Romans 6:1-4

Coram Deo Reformed Baptist Church iconCoram Deo Reformed Baptist Church

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Well we are in Romans 6.
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Finally made it. We've made it to chapter 6. It's gonna be a slow roll through chapter 6.
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Well I'm gonna start reading in chapter 5 verse 20.
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This is where Paul's argument began. Now the law came in to increase the trespass.
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But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more. So that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our
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Lord. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
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By no means. How can we who died to sin live in it?
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Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
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We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death. In order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
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Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
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The first part of verse 1 here where it says, what shall we say then?
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Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul here is asking a rhetorical question, leaving a cliffhanger style pause at the end of it.
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In part because of the ridiculous assumption the question asserts that he is asserting with the question.
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Also to build tension for his response. May it never be.
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By no means. God forbid. It is an emphatic response that requires all emphasis.
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The ridiculous notion that Paul is bringing up here is called antinomianism.
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This is something that was dealt with constantly throughout the epistles. Anti meaning against.
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Nomos meaning law. It's against the law.
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Pulled an excerpt from an article. It's not really an article.
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It's from a book called The Field Guide on False Teaching. You may have heard of it. If you haven't, get it.
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Read it. It says, throughout church history, antinomianism has appeared in less overt and perverse forms than that in which it appeared in the early church.
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Martin Luther wrote against the antinomians to refute the erroneous teaching of the
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Neo -Lutheran antinomian Johannes Agricola.
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Edward Fisher wrote The Marrow of Modern Divinity to address the undercurrents of legalism and antinomianism in certain streams of the
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Puritan movement. This book was also at the center of a debate over antinomianism in the
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Church of Scotland in the 18th century. In the 20th century, notable dispensational teachers promoted a form of antinomianism called easy -believism.
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This is a teaching that the church has dealt with since it began. Paul here is addressing this because under the false logic, but in the misunderstanding of justification by faith alone, there is an erroneous assumption that you have a license to sin, that you need not repent of sin because grace abounds the more you sin.
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You're covered. Don't worry about it. The issue is that this teaching is dealt with numerous times in Scripture.
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In 1st John chapter 2 verses 4 and 6 or 4 through 6, whoever says,
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I know him but does not keep his commandments is a liar. And the truth is not in him.
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But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.
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By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
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Jude verse 4 says, For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people who perverted the grace of our
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God into sensuality, and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
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2nd Peter 2 verse 1 through 4, But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the
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Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
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And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
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And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. The condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
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How can we die to sin and still live in it? Paul, in this first part of chapter 6, is approaching the subject of our sanctification.
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Sanctification is a lifelong process by which those who are justified are conformed to the image of Christ by the power and work of the
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Holy Spirit. From the moment of justification, a person is changed.
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They are no longer ruled by sin, or as it says in 2nd
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Corinthians 5 verses 14 and 15,
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For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this, that one has died for all, therefore all have died.
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And he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him, who for their sake died and was raised.
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Now this is not to say that the elect do not sin. We do.
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We struggle with it, and we will struggle with it until the day that we are glorified.
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The term which you may have heard me use before is simmel justus et peccator, which is a fancy way of saying simultaneously sinners yet justified.
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We will continue to sin, but this is very different from continuing in sin.
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We may on occasion lie, but we will not be habitual liars.
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We may on occasion struggle with lustful thoughts, but we will not continue in the habitual use of lustful material, shall we say, or in a debaucherous life.
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The person who is indwelt with the Holy Spirit cannot, in fact, do this, because the
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Holy Spirit not allow it. We may sin for a season or an instance, but a regenerate believer cannot, because he is a new person.
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Second Corinthians 5 17 says, Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
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The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come. Now, taken aside for just a moment,
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I was able to be a part of a wonderful G3 meeting several nights ago that was for pastors and elders that are bivocational.
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It was a wonderful meeting. I said nothing the entire time. I just listened to these men.
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But one of the things that they talked about, because there were church plants, and there were older churches and churches that were in the process of reforming.
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We are lucky enough to have planted this church, so we could decide from the very beginning how it would be done.
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There are a lot of elders and pastors that are in the multi -year process of bringing churches to a reformed soteriology, a reformed ecclesiology, the belief and practice.
