Dead to Sin, Alive to God

Welcome and Baptisms

Today we had two baptisms and these I believe these are the first baptisms of the year but we've been in Romans for quite a while now in our passage today Romans 6. Three times the word baptism is mentioned and it's the first time in the book of Romans that baptism is mentioned in Romans 6. And this was not planned not by me. Don't you love how God does that?

But we're in Romans 6 today. The title for our message today is Dead to Sin Alive to God. I want to invite anybody that would like to stand with me in honor of the reading of the word of God. We're there in Romans chapter 6, and we're going to begin reading in verse one of Romans chapter 6. There the word of God says,

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace."

God, thank you for your word. Thank you for the timing of this passage on the day that we've had two baptisms reminding us that when we've given our life to Jesus and been baptized in Christ Jesus, we don't need to live in the old man anymore. We're dead to sin. And God, I just thank you for your word. And God, I pray today as the word is read and as the word is preached, I need your help, God. And God, I pray that as the word is preached, you penetrate our hearts. That you work inside of hearts where it's needed. God, if there's some believers here living in sin, they know that's not who they're meant to be. They get out of sin, God, and they walk with you. And God, if there's somebody here that you're calling to salvation, God, I pray today would be the day that they say, "I am a sinner, Lord. I need forgiveness. Jesus, forgive me my sins. And Jesus, I'm turning from sin. I'm believing in you and with your help, I want to live for you." I pray today you do that for somebody if they need it. We love you, God. And I just pray that you bless this time of worship. It's in Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. Go ahead and be seated.

The Question: Shall We Continue in Sin?

It really is a joy to have y'all here and just a blessed to have y'all with us. I've got a question as we read this passage. Do you ever struggle with sin? Yes. Amen. Anybody want to get their hand up?

You know, last Sunday we were in Romans 5. And in Romans 5, Paul was talking about the first man, Adam, sinned and sin came into this world. And because of sin, death came into this world. The wages of sin is death. But the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. And we were reminded that we are all sinners. Every one of us. Every single one of us fall short of the glory of God. We all know that from the Bible. And the reality is even if somebody doesn't believe the Bible, they know they're a sinner. Every single human being. I believe you can find common ground with anybody if they're being honest that they know they've messed up in life. We're all sinners.

And you know there's all kinds of sin we struggle with. Anger, unforgiveness, gossip. Yeah. Gossip sin. Yes. The enemy will use gossip to kill a church, too. Yes. Mhm. Lusting, sexual immorality, there's all kinds of sin we struggle with. Amen. We are all sinners. And I tell you, there's something about for the believer cuz Paul right here is talking to believers. Paul's talking to those that have trusted in Jesus, been baptized after confessing Jesus, and he's saying, "That's not who you're meant to be. You're not meant to live in sin."

Does anybody remember if you're saved, if you're born again, anybody remember before you gave your life to Jesus and remember living in sin? You know, I remember before I was saved, there was sin that I had in my life that quite honestly, some of it I didn't feel that bad about. Some of it I did, but I wasn't saved. I didn't have the Holy Spirit convicting me in the same way. I mean, I remember I was I graduated from the best college ever, NC State, Wolfpack. And I came down here and lived to the beach for a summer, living the life of Riley, partying every night, closing down the bar every night just a couple miles down the road. And I really didn't feel all that bad about it because I had not given my life to Jesus. I felt bad about some things. I will say that. But God started working on me. People were preaching. My wife's not here today. Our son has a travel ball game and he's there today. I heard a reporter talking to Steph Curry. You think it's okay to pray to God for a win in basketball? If so, I hope they win today. But all jokes aside, I remember my wife, she would share the gospel with me. She was saved. I wasn't. Her mom would share the gospel with me. We went to church and I would hear the gospel and God started working on me. And about 4 years later, I was stubborn. I pushed it away. I fought it. But finally at age 27, I gave my life to Jesus. It was 3 days after my dad died. I was on the shores of Carolina Beach. It was around sunrise. And I said, "All right, Lord. I need you. I'm calling on you." And I was changed. Now, I've made plenty of mistakes since then, but I was changed. And I wanted to start living for Jesus. Does anybody remember that happening when you got saved? You're changed.

