A lesson by Pastor John Skaggs
Sovereign Grace Baptist Church
Date: 12-6-98
Sermon Number: #30
Text: Romans 6:1-2
Practicing Goodness
(Romans 6:1-2 NASB) "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? {2} May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"
Thus far in Paul's epistle to the Romans he has answered such questions as these. Why does man need salvation? What has God done to bring it about? How is salvation appropriated by men?
According to Paul man needs salvation because he is a sinner. He is such by nature and then by practice as soon as he is old enough to express his sinful nature. Man's sin has separated him from God which separation is "spiritual death." Those who are spiritually dead have no hope of life eternal unless, somehow, they can be reunited to God. This brings us to the second question, "What has God done to bring salvation to sinners?" God, in eternity past, determined to save a number of sinners by the life and death of His Son. Jesus suffered the required punishment for sin so that elect sinners could become the righteousness of God by faith in Him and be saved from the wrath to come.
Once separate from God and spiritually dead the believing sinner is reunited to God and now has everlasting life. But how is this salvation appropriated. It is appropriated by faith. Jesus made this very clear when asked what one must do to earn the favor of God. Jesus said, " . . . This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent."(John 6:29 NASB)
In other words there is not work to be done. One cannot earn the favor of God. Rather, the sinner must look away from himself to another, to the perfect life and death of Jesus the Savior of all who come to Him by faith. The sinner must trust in Christ for the salvation of his never dying soul. This believing is both the work of God and the responsibility of man. The sinner must believe or perish. But he is dead and cannot believe. God must raise him from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit or he will never run to Christ for salvation. Therefore when the sinner has obeyed the command to believe in Jesus for salvation he must offer thanks to the God who caused and enabled him to believe.
This is how God meets man's greatest need, salvation. But is this all he needs? Is being saved the end of God's purpose and intent for us? The answer is no. In justifying us God has declared us perfect and acceptable to Him. The perfect righteousness of Christ has been credited to us. This is the basis of our acceptance with God, our salvation. But there is more that God intends to do with us. He intends to make us perfect in thought and deed. He intends to make us Christ-like! That God intends to sanctify us is made clear in the following scriptures. Hear the word of the Lord.
(Romans 8:29 NASB) "For whom He foreknew, (This word means loved beforehand. The "whom" of this phrase refers to those chosen by God in eternity past for salvation. These He loved and would save but . . .) He also PREDESTINED (them) TO BECOME CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON, that He might be the first-born among many brethren;" In other words God has not only determined to save His elect people, He intends to make them Christlike. He intends to sanctify them.
(Ephesians 1:4 NASB) " . . . just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, THAT WE SHOULD BE HOLY AND BLAMELESS BEFORE HIM." This verse speaks both of our eternal election to salvation by the Father and of His intent to make us "holy" in our day to day practice.
(Ephesians 2:10 NASB) "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus FOR (Or with the intent and purpose that we practice . . ) GOOD WORKS, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."
Then there is this great statement in Matthew 1:21 which summarizes the whole mission of the Savior. "And she will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS." Jesus lived and died to save the elect of God from their sins. From the penalty, power and, at last, the presence of sin.
In justification God DECLARES that all believing sinners are good and righteous in His sight. This declaration is based on Christ's goodness imputed to us by faith. But again I say that is not the end of salvation. God intends to make us righteous and good in our thoughts and behavior. This sanctification is the work of God in us but we must work toward it as well. For He says, "Be holy as I am holy." Allow me read some quotes and comments that will serve to define and explain sanctification.
"Sanctification, says the Westminster Shorter Catechism (Q.35), is "the work of God's free grace, whereby we are renewed in the whole man after the image of God, and are enabled more and more to die unto sin, and live unto righteousness." The concept is not of sin being totally eradicated (that is to claim too much) or merely counteracted (that is to say too little), but of a divinely wrought character change freeing us from sinful habits and forming in us Christlike affections, dispositions, and virtues.