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But one of the things that they talked about was the absolute importance of regenerate church membership.
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Paul in chapter 6 is going over our sanctification. We are to recognize as church members the regenerate believer by the fruit.
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The reason regenerate church membership is so important is because it is for believers and believers only.
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Everyone is welcome. Not everyone is welcome to be a member of the church. This is because the members of the church govern the church.
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They are not the head of the church, that is Christ and Christ's position alone, but the congregants are the ones who make the decisions for the particular body of the church.
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We're Baptists. We do not have a presbytery or a ruling body above us, so it is more important.
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We'll go over this a little bit more, but it is emphatically important to consider this, because as a new church, if we do not take into consideration how
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God prescribes that the church should be run and how believers will act, the fruits of the
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Spirit, then inevitably this church will fail. So while it may be a short process for some to become members of the church and a long process for others, it is vitally important that we make sure that they are where they ought to be members.
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Now back to what Paul is talking about. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
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We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
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Father, we too might walk in newness of life. In a very, very real sense, as we talked about in chapter 5, we were united to Adam in his headship and his work.
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As Christians, we are united to Christ as our federal head and to his work.
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We have been united to him in his death on the cross and in his resurrection through faith.
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Our former selves have been crucified with him and have died. We have been raised with him into a new life.
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As I said before, we are new creations. The seal of this is the
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Holy Spirit, and as I said before, he produces fruit that is visible.
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Remember from John 3, Christ has a conversation with a
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Pharisee named Nicodemus. I'll read a little bit from that.
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This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.
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Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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Nicodemus said to him, How can a man be born when he is old, and he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?
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Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
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Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
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Spirit is spirit. Not marvel that I said this to you. You must be born again.
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The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know from where it comes or where it goes.
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So it is with those who are born of the Spirit. Nicodemus has the knowledge, but he lacks the understanding of the
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Scriptures. This is one thing that we talked about yesterday in our meeting.
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The Spirit grants us the understanding of Scripture. This is part of the fruit.
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One can read and reread the Bible as much as he likes, but unless the
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Holy Spirit gives him understanding, you will not ever see the truth.
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The outward sign that we take upon ourselves, that is given to us by God for the death and resurrection that we are united to Christ in, is baptism.
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There's a public decree that the believer makes, and that the church elders in the congregation affirm that the believer is in fact in newness of life.
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It is an incredibly important sacrament that is given to us by God. The believer is immersed fully in the water to show their union with Christ in his death.
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For the briefest of moments, he's under the water, and then he is raised swiftly out of the water, as Christ was raised swiftly from the grave.
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This is to show that death no longer had control over him, that it no longer has control over us.
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It is vitally important that we treat baptism with all reverence.
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Unfortunately, in our time, the church tends to treat it with no more reverence than having a pack of gummy bears.
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We baptize whoever wants to be baptized, as if it in and of itself gives salvation, but as a
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Reformed church, this is not the case. We must practice it as it ought to be practiced.
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We're Baptists, the full immersion, and we only baptize those who show the fruit of the
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Spirit, as I said before. There are multiple reasons for this, but one of the reasons is because it is vitally important to the believer and their assurance, as we have so many people who have left the church after being baptized once or sometimes three or four times.
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They cannot look back upon their baptism and be assured by it.
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How it ought to be is that a believer is justified, sanctified, chose the fruit of the
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Spirit, the elders recognize that, the congregation recognizes it, they become a member, and they are baptized into the church, them proclaiming to the church that they are a believer, and the church affirming that they are truly a believer, follower of Christ, so that that believer can look back later in his life, in those moments of darkness, and look back on those moments and say, no,
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I know I'm saved because I showed fruit. I am in dwelt with the
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Holy Spirit because I see His work, and the church affirmed this. It was affirmed in my baptism.
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Unfortunately, this is a thing, as I said before, that has been ruined in the church.
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There are very few of us who even consider to treat it with the amount of reverence that it ought to be treated with, but as you go forth through the week, be assured by looking at the work of the
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Holy Spirit in your life. How many things can you look upon before your justification, before that moment or that season?
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Remember the person that is dead, and look at the person that is now, and the work that the
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Holy Spirit has done in you. Thank you.