seed. Righteousness is also a seed, and once done, it leads to holiness — a holy life.
so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. (Romans 6:19)
IT DEPENDS ON US!
Do you notice how the apostle Paul speaks here as though everything depends on us? And so it is — it depends on our decision. It depends on us to whom we offer the members of our body — to impurity and wickedness, or to righteousness and holiness. And if we decide to offer them to righteousness and holiness, God will help us. If we make a good decision, a decision to take the side of the Spirit and to resist sin, God will support us. But if we make a decision to yield to temptation, then Satan will immediately take hold of us. It depends on us!
20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:20–22)
AUGUSTINE’S IMPROVING PRAYER
In the early days of his search for truth, Augustine prayed: “Lord, save me from all my sins, but not yet!” A little later he prayed: “Lord, save me from all my sins, except one!” And finally his ultimate prayer came: “Lord, save me from all my sins, and save me now!” Only when he made this final decision against evil did victory come into his life. There is no such joy and no such power, and while we are on the subject, no such peace either, as those which visit the soul that has made an irreversible decision against that which is evil. (— Selected)
WHICH DO YOU PREFER: “THE WAGES OF SIN” OR “THE GIFT OF GOD”?
So, make this decision: “Lord, save me from all my sins, and save me now!” Because there is a wage for slavery to sin, and this is stated in the last verse of this chapter.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
Notice, if we offer ourselves into the service of sin, it will pay us back — and the wage it will give us for our slavery to it is death. God too will repay us for our service to Him — He will give us eternal life. But this eternal life is not a “wage” but a “gift,” which God gives us even before we have begun to live for Him. Why a “gift”? Because it is given to us not according to merit, but according to grace. Because as soon as we believe, God gives us new birth and gives us eternal life.
In Romans 8:1–2 the apostle Paul writes:
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1–2)
The word “condemnation” in verse 1 actually means a verdict that is handed down at the end of a trial. But in Christ, God’s verdict over us is not “condemned” but “justified.” On the day of judgment we will not be sent to spend eternity in the fiery hell. Christ paid our debt at the price of His own blood. Therefore, we are free, and glory to God for the freedom we have in Christ!
BE FREE IN CHRIST!
Be free in Christ! But do not think that just because you have believed in Christ you can go on living in sin. Do not be deceived that grace is an occasion for the indulgence of the flesh. But understand also this: that to think grace is not a strong enough motivating factor to enable a person to live a holy life is absolutely wrong. Because in fact, it is precisely grace that leads us to live a holy life. That is why in Romans 12:1 the apostle Paul says:
1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)
The motivating factor for our sanctification is God’s mercy, love, and grace! You do not need to be constrained by commandments and laws in order to live a holy life.
1. What you need is to be united with Christ. If Christ lives in you, you will not sin, because He is a servant of righteousness. So, be united with Christ! “Know” that you are in Christ! “Count” yourself in Christ! “Offer yourself” to Christ!
2. What you need is God’s grace. If God’s grace is in you, it sets you free from the power of sin. Because this is what the apostle Paul tells us here: “Sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace!”
3. What you need is to offer yourself at God’s disposal (to give yourself over to God), and not to sin, because if you take up life in sin after you have been set free from it, you will lose your freedom and will experience a spiritual catastrophe that will bring you to spiritual death. The acts of the flesh are obvious, and no one who does them will inherit the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:19–21).