And so now if you're saved and you got sin in your life, you know that you supposed to have that in your life, right? And that's what Paul is saying. You got conviction about it. Yeah. That that's not who you're meant to be. And if you're saved and you got sin, you're struggling. You're struggling because that's not who you're meant to be. And you're miserable. I've said it a lot of times. I don't think the most miserable person on this earth is a lost person that's in sin. I think it's a believer that's living in sin. You're miserable. It Do you ever struggle with sin as a believer? Well, that's because that's not who you're meant to be. You're a child of God. This passage, it reminds us that as believers, we are to be dead to sin.

Buried with Christ in Baptism

Dead to sin. It says there in verse one, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not." Because the chapter right before this was talking about God's abundant grace to forgive a sinner like you and me. And it's saying, "What does that mean? Since he's so grace and full of grace, we can just go on and sin." No. Paul says, Paul emphatically says, "Certainly not. When you give your life to Jesus and he's forgiven you, that's not a license to sin. And in fact, if you go on and you go on and you're living in habitual sin, were you really saved? I don't know. That's between you and God. But someone that's really saved is changed.

Again, I don't think Paul's saying any one of us does it perfect cuz I've never met anyone that does it perfect. Not one. But you're changed and you want to live for Jesus. You know, giving your life to Jesus is not about saying, "Great, he forgave me, so now I can do whatever I want. I can go out and do this and do that." No, that's not what giving your life to Jesus means. Giving your life to Jesus is saying, "I know I'm a sinner. I'm ashamed of my sin and I need forgiveness of my sin. Jesus, forgive me of my sins." And Jesus, I believe in you as the Lord said. You see, the Bible says the only way to be made right in God's eyes. The only way to be forgiven of sins, thus the only way to go to heaven is by what Jesus did for us, dying on the cross, suffering for us, dying and rising on the third day. There's no other way. Now, that'll get some people mad. I've had my brother get mad at me when I tell them that you said, and I used to get mad at my wife before I was saved. I was like, "You're so close-minded. You're saying there's only one way." She said, "Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the father except through me. There's only one way."

Last part of verse two, it says, "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" See, when we accept Jesus, we're saying, "I want to turn from sin, and I trust in Jesus, and I want to live for Jesus." I mentioned in the baptism how awesome it's been. It It's amazing to be a part of anybody's salvation or so, anybody coming for baptism. Edwin, congratulations, Tyrone. Congratulations. Such a blessing. And I mentioned about Tyrone and how awesome his salvation was. Just that moment. God God will really bless us when we keep sharing the gospel. And you keep sharing it. And not everybody's going to I can't make anybody get saved, but I can share the gospel. You can't make anybody get saved, but you can share the gospel. And God really blessed me the other day. A couple years back, I'm called to preach, but a couple years back, God opened the door to do more ministry as a chaplain. And there's a couple people here you know that I remember the way they started they got baptized was through chaplancy both Amanda and Melissa are here and on Thursdays I go out to Blake County for a few hours and I was out there at a pallet company and at this pallet company a large portion of the employees only speak Spanish. I'm bilingual. I'm not completely fluent, but I was at this one section where the saws are really loud. They're sawing up wood. They're big saws. They're power saws and they're loud. And I asked this one lady in Spanish, "Are you doing okay?" And she was, "Usually people are like, 'Yeah, I'm good.'" She responded, "I'm not doing too well." And then she started talking and it was in Spanish. I couldn't quite hear everything because of the saws and I don't think I knew all the vocab, but I knew some of it, but I couldn't hear.

And sometimes your tendency can be, well, I'm not going to understand. I'll just move on. I'm so sorry I can't understand. I hope you have a great day. I'm so glad I didn't do that. Thankfully, God kind of put on my heart to say, let's see if she can step where it's quieter. And we stepped about 20, 30, 40 feet away, so the saws were a little less loud. And when she came up to me, she said something that let me know she was ready to trust in the Lord. And I said, "Wait, Karina, are you saying you're ready to trust in Jesus?" And this is in another language. God can save anybody in any language. Amen. Hey, and in heaven one day, there's going to be all tribes, all tongues, all nations, all races, all people. Amen. That's how heaven's going to be. Amen. Yeah.

And I remember saying, "Are you saying you're ready to trust in Jesus?" And she started tearing up when she said yes. I said, "Are you saying you're ready to surrender your life to Jesus and give your life to Jesus today?" And she said, "Yes," but what happened next caught me. Tears just started pouring down her eyes. And in Spanish, she used a word that I know, but I forgot for a minute. She said a pad. And I was trying to remember what that was. And I was like, "Sinner." She was saying, "But I'm so sinful." She had this cry like, "I don't know that I could be forgiven."