Sanctification is an ongoing transformation which results in the practice of real righteousness. Sanctification involves a moral renovation, whereby we are increasingly changed from what we once were. This change is the result of the work of the indwelling Holy Spirit (Rom. 8:13; 12:1-2; 1 Cor. 6:11, 19-20; 2 Cor. 3:18; Eph. 4:22-24; 1 Thess. 5:23; 2 Thess. 2:13; Heb. 13:20-21). God calls his children to be sanctified and graciously gives what he commands. This truth is born out in the following scriptures. (1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 NASB) "For THIS IS THE WILL OF GOD, YOUR SANCTIFICATION; (The word speaks of consecration or of being set apart from sin to God. The will of God is that the saved change the way they live, think, speak, and act.) that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; {4} that each of you know how to possess his own vessel (his own physical body) in sanctification (consecration to God) and honor, {5} not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles (This word always refers to unbelievers.) WHO DO NOT KNOW GOD;" Here is the will of God for our Christian lives. We are to sanctify ourselves or consecrate ourselves to God. We are to separate ourselves from the life and behaviors that characterize unbelievers. THIS IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY. BUT IT IS ALSO THE PROMISE OF GOD TO US AND HIS WORK IN US THAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE. Hear the words of 1 Thessalonians 5:23 NASB. "Now may the God of peace Himself SANCTIFY YOU ENTIRELY; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." God calls his children to be sanctified and graciously gives what he commands.
(Philippians 2:12-13 NASB) "So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; {13} FOR IT IS GOD who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure."
"Regeneration is birth; sanctification is growth. Regeneration, was a one time act whereby one dead in sin and separate from God is made alive or rejoined to God. THIS ACT IS GOD'S WORK ALONE. Sanctification, however, is an ongoing cooperative process in which regenerate persons, alive to God and freed from sin's dominion (Rom. 6:11, 14-18), are REQUIRED TO EXERT THEMSELVES IN SUSTAINED OBEDIENCE. God's method of sanctification is neither activism (self-reliant activity) nor apathy (God-reliant passivity), BUT GOD-DEPENDENT EFFORT (2 Cor. 7:1; Phil. 3:10-14; Heb. 12:14).
(2 Corinthians 7:1 NASB) "Therefore, having these promises, (God promises to make us holy.) beloved, let us cleanse ourselves (We must work toward what He has promised.) from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." God commands, promises, enables, empowers, and we pursue.
The standard to which the Christian turns for guidance in his pursuit of sanctification is God's own revealed moral law, as expounded and modeled by Christ himself. Christ's love, humility, and patience under pressure are to be CONSCIOUSLY IMITATED (Eph. 5:2; Phil. 2:5-11; 1 Pet. 2:21), for a Christlike spirit and attitude are part of what law-keeping involves.
(Ephesians 5:1-2 NASB) "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; {2} and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma."
Believers find within themselves contrary urgings. The Spirit sustains their regenerate desires and purposes; their fallen, Adamic instincts (the "flesh") which, though dethroned, are not yet destroyed, constantly distract them from doing God's will (Gal. 5:16-17; James 1:14-15). This conflict and frustration will be with Christians as long as they are in the body. Yet by watching and praying against temptation, and cultivating opposite virtues, they may through the Spirit's help "mortify" (i.e., drain the life out of, weaken as a means of killing) particular bad habits, and in that sense more and more die unto sin (Rom. 8:13; Col. 3:5). They will experience many particular deliverances and victories in their unending battle with sin, while never being exposed to temptations that are impossible to resist (1 Cor. 10:13)." (End Quote, from "Concise Theology" by J. I. Packer, heavily modified.)
What a cruel thing it would have been if God had saved us only to leave us without the ability to live for Him. As has been stated, living for the Lord is a struggle. We fight and wrestle against sin, the flesh, and the devil and other unseen spiritual forces. We do so with great frustration but not without hope. For God has promised that we shall succeed to a degree on earth and be fully sanctified when we come into His presence. In this sixth chapter of Romans Paul speaks to us about the changes that have taken place since our salvation that guarantee an ever increasing success in the fight to live for the Lord. The first thing he points to is the death that took place when we were saved. Let me read our text once again.
(Romans 6:1-2 NASB) "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? {2} May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?"
The question in verse one had undoubtedly been ask before in relation Paul's teaching on grace. He has just said, in chapter five, that where sin abounded, grace abounded all the more. The sinful mind, therefore, asks this question, "If, as you say Paul, there is no sinner to vile, no accumulation of sins to great but that grace will abound to completely cover and annihilate them. Should we not as Christians continue to sin so that God's abounding grace will continue to be displayed in our lives? Most of us could not imagine anyone suggesting such a thing but the truth is such people exist, even today, in our churches. Jude 1:4 "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who TURN THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO LICENTIOUSNESS (wantonness and sensuality) and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ."
Shall we continue to sin that God's grace in forgiving us may be put on display?
Paul's immediate and emotional answer is, "God forbid!" "May it never be!" "To the devil with such a thought!" The abounding grace of God that is sufficient to cover any and all sin, was never meant to encourage sinfulness. Quite the contrary the grace that saves also sets one free to pursue and practice holiness. The grace that saves brings with it many changes that make it impossible for the Christian to continue living as the Gentiles do. Paul sets the first of those changes before us today when he asks, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" (Romans 6:2 NASB)
The word "live" in verse two refers to a persons normal and daily routine of life. There is the kind of life a sinner routinely lives and there is the kind of life a Christian routinely lives. Paul is asking, "How could we Christians who have died to sin continue to live a life of habitual sin?" Paul's argument is that the true Christian will not, cannot, and need not do so because he has died to that lifestyle.
