SERMON SPOTLIGHT * 5/24/26
There is only one “pathway to freedom” in Christ, and Paul outlines it for us in today’s text! Below is an outline summary of the sermon for your further study and deeper reflection.
SERIES: Romans: The Power of God in the Gospel of Christ
TEXT: Romans 6:1-14
TITLE: Dead To Sin And Alive In Christ
PREACHER: Tom Wilkins
BIG IDEA: In our union with Jesus, we are now freed from power sin and alive in God.
POINTS:
I. Being united with Christ, we have died to sin
II. Being united with Christ, we are now alive to God
SERMON EXCERPTS:
All quotes and text emphasis are taken directly from the pastor’s notes.
ILLUSTRATION: “Pathway to freedom”, Dunkirk in World War II
“In our text today, we find that the Christian has a greater pathway to freedom. Formerly enslaved by the power and reign of sin, our union in Christ secures our freedom from sin and ushers in our new life in God. The big idea of our text this morning is: In our union with Jesus, we are now freed from power sin and alive in God.”
“The pathway to freedom is paved by the reality that we are united with Christ. Knowing, remembering, and recounting that we are united with Christ is foundational to knowing that we have been freed from the power of sin and are now alive to God.”
“In verse 5:20b, Paul makes an amazing assertion, “...where sin increased, grace abounded all the more,” - we heard, and we sing that though “Our sins, they are many, His mercy is more!” GRACE ABOUNDED all the more! Look with me - today in verse 1, “What shall we say then,” …if this is true (sin increases, grace abounds all the more) Q. “Are we to continue in sin?… Are we to go on sinning that grace may abound?” Has grace opened the door for us to go on and keep sinning so that we get more grace?”
““What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” and his emphatic answer is in Vs. 2, and then he unpacks that answer in verses 3-14. We are united with Jesus, we are now freed from power sin and alive in God.”
“Are we to go on sinning that grace may abound? - Vs 2. BY NO MEANS! God forbid! No NO NO - Paul emphatically answers the question. His answer could not be more direct. It seems crazy to Paul to even think for a moment that somehow grace opens the way to sin. Yes, though our sins are many, God’s mercy is more… but this glorious gospel truth should BY NO MEANS ever lead us to believe that the Christian is to continue on freely sinning. Sin does NOT produce Grace. Grace does NOT grant permission to sin.”
“Then PAUL answers the question in verse 1 with a question in verse 2: “How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Something radical has happened to the Christian! We have died, and we have died to sin.”
“Sin is a Master.
“‘Sin’ in this context is not simply the actions of breaking God’s law. Rather, it is the real power and rule of sin that controls and enslaves. We find it described in 5:17, 21, 6:6, 9, and 12 as power that reigns, takes dominion, it is a lord that rules those under its power and sway. It’s not simply the action. It is the power that enslaves the sinner in their sin. Sin is a Master.”
“In Paul’s answer in vs 2 - We have “died to sin.” This is GOOD NEWS. And Paul unpacks in Vs 3-7 what it means that we have died to sin. The nature of our question in vs reveals that we need to KNOW something. Paul asks us in Vs 3 “Do you not know…” In light of what we often wrongly believe, there is a truth that we need to know when it comes to matters of sin and grace.”
“Hear the progression in vs 3-4:
Do you not know…
Those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.
Therefore, we were buried with Jesus by baptism into death
We were raised with Jesus, and with Jesus, we too would walk in the newness of life.”
“Paul has been teaching that righteousness comes through faith alone in Jesus. He has reminded us that we were justified by faith alone in Jesus (ch 5). He has just spoke of salvation through Christ has been accomplish by the “free gift of grace of the one man Jesus Christ.” (5:15). Our baptism, the outward, public testimony, of what has happened to us in our union with Christ is the perfect illustration for Paul to anchor our dying to sin in our union with Jesus that had been obtained by our faith in Christ. And the picture of our Baptism hangs over what comes next in vs 5-7.”
“Verse 5 is key to it all! ‘For if we have been united with him…!’ IT IS KEY TO OUR TEXT. Being united with Christ, we have died to sin. Emerging in vs 3 and 4, we find that we were ‘baptized into Christ Jesus’ (vs 3) and ‘we were buried therefore with him’ (vs 4), and then in Vs 5 ‘we have been united with him.’”
“The essential meaning of this word “united” is a botanical term - the original meaning is being “grown together” - a branch now bound together - that we have been “grafted” into Christ! Paul does not want us to miss this!”
“At our conversion, in repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, we were then, now, and forever more bound together with Christ Jesus forever! We were united with him! Vs. 3, being baptized into Jesus, we were baptized into his death. In that union, our sinful old life was plunged into death! When our Savior died, we died with him! When our Savior died, our sinful old life (in Adam) was bound therefore with him, Vs 5.”
“What wonderful news! This is our reality now! Our “miracle of deliverance” has been secured by Jesus Christ, and the pathway to our freedom from the power and reign of sin is our union with Christ! Here in these verses, Paul wants us to know why we cannot believe even for a second that grace gives us a pathway to go on sinning in order to get more grace!”