And I started crying and I said, "That's exactly why Jesus came. I'm a sinner, too. We're all sinners. And that's why God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for our sins. He will forgive you, Karina, of your sins when you trust in him. I said, "Do you want to trust in him right now?" And she was crying and she said, "Yes." And she prayed the sinner's prayer, saying, "Lord, I'm a sinner. Forgive me, Jesus. I'm placing my full faith and trust in you as Lord and Savior, and with your help, I want to turn from sin and live for you." She gave her life to the Lord. It was such a beautiful moment and it pictures that idea of the fact that we're to be dead to sin. She was basically saying, "I don't want to live in sin anymore. I'm a sinner and I know I need forgiveness. Forgive me my sins and I believe in you, Lord, and I don't want to live in that sin anymore."

See, when you truly get saved, you know you got to be forgiven to be made right in God's eyes. And you know it's only through faith in Jesus. And when you trust in Jesus, you're saying, "I don't want to live in that sinful way anymore. I want to be dead to sin. I want to live for Jesus." Yet, you never know how God's going to work when you just keep share Jesus. I'm telling you. And some all I did that day was walk up. I didn't say a word. Then I said a word. Be ready. You never know how God's going to work.

You know Paul in verse three he says or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father even so we also should walk in newness of life. He uses that word baptized or a form of the word baptism three times there. Again, the first time in Romans, Romans 6 is when baptism is mentioned and both you guys came from baptism today. Coolest thing. God is so good.

But when we get baptized, Ed Tyrone, when y'all got baptized today, it was a symbol of what God's already done when you accepted Jesus. When you went under the water, it was a symbol of you trusting in Jesus and you were saying, "I'm dying to sin." And when you came up out of the water, it was a symbol of what God did when he saved you. That now you're raised to walk in newness of life. You're not meant to walk in that old man. You're meant to walk in newness of life.

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

See, when we die to sin, we are helped to be alive to God. If you don't die to sin, you're not going to be able to be alive to God. But when you die to sin, you're helped to live alive to alive to God. Verse four says, "So we should also walk in newness of life." Sometimes people think, "Well, I'm I've always been this way. I've always struggled with this sin. I've always done this. I've always done that." Not when you meet Jesus. You're changed. You're meant to walk as a new man, as a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation." New creation. Old things are what? Passed away. All things have what? Become new.

That means that old man when you trust in Jesus is put to death. Don't let him creep back up. That means that that old man that used to lust or used to watch pornography, that old man, that old woman, that old person, that's gone. That means that that old man that used to live for sin is gone. That means that old man that used to fill his or her body with alcohol, with drugs, and defile the temple is gone. That's not you anymore. Sometimes people think their identity is in something they've been. No, your identity is in Christ. Your identity is not in being an alcoholic. You're not identity is not in being an addict. Your identity is in Jesus Christ.

When you trust in Jesus Christ, if you are saved, you aren't meant to live in sin. You're meant to die to sin and be alive to God. You know, there's so many great verses in this passage. Verse 8 says, "Now, if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more." Um, we put that old man to death when we trust in Jesus. And we don't let the we don't need to let the enemy or let the flesh get us back to that old man. That's not who you are. You're new in Christ. It says this, "Death no longer has dominion over him. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God."

Likewise, you also reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. You know, when I think about this passage and I read it and I ponder and I pray about it, this is the thing I wonder. Are you letting some sin in your life get in the way of you being alive for God? Are you letting some sin be in your life that you don't know as a believer doesn't need to be there that's keeping you from God's best in your life? See, if a believer who's truly born again keeps habitual sin in their life, it's going to affect you. You're not going to have that close walk with Jesus. And I would say that's a miserable feeling because you know you know how amazing it is when you are in fellowship with the Lord. There's nothing better than I mean nothing.

But if you if you are keeping or if I am keeping sin in our life, we're not able to be alive to God. Is there some sin that you need to turn from and get away from as a child of God that's keeping you from being alive for God? Verse 12 says, "Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust." Your flesh will try to get you to sin. The enemy will try to get you to sin. What does the Bible say? We don't battle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. We've got an enemy. We got to be armored up. Armed up every single day. Amen.

