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Romans 6:1-5, 8, "What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him." "Turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter 6, we'll begin probably one of the most important chapters of the most important book, of the most important book, the Bible. Chapter 6 begins with a discussion of spiritual truths that are vital for us to understand. And they're not talked about very much. And I want to spend the next, I don't know, it might be a month together, studying the truths of Romans 6, 7 and 8. If you're struggling in your Christian life, I've got to tell you, the prescription you'll get from me, you come to my office, you talk to me, and I'm going to tell you, you need to read Romans 6, 7 and 8. And for many of you I've written that out as your prescription. Haven't I? And I said 'I want you to read it, and re-read it, and read it again, and read it out of different translations until it becomes a part of you-so you begin to understand the truths.' And I've been reading Romans 6, 7 and 8 for ten, twelve years, and I'm still seeing new, neat things in there, and principles that when applied to my life they're helping me in my walk in Christ.

This morning I want to talk to you about how we are united to Christ. And in Romans 6 he begins a discussion of what our new life in Christ means to us. Very important for us to realize that now we're under a reign of grace. We used to be under the reign of sin and death. But now grace is reigning, and we are under grace. And where sin did abound, the end of chapter 5 said 'grace does much more abound.' That wherever sin is great, God's love and forgiveness and unmerited favor is even greater. Now that's a statement you would never have just said off the top of your head. I mean, I wouldn't look at San Francisco and the sin and the cesspool of sin that that is, and say 'Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound.' I wouldn't have said that about San Francisco. I would have said, 'Look, turn or burn!' You know, that's what I would have said. [laughter] But that's not God's heart. [Didn't Jesus say that he came to heal the sick, and not the well, to save sinners, not those who think they're OK?] God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. And no matter how bad you're living, God's grace is even bigger than that, and God's grace can capture you, and hang onto you, and transform you. And that's the message of Christianity-the grace of God. Now there have always been those who take that message of grace, and either purposefully misinterpret it to their own ends, or they attack you for proclaiming that because they're afraid that if you proclaim that kind of grace and forgiveness, that people will go out and live wild and crazy lifestyles. They don't understand that grace transforms the heart. What the Law couldn't do [i.e. people trying to obey God's Holy Law on their own] God's love can do. Law alone can only harden the heart, whereas a sense of blood-bought pardon, that can melt even a heart of stone. They don't comprehend that. And there have been those, through the years, that have used grace as an excuse to keep from growing in Christ. To sort of cover up their sinful, yucky lifestyles, for lack of a better word. That's a very good word, isn't it? Yucky. You can tell I've been spending more time with my kids this week. In Romans 6, verse 1 the apostle Paul anticipates the very important question. He knows that if you teach the clear message of grace, some people are going to misrepresent your teaching to discredit you. Or others will misinterpret it in order to protect and further their own sinful desires [and lifestyles]. And the question that Paul anticipates is simple, verse 1. "Shall we continue in sin that grace might increase?." In other words, because God's grace is so great and abounds towards sin and sinners, does it mean that now we should continue in sin because that would just show God to be that much greater in grace-right? Wrong! The answer is given in verse 2, "may it never be!" Variously translated, the New American Standard you just heard, the King James says, "God forbid!" The NIV says "By no means!" The New English Bible says, "No, no!" And probably the literal Greek says "Hell no!" [laughter] And I'm not making that up, nor I'm I swearing. It's a word in the Bible. Right? But maganointa was a term in the Greek, and it was the most strong way that you could state an absolutely negative, negative. And