“Paul goes on to explain with Baptism as illustration, THE CROSS of Christ is now brought into view. Our ‘old self was crucified with Christ!’ When Jesus was crucified, our old self that was under the power of sin was crucified with him! The rule of sin has been definitively ‘brought to nothing.’ The rule and reign of sin has come to an end forever! AND when our old self was crucified with him, we are ‘no longer enslaved to sin!’ (6) We have ‘been set free from sin!’”
“When our Master died, our old slave master died with him, and we will never again be enslaved to sin! We have been FREED FROM SIN - freed from the sin-master! We have been set free from the power of sin and the penalty of our sin! It is true that our ability to sin remains - sin that indwells and crouches near. But the GOOD NEWS is that the enslaving realm of sin no longer controls us and now we can say no to sin! The chains of dominion of sin are now gone! Vs. 14 ‘For sin will have no dominion over you…’”
“THIS IS YOUR PRESENT REALITY AND HOPE: If you are now united with Christ. You are no longer under the power and reign of sin. In Christ, you have died to sin. And the GOOD NEWS GETS EVEN BETTER.”
“Beginning with ‘Now…’ Vs 8, Having seen that we have died to sin, we now focus our attention on what Paul mentioned earlier at the end of Vs 4 - ‘walk in the newness of life.’ Now, knowing that we have died to sin, we now ‘believe that we will also live with him!’”
“Remembering the question in vs 1 ‘How can we who died to sin, still live in it?’ Instead of believing that we can still live on in sin, Vs 8 is now what we believe: We believe that we will also live with Christ. Instead of ‘living in sin,’ we will live in the newness of our life that is ours now that we have been grafted, bound together with Christ. We ‘live with him.’”
“Paul shows us Christ!
- Christ has been raised from the dead
- Christ will never die again
- Christ has dominion over death (death no longer has dominion over him - the reign of death has come to an end in Christ)
- Christ’s death brings and end to sin, once for all
- Christ lives to God”
“With Christ, we are raised from the dead. With Christ, we will never die again. With Christ, death no longer has dominion over us - the reign of death has come to an end in Christ. Vs 14 declares an amazing eternal hope for the believer - Sin will not have dominion over you! You are under a new dominion - GRACE! With Christ, our sins have been brought to an end, once for all. With Christ, we now live to God. Our union with Christ is a “vital union” - a “living union!” - it is a living reality!”
“WARNING: If you are not in Christ. You remain in the reign and slavery to sin. You might think that you can simply make some choices to be a better person. Stop this, start doing that. BUT in reality, you will do only what the power of sin demands of you. You cannot break free from the power of sin, and its penalty - the wrath of God. You need a Savior! But turn to Christ for salvation and eternal freedom.”
“The very sinful thing that looked so good to us, so promising, now will not let us out from underneath its crushing power. Isn’t this true as we wrestle with destructive sins that have habitually caught us and will not let us go? But now in Christ, that power is broken, and we are called to something that is now possible to refuse to obey the sinful cravings of our body, we - 13 - do not ‘present your bodies as weapons of unrighteousness to sin’ (Schriner). And 13 - Because you have been ‘brought from death to life’, present your bodies as weapons for the purpose of righteousness’”
“We are in a fight, and the members of our bodies are weapons, weapons used for either unrighteousness (the old self that has died) or for righteousness in the reality that we have been brought from death to life - walking in the newness of life! Consider the eye, the hand, the ears, the feet, but also the tongue…James 3:5-6.”
APPLICATION:
BEFORE YOU attempt anything that follows in Vs 12-13, consider the reality that you are truly dead to the power and reign of sin and truly alive in the power and reign of God (under the dominion of grace - 14). Count these things. Reckon these things. Engage your thoughts, mind, and will! You are “dead to sin and ALIVE to God in Christ Jesus.” It is crucial that we understand that we cannot move quickly to 12-13.
You have a new Master now, and his name is Jesus. You are forgiven IN HIM. You are set free IN HIM. Sin no longer has a hold on you. You are under the reign of grace. Take heart (vs 14)... Sin will not have dominion over you! Turn and walk in the newness of life that you have now been given in Christ! Those who are presuming upon the grace of God. Do not be deceived! Verse 1 is your way of life. Sure, I’ve sinned here and there, but I am good! You think you have been given a pass to sin. You have not.
QUOTES:
John Stott - “... in counting (considering) ourselves dead to sin and alive in God through Christ, we are to recall, to ponder, to grasp, to register these truths until they are so much a part of our way of thinking that a return to the old life is unthinkable. Regenerate Christians should no more contemplate a return to unregenerate living than adults to their childhood, married people to their singleness or discharged prisoners to their prison cell. For our union with Jesus Christ has severed us from the old life and committed us to the new… We have died, and we have risen. How can we possibly live again in what we have died to?”
Christopher Ash - “A famous World War II cartoon shows a tiny Hitler embracing (and being embraced by) a huge Russian bear. The caption has Hitler saying, ‘I have caught a bear, and he won’t let go.’”
SCRIPTURE MEMORIZATION:
Romans 5:8-14
SONGS FROM THIS SUNDAY:
All Creatures Of Our God And King
Death Arrested
Yet Not I But Through Christ In Me
Christ Is Mine Forevermore
My Life Is An Offering
NEXT WEEK’S PASSAGE:
Romans 6:15-23
THE BOOK OF THE QUARTER:
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“Encouragement: How to See and Celebrate Evidences of Grace” - Jared Mellinger