We can't let sin reign in our bodies. Is there some sin that's that you know don't need to be there? You know it if you're a believer if you're the Holy Spirit's convicting you. You don't have to stay in that. It'll be like being in a prison. But God can break you free. We don't need to let sin reign. We need to let Jesus reign. It people go to all kinds of things for joy and peace. We're not going to get joy and peace from alcohol. We're not going to get joy and peace from drugs. We're not going to get joy and peace from having sex and being ungodly and sinning. We're going to get joy and peace from walking with Jesus. That's how we're going to get joy and peace.

You know, and again, no person, no believer on this earth walks perfect, but there should be that we're changed and we are striving to walk with Jesus. And we know that if there's some regular sin in our life, it doesn't need to be there. Listen, if you are here today and God God is convicting you right now, I feel certain in my heart some people are being convicted right now. If God is convicting you as a believer about sin that's in your life right now, that's not who you're meant to be. You're a child of God. That's what Paul's saying here in the inspiration of God. You've been born again. You've been spiritually reborn, you know that sin doesn't need to be in your life. And let me ask you this. If you're a believer today, if there's some sin in your life, ask yourself this. Is it worth it? Is that sin that's eating away at you, is it worth it? Is that, by the way, sin has consequences and can have consequences on this earth, too. It can have consequences for eternity, too. But is it worth the consequences? Then even more than that, is that sin worth affecting your relationship with Jesus? Is that sin worth you being disobedient to God? Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. We ought to have a fear of God. Some people say, "No, we ought to have a healthy fear of God." He's God. Yes.

Is that sin that's in your life, is it worth it? Is it really worth it? I think if you're being honest with yourself and if you're a child of God, you know it's not worth it. It's not worth having our relationship with Jesus affected either because that's what happens if you're a believer. Sin separates us from God. And as a believer, sin will have a an effect of not having you in that sweet fellowship with God. Sin will have an effect of you not feeling like you can preach or share the gospel. You'll feel unworthy. Sin will have effect on you of you struggling to even pray because you don't feel like you deserve it because you're in sin and you know it. Sin will keep you from God's best in your life. It will.

And if you got sin in your life as a believer that's not who you're meant to be, let me just encourage you. If you're a believer today, if there's some sin in your life, turn from it. Put it to death so that you can be alive in God in Christ Jesus. I just I just want to wrap up to say today to say what Paul's saying in this passage. It's a simple message because it's exactly what the passage says. This passage will preach itself when you read it. Let's be dead to sin so we can be alive for Christ Jesus. Let's as believers, if there's some sin, put it to death so you can be alive for Christ Jesus. So you can see God's best in your life. So you can start being a bold witness for Jesus. Man, if we keep being faithful to share the gospel, we don't have to be some Billy Graham. We just have to share Jesus. We don't have I mean we really the gospel shares itself. What does Romans say? For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also for the Greek is for all people. The gospel is it's nothing about our presentation that's going to save people. It's the gospel that saves.

So hey, commit some Bible verses on your heart that share the gospel. John 3:16 and 17. Romans Road Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23. It doesn't take long to memorize a few verses. You can have one verse and share the gospel and you can just sing that verse. You can say John 3:16. Let's be dead to sin so that we can be alive to God in Christ Jesus. It it closes in verse 13. It says, "And do not present yourself present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin." In other words, don't let my vessel, don't let your vessel be an instrument of sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you. For you are not under the law, but under grace. If you're saved today, if you're born again, if you've given your life to Jesus, sin should not have dominion over you. And if you're saved, let your body, let your life honor Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

God, we love you. God, I just thank you for the your word and I thank you how your word will convict a heart and every fiber in me as I'm preaching fills, you're convicting some hearts today. And God, I just pray that as you're convicting hearts, that we would be a people that respond whatever way that is. If that's somebody that's a believer that's got sin that they need to get out of their life, I pray they'd lay it down today. They come to this altar and say, "I'm turning them." If that's somebody that just wants to walk closer to you and be more on fire for you, be in the word, be be in church more, they get back in church, they get back in the word, they'd be sharing the gospel. And God, if that's somebody today that just they've drifted and they need to rededicate, that today would be the day they come back to you. they return to the Lord. And God, if that's somebody is a sinner and they've never asked you for they've never asked you for forgiveness and they never truly and fully called on you, Jesus, as Lord and Savior, I pray today would be the day they do it. So God, we thank you for your word and I pray that you use it in our hearts and that we be obedient as you're working in our hearts. I pray it all in Jesus name. Amen.