Romans 6:1-4, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
Friends, the “power of sin” is very great. One way we can think of the power of sin is in terms of “behavior.” The power of sin is evidenced (Romans 1) by the increase of idolatry, sinful desires, sexual impurity, the way men and women degrade their bodies, shameful lusts and shameful acts, unnatural same-sex relations. The power of sin is evidenced by the increase of wickedness, evil, greed, depravity. . . envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, gossip, slander.
If you are a moralist, the power of sin is evidenced (Romans 2) by hypocrisy, the sheer fact that you do the very things you rail against. Moral outrage is often nothing but smoke and mirrors! If you are an achiever, the power of sin is evidenced (Romans 3) in the fact that despite your most grandiose efforts, despite your religiosity, “all have sinned and continually fall short of the glory of God.” (Rom 3:23)
I know you read the newspapers. The newspapers uncover the utter depravity, the utter grotesqueness of sinful behavior. The papers uncover hypocrisy, especially that of moralists who set themselves up as moral authorities (i.e. priests, pastors, politicians, police, professors, professionals). The papers uncover the failures, the downfalls, of self-righteous achievers (i.e. stars, celebrities, icons). None of this ought to shock us. The news tips us off to the power of sin.
Another way we can think of the “power of sin” is in terms of death. Romans 5:12 says that “death entered the world” through Adam’s sin. Romans 5:21 says that, “sin reigns in death” and Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Remember James 1:14-16? “But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death. Do not be deceived. . .”
Friends, we don’t just have a behavior problem. We have a destiny crisis. As a consequence of sin, we must now also contend with death itself.
Ecclesiastes 7:2 says, “Better to spend your time at funerals than at parties. Because death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart.” You can party your life away. You can anesthetize yourself to reality by getting wasted! But sooner than later you must ask… Who or what can break the power of sin? Who shall deliver me from this body of death?
The message of Romans establishes some core facts about human nature. We’ve been stubborn and rebellious. We’ve been sliding down a slippery slope. Romans 6:19 describes how before Christ we offered ourselves as slaves to sin, and to ever-increasing wickedness, leading to death! By our sin, we have put ourselves under God’s wrath. We’re accountable for every deed, every word, and without excuse. Our mouths been silenced before him who is holy. We deserve death.
But we are not hopeless. Why? Because the gospel is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes (1:16). Because at just the right time, while we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly (5:6)! Because Jesus was delivered over to for our sins and raised to life for our justification (4:25)! Because Jesus was declared to be Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by his resurrection from the dead (1:4)! Because hope doesn’t disappoint (5:5).
God has this two-fold expectation of our faith. (1) It’s that we trust God to destroy the power of sin (however it manifests itself in our heart, mind, behavior). (2) It’s that we trust God to deliver us from the physical and spiritual death we deserve. Now why should we trust God to destroy sin and deliver us from death? It’s because in Christ’s very life—God demonstrates he has the power to destroy sin and deliver us from death. Jesus was a man just like us, but without sin. Jesus was a man just like us, but conquered the grave. He died according to the Scripture, he was buried, and he rose on the third day according to the Scriptures! Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is the substance of our faith… the hope of the gospel!
Without faith it’s impossible to please God. Everyone who ever pleased God trusted in God’s power to do for them what they could never do for themselves. When you think of the power of sin, what haven’t you been able to do for yourself? When you think of the power of death, what can’t you do for yourself?
Back in Romans 4 the Apostle Paul have us two examples of faith::
The first example is King David, and relates to sin.
King David, after he was overcome by the power of sin, trusted God. In Romans 4:7-8, the Apostle Paul reminds us how David prayed for himself, “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.” Why does Paul tell us this about David? Because our salvation doesn’t depend upon what we can do for ourselves. Salvation entirely depends upon what God has done for us in Christ Jesus. In love God sends his Son. In love, Christ dies for us while we were still sinners. In love, God reconciles us to himself through our Lord Jesus Christ. In love God justifies us, forgives us, covers us. David trusted God to restore him when he sinned. So what about you? Do you believe God can, and wants to, and indeed will, break the power of sin in your life?
The second example was Abraham, and relates to death.
In Romans 4:19, Abraham had to deal with the fact that his body was a good as dead—since he was about 100 years old. He also had to deal with the fact that his wife’s womb was also as good as dead. But without weakening in his faith, without wavering through unbelief, he was fully persuaded that God had the power to do what he had promised. Romans 4:17 says Abraham, in the face of death, believed in “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.”