it has its root from the word which you get Gehenna, which is the word for hell or Hades [although Hades refers to six feet under where you bury a person. Gehenna is the actual word for the hell-fire that will be fired up at the end of the plan of God to burn up all unrepentant sinners, cf. Revelation 20:14-15.] So maganointa, he's saying in very strong terms, almost crudely, "No way! Not on your life--You have misunderstood my teaching. You don't really understand what happened to you when you left the 'Adam's family, after Adam bombed, and you came into Christ's family.' And he says, "You really don't understand what's happening. You're hearing, but it's not getting through. Has that been your experience spiritually? You know a lot more up here than you've gotten down to here, and has gotten out to here. Huh? I think for most of us, that is our case. Which, our problem is not that we don't know enough, our problem is we don't know what we know-because we don't live it! A relationship with Jesus, Yeshua brings a change of life. By no means should we continue in sin that grace might increase! "How shall we who died to sin still live it?" In two weeks we're going to talk about how we died to sin. A relationship with Jesus brings a change of life. Donald Grey Barnhouse, who was a Pastor for years of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and it had a radio ministry-he was one of the first great Christian radio broadcasters-a faithful man until the day he went to be with the Lord-wrote a fantastic commentary on Romans. And one little paragraph he states, let me share it with you, he says "Holiness starts where justification finishes. And if holiness does not start, we have the right to suspect that justification never started either." Holiness starts where justification finishes. And if holiness doesn't begin to grow into life, we might suspect that maybe salvation never began either. There's going to be a change in life [and lifestyle] when you come to Jesus Christ [Yeshua haMeshiach for our Jewish readers]. Now it may start out being very small. I love to see the dramatic changes. Don't you? You know the people that walk in one day and they look like death warmed over-well they are dead in trespasses and sins, and they look like they're dead in trespasses and sins-and then you look at them later, and Wow!-what a change! But other's, it's more gradual, it's different. Some babies are born just beautiful, you know, other babies have to sort of grow into their good looks, you know. [laughter] In the Christian life some babies, baby Christians, wow, what a beautiful new life, other's it's not so pretty to begin with. But as you watch them over the years grow and mature, you see a change. You see that change in the natural realm. We were watching, somebody put together the neatest video thing, took all of our baby pictures, and growing up pictures, and courting pictures, and wedding pictures and our whole life, and put it on video for us with music and everything and gave it to us as a gift, precious gift. We were watching it last night, and boy have I changed! And boy has Leslie changed from the days of horned rimmed glasses and long straight hair, and remember those long dresses everybody wore in the '70s? Anyway, we were, I couldn't believe, I've really gotten fat, and thin at the same time, if you know what I mean. [laughter] So, ah, a change has occurred. It's part of growth. And, ah, some of us are really growing. But spiritual growth, it should be there. There should be some evidence of life. A little budding, a little sprouting, a difference in your life. I noticed the other week, I was talking to a brother around here, and I looked at him and I said, 'Wow' I said, 'You look transformed.' Now this guy's been a Christian for quite awhile, and he's not a baby anymore, he's what I'd call sort of a preschooler. And up until this last time, I mean, he always looked like he was in the war, you know, just a battle. I saw him this last week and I said "I can't believe you, you look like a new man. You look transformed." And it was just sort of that quantum leap, caboom, you know, he had taken a big leap in spiritual growth. And now he may stay there for awhile. None of us are growing, you know, that fast. We all grow pretty slowly. That's the way spiritual growth is. But there's going to be growth. "God forbid that we should continue in sin that grace may increase." You don't understand what sin is, if you want to continue in it.