As sinners un-moved by grace we had neither the will nor the ability to come to God on His terms. We were enslaved to a way of thinking, and acting, a way of living which pleased our sin nature. Our minds were set on sin and self. We could not subject ourselves to God but only to the lust of our own flesh. This is how we lived day to day. This pre-salvation mind set is described in Romans 8:5-8 NASB. "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. {6} For the mind set on the flesh is death, (or results in death) but the mind set on the Spirit is (or results in) life and peace, {7} because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, FOR IT IS NOT EVEN ABLE TO DO SO; {8} and those who are in the flesh CANNOT please God." The unbeliever is focused on satisfying his flesh. He serves himself as a slave serves his master.
But when he is reconciled to God, justified, born again, saved, a wonderful thing takes place. A death occurs. When we are saved we die to sin, self, and the devil. We are freed from that way of living and thinking. We no longer want to live and think that way, we have new desires. We have a new Master whom we wish to serve. The Christian is the willing bond-slave of God who reigns over him with righteousness just as sin once reigned over him with or through unrighteousness. These truths are brought out in Romans 5:19-21 NASB. {21} "that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Remember, death means separation. So, when Paul asks the question, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it." he is not just asking a question he is making a statement. He is saying this, "We Christians have been released from the power of sin. We need not, must not, and indeed will not obey the lusts of the flesh or the enticements of the evil one. How could we continue to live like that when Christ has set us free. We have died to sin. We have been severed from sins rule. We are no longer joined in marriage to sin. We are free to serve our new husband, Jesus. That death does set us free from former obligations is made clear in 1 Corinthians 7:39 NASB. "A wife is bound as long as her husband lives; but if her husband is dead, she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord." Just as a physical death breaks the marriage bond setting a spouse free to marry another. So the spiritual experience of dying to sin frees us from our obligation to obey our old master whose name was sin, self, and Mr. Devil. Paul says this a number of different ways in Romans six.
(Romans 6:6-7 NASB) " . . knowing this, that our old self (nature) was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that (to the end that or with the goal in mind that) WE SHOULD NO LONGER BE SLAVES TO SIN; {7} FOR HE WHO HAS DIED IS FREED FROM SIN."
(Romans 6:11-13 NASB) "Even so CONSIDER (regard or reckon) YOURSELVES TO BE DEAD TO SIN, (separate from the rule and power of sin) but alive (joined to and enslaved) to God in Christ Jesus. {12} Therefore DO NOT LET sin reign (do not let it be king, the ruling factor in your life) in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, {13} and DO NOT GO ON presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves (body, soul, mind) to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as INSTRUMENTS (tools, implements) OF RIGHTEOUSNESS TO GOD."
(Romans 6:18 NASB) ". . . and having been FREED FROM SIN, (the penalty and power of sin) you became SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS." That is servants of God.
(Colossians 3:5-10 NASB) "Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to (separate from) immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. {6} For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come, {7} and in them you also once walked, when you were living (abiding in them as a way of day to day life) in them. {8} BUT NOW you also, PUT THEM ALL ASIDE: (this is our responsibility as Christians) anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. {9} Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, {10} and have put on the new self who IS BEING RENEWED (Here is God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.) to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him."
(2 Peter 1:4-12 NASB) "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, in order that by them you might become PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, (This is the nature of all believers, it is the new man that lives within. It is that part of us that loves God and His word and that wishes to please Him in all that we do. It is God the Spirit in us.) having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. {5} Now for this very reason also, APPLYING ALL DILIGENCE, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge; {6} and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, PERSEVERANCE, and in your perseverance, godliness; . . {10} Therefore, brethren, BE ALL THE MORE DILIGENT TO MAKE CERTAIN ABOUT HIS CALLING AND CHOOSING YOU; for as long as you PRACTICE these things, you will never stumble; {11} for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you. {12} Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you."
"This is the will of God for you, even your sanctification." Sanctification is an ongoing cooperative process in which regenerate persons, alive to God and freed from sin's dominion are REQUIRED TO EXERT THEMSELVES IN SUSTAINED OBEDIENCE. God's method of sanctification is neither activism (self-reliant activity) nor apathy (God-reliant passivity), BUT GOD-DEPENDENT EFFORT! We can do this, brothers and sisters, through Christ who came to save us from our sin.