There is a bizarre story about Abraham in Genesis. After he/Sarah give birth to Isaac, God asks Abraham to sacrifice his one and only son on the mountain. Abraham obeyed God, even to the point of raising a knife over his son’s body, before an angel of the Lord stopped him. What was Abraham thinking! Hebrews 11:19 says Abraham “reasoned that God could even raise the dead.”
Abraham, Sarah, Isaac… they were as “good as dead”… yet they trusted the God “who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” King David, guilty before God, in faith sought mercy. This is faith that pleases God.
It’s true. Adam’s sin left a lot of carnage. But the Apostle Paul wants to shift our attention to the gospel. In the case of sin… Romans 5:15 reminds us “. . . God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow[s] to the many!” Grace is not in short supply, it overflows, it’s abundant!
In the case of death… Romans 5:17 reminds us that, “if by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ!” Notice there isn’t just an “adequate” provision made for death. There is an “abundant” provision of grace made for death!
Whether in David’s case if you are held captive by sin. . . or whether in Abraham’s case “you are as good as dead”. . . where do you turn? In the face of sin we have Romans 5:20 which says, “wherever sin increased, grace increased all the more!” Do you believe that? In the face of death we have Romans 5:21 which says, “just as sin reigned in death, so also grace reigns through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus our Lord.” Do you believe that?
Friends, we are talking about the salvation history of God Himself. This is the gospel. No matter how great the power of sin, God’s grace is infinitely more abundant. No matter how threatened you may feel by death, eternal life reigns through the grace of Christ Jesus our Lord! I want you to etch a few phrases in your mind. In Christ Jesus, God is destroying sin and decimating death.
Baptism is a testimony of grace for sin. So look what Paul asks in Romans 6:1-2: “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin, how can we live in it any longer?” Grace is a pretty extraordinary thing, wouldn’t you agree? David realized how blessed he was that God forgave his transgressions, covered his sins, and no longer counted his sins against him. God’s grace is abundantly available!
One time I was preaching, and used the word “hyper,” to explain God’s grace. For example in 1 Timothy 1:14, Paul says, "God poured out his grace abundantly..." The Greek word for “abundant” uses in 1 Timothy 1:14 is pronounced “hyper – pleonazo.” It is the strongest possible term Paul could have used to describe the exceedingly great manner in which God’s grace is poured out on us. It has the idea of completely overwhelming something, exceedingly so, beyond the capacity of that object to receive all its being given. A lady couldn’t believe that God’s grace could ever be so great!
In Romans 6, the apostle Paul is talking about baptism. The word baptism means total immersion, or total saturation. If you dipped a piece of clothe in red-stained dye, it would absorb all it could, but never all that is available. If you threw a sponge in the ocean the sponge would absorb all it could but could never absorb all that is available. The Apostle Paul had persecuted the church. Yet had the assurance that God’s grace was hyper-abundant, overflowing, exceedingly great, wholly sufficient. In this way, water baptism offers a compelling picture of grace.
To Paul’s point in Romans 6:1-2, the hyper-abundant grace of God ought to melt our hearts, and destroy any desire to sin. The overwhelming nature of grace ought to compel us to no longer offer ourselves as slaves to sin but to offer ourselves to God. Do you think David received grace, so he could go on another conquest? NO WAY!
Baptism is a testimony of hope in death. In Romans 6:3-5 Paul continues, “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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. 5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.”
In addition to grace, baptism is a testimony of hope. In the face of death, Abraham believed in “the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.” He “reasoned that God could even raise the dead.” In baptism we profess our faith that God will do for us exactly what he did for Christ Jesus. Romans 6:8-11 says, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
I want to come back to this idea that God has this two-fold expectation of our faith. (1) It’s that we trust God to destroy the power of sin (however it manifests itself in our heart, mind, behavior). (2) It’s that we trust God to deliver us from the physical and spiritual death we deserve. In baptism we declare this kind of faith!
Later in Romans 10:8-10 Paul says the same thing about confessing the name of Jesus. One aspect of confession is declaring a new allegiance in your life… Jesus is Lord. Sin is no longer your master. But another aspect of confession is declaring your hope in the resurrection!
This is “the message concerning faith that we proclaim: 9 If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. 11 As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[e] 12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Or even consider repentance. Hebrews 6:1 describes repentance as “repentance from acts that lead to death.” Repentance isn’t just about what were turning way from, its also about what were turning toward. We turn away from sin and death, but we turn to embrace God’s grace for sin and gift of eternal life.
Faith… confession… repentance… baptism. We often think of these as separate things, but they constitute our personal response to the good news of Christ Jesus. What do you trust God to do for you?