So we learned this so far in Romans, we've learned that we've been saved, set free from the guilt of sin by Jesus' death in our place. He took the guilt that I deserve, put it on himself, and died for it. I've been set free from the penalty of sin, that's death. And that death has spread to me through my great, great, Grandpappy Adam. And I had to get out of

Adam's family and get into Christ's family. And I did that how?-through the what?-the new birth. You must be born again, you've got to get out of Adam's family and into Christ's family in order to be saved. And so with the new birth I've transferred my family. I have a new inheritance in Christ. So I've been set free from the penalty of sin. But, the question that's been before us now for the next few weeks, is "How can I be set free from the power of sin?" Yeah, the guilt of sin, I know it's gone. Thank God it's off my back, and yes, I'm glad the penalty of sin is gone, I've got eternal life, I'm not going to go to hell. But the power of sin in my life, I'm so sick of sin reigning in my life. I'm so sick of doing the same thing over and over. And I'll tell you, if you can relate to that, and you can feel that, then Romans 6, 7 and 8 are your books! They're your chapters. They're your biography, I really believe it's the believer's biography, and in a couple of weeks I'm going to talk to you about your obituary. Have you ever thought about writing your own obituary? Well God already did it for you, and we'll look at that in a little while.

Freedom from the power of sin begins with knowing and understanding certain spiritual facts, spiritual truths. Now listen. This is a basic premise, gang. You've got to hang this in your mind for awhile. I'm going to remind you in the next few weeks about this, that spiritual facts are meant to be believed, not necessarily felt. You're going to argue with me in your mind in the next few weeks. You're going to arm wrestle me, so to speak, in the spirit, and say 'But I don't feel that way!' And I'm going to say, 'I don't care if you don't feel that way, the Bible says it's true.' Too many of us are run by our emotions. You can't live by your emotions. People who live by their emotions are like people who are ruled by their puppies, their poochies as they call them. Ever notice somebody who doesn't have any children, and maybe no relatives around, and all they have is their poochie, this little yappy dog that runs their life. [laughter] They can't leave the house because poochie might have to have a meal. Poochie wakes them up three times a night for a bonny or for a little potty. When you come over to their house poochie begins to run around the walls, not on the floor, around the walls. Zoom, zoom!--licking you each time he passes. And then poochie begins to jump and yap and lick, and crawl all over you with their scratchy fingernails. And you're wondering, 'What is this beast?' 'Well poochie, you stop that.' 'Now poochie, poochie! You come here!' Poochie walks the other way. 'Poochie, you stop barking.' Yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap, yap. 'Poochie, lay down!' Man, let me give that dog some training. [laugher] I hate seeing people being ruled by their pooches. And another thing I don't like to see is people ruled by their kids. Oh, [much laughter] Ever see them? You know, their kids rule the house, Mom is a basket case, she has to child-proof-'Is it OK for me to go to the bathroom right now?' 'I really need to comb my hair.' 'I haven't had time today.' 'If you children would like to, it would be a good idea if maybe you would sort of like go to bed?' [laughter] 'Shut up Mom!--you go to bed, we're up the rest of the night.' You know, I hate that. I mean, you should rule your children. I mean, you should be in control of them, not they in control of you. It's the way it should be. You should be in control of your poochie, not poochie in control of you, and as ridiculous as that seems, it is just as ridiculous for your emotions to be in control of you. 'Now Mark, now Mark.' No, don't give me that 'now Mark' stuff. You who let your emotions rule your lives, you are in the same basket case as someone who lets a child, a brat child, rule their life, or a brat dog rule their life. You're letting your emotions run your life. They're like children. They're like animals. Is there a connection there? They are to be ruled over and trained, and disciplined. But some people, because they feel it, it's like 'Wow!-you know, I'm feeling it right now!-and there's nothing I can do about it, I'm just feeling it right now.' Wait a minute. You don't have to do it because you feel it. 'I don't?' No! You can say 'No' to that feeling. 'I can?' You see, but you never have before. Right? I mean, that's why there's so little spiritual discipline. Christians, they feel depressed, and so they don't do what God tells them to do. 'Well, I can't minister today, I'm depressed.' 'I'm down.' Well regardless of how you feel, get that feeling in line, discipline it to where it should go-you say 'That's easy for you to say, you always have it all together.' I'm a very emotional person, actually. I really am. There's a lot of discipline going on. I really am a pretty emotional person, my feelings can get the best of me if I allow them to. But don't give me this baloney that you can't help yourself. I don't buy it. I think it's pity-party, it's an excuse for a lot of us. And I speak as a fellow struggler, I mean, I'm born Portuguese and German. Talk about a combination that could be emotional. So you know, I as a fellow traveler down the road, I understand. But I also have learned-I don't know what this has to do with my sermon anymore [laugher]. Oh, here it is. Now, this is the point, coming back. (I really hope you guys really do learn things here.) Now whether or not you are experiencing the facts, whether you're feeling the facts, they're true nonetheless. That's my point. Don't let your emotions control the truth. The truth controls your emotions. [i.e. the truth of God.] Amen? OK? We judge our experience by the facts of God's Word, not by how we feel. You can be led astray by your feelings, and I sort of overstated that. But see Paul in chapter 6, it's like the Holy Spirit in these 23 verses, Paul is emphasizing four times-"Know this"-in verse 3. Then in verse 6 he says "knowing this". Then in verse 9 he says "knowing." Then in verse 16 he says "Do you not know?" In other words, he's talking to a bunch of Christians that don't get it. They're not knowing it, they're not understanding it, they haven't gotten a grip on the truth yet, and it's affecting their lifestyle. It's affecting the way they're living, they're not living productively for God. Satan wants to keep you in the dark, he doesn't want to know the things we're going to study in the next few weeks. He does not want you to know these things. I promise you that. He loves darkness, that's where he works the best. So if you can keep the Light of the Truth off, he'll be doing better in your life. Let's turn it on today, and let's begin to let the light shine in. And now I'm going to step on some toes this morning, I know I am. I'm dreading it, I don't like to do that. But you've got to let the Word of God apply in all the areas, even the little pet areas of your lives. You're going to have to let is slice. You're going to have to let it divide, it's the Sword and you can't say 'Ut, ut!-stop, don't cut this.' If the Lord drops the Sword down, it's going to cut whatever's in it's way. And so you allow him to do that, and you submit to it. We've got to understand we're in a battle for our minds. The whole spiritual battle is right here between the ears. It's for the mind, for your thinking, and right thinking will lead to right living. God knows that our behavior flows right out of our beliefs, that our will really lives what we really learn. Our doing always follows our doctrine. God knows that. And so that's why teaching is so important. But more important than teaching, is God through a miracle through the Holy Spirit bringing the truth home and it begins to click. You know, when there's that moment of insight and you can really-'Oh man! I see that, how it applies in my life.' So if you want to get on the road to freedom from the power of sin, here's the first thing you need to know, number 1. And I'm only going to give you one, today. And then in two weeks I'll give you another.

(Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ)

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