Fighting Sin

Would you please stand with me as we read God's word together. Romans six verses one through 14. This morning were considering the ongoing struggle that every Christian faces struggle with sin and its presence in our lives.

Romans six verses one through 14. What shall we say then are we to continue in sin that grace may abound by no means how can we who died to sin still live in it. Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. 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 father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin for one who has died has been set free from sin know if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again death no longer has dominion over him for the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God, so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life in your members to God as instruments for righteousness, for sin will have no dominion over you since you are not under law but under grace is pray Lord you hate sin and as redeemed sinners who have been bought with the blood of Jesus Christ we hate sin, but we acknowledge that we don't hate it nearly enough. Would you remind us this morning who we are and in light of who we are. Would you motivate us to sin less and obey more you do in us what only your Holy Spirit can do would you increase our love for you and me that love be demonstrated by an increase in holiness and an increase in affection for things eternal decrease in the destructive fruit of unrighteousness or our joy depends on this and your glory in and through us depends on this, please hear our prayer and answer quickly. We pray in the name of the one with whom we have died, and in whom we are raised to walk in newness of life.

A man be seated.

What you think about something for a moment. What is the's between a woman who was married one hour ago at a woman who has been married for 50 years. I'm not talking about changes to her physical appearance that would've occurred over 50 years. I'm talking about the marriage itself.

What would have changed with regard to her relationship to her husband while she would know them a lot better after 50 years than she knew him on their wedding day, she would understand how he ticks what he likes what he dislikes what his routine is what his convictions are.

She would've learned a lot about how to please him how to listen to him how to communicate with him.

The veteran bride of 50 years knows and understands and pleases her husband in ways that the bride of only one hour can only dream of doing Melanie ask you another question about this hypothetical bride is she any less married to her husband, one hour after their wedding ceremony than she is 50 years after their wedding ceremony.

Of course not. She's in no way more of a wife at your 50. Then she was when the happy couple was dodging rice and getting into their car to head out to their honeymoon.

That new bride on her wedding day has a whole life of marital bliss in front of her. She feels elated, she feels like nothing in the world ever bring her feedback to the ground and she should feel that way on her wedding day, but anyone who's been married, any length of time knows that life has a way of bringing even the blissfully married back to reality. Dishes need washing trash needs taking out jobs have to be worked by purse have to be changed. Budgets have to be kept in in-laws have to be visited. The bliss of a wedding day gives way to this daily grind of of chores and sacrifice of making mistakes and confessing those mistakes of being wronged and of having to forgive and through it all, a bride and groom grow closer and closer and closer. They learn new ways, deeper ways of expressing their love for each other before you know it. 50 years have passed and all those ups and downs of marriage those festive Christmas dinners, and those Monday and Tuesday lunches. Those teases that ended in laugh laughs and those arguments that ended in confession. It's all culminated in this old marriage that has been well spent and is a beautiful thing a wedding ceremony is not the finish line. It's the starting line. Know what you think of this bride and groom as an analogy of Christians and their relationship to Christ. A Christian belongs to Christ fully at the moment of his conversion, but it will take a lifetime of growing and learning.

If of repenting and returning of loving and obeying before he perfectly and fully bears the marks of that union with Christ. A Christian at the point of his conversion is no less Christ's than a Christian who has finished his race and is with Christ in glory.

But there are significant differences between the two in terms of the practical outworking of their relationship to Christ. Romans six and ask Romans seven and eight as well that will have time to cover all three chapters are about that difference. This is the theme of these three chapters. This section of Paul's letter to the Romans is describing the day in and day out, pilgrimage of a Christian, and we may be a bit shocked to find out that this pilgrimage is described in terms of a war, a fight a battle, even a death if we think the Christian life is supposed to be 50 or 60 years or a lifetime of sheer religious bliss and were to be sadly disillusioned when we find out how much actual fighting is involved in the Christian life. There is an element of of daily grind to walking with Christ. It probably isn't talked about a whole lot but I want us to talk about it today because Paul talks about it, but I also want us to realize that this daily grind. This this fight that we are engaged in is not a pointless fight is not an unnecessary fight. It's a purposeful fight that comes with a guarantee of victory.

It comes with the promise of success.

We know what the end result will be when you get to the end of this battle. This war your marriage to Christ will be the better for it. Your joy will be full and your joy will stay full for all eternity, but in the meantime we fight that's where we're at today. As believers, what is it that were fighting were fighting the very thing that has ruined all of creation. The very thing that has introduced death and suffering and pain into our existence. We are fighting sin. Paul has taken five chapters of Romans to layout the doctrine of justification. This is a sweet doctrine that tells us.

Our salvation is secure because Christ has made it secure through grace and Paul paint such a glorious picture of the saving grace that it almost sounds scandalous. He says at the end of chapter 5 that were sin abounds grace super abounds that as your soon stacks up grace stacks up even higher. Now we believe what Paul is actually saying about the nature of God's grace in a very logical question to ask is this if grace is that comprehensive, then why don't I just go sent to my hearts content.

Why put up a fight against sin if if anything I think or do or feel it simple is covered by this super about then grace was go back to our analogy of marriage. What is to stop that bride of one hour from thinking to herself after the wedding ceremony. My husband's valid stay with me to the death.

Now I have a ring on my finger so I'm in a go live life on my own.

However, I want to be with whoever I want to be with my marriage is secure and in fact the more wrong I do against my husband, the more it will magnify the depth and the constancy of his love for me she could do that and it wouldn't change the fact that she's married but why wouldn't she do that she wouldn't do that because she loves her husband she wouldn't do that because he loves her and their love for each other, binds them to each other. Now I realize sadly this analogy breaks down because we live in a fallen world that we wouldn't have perfect marriages. We live in a world where sinful people do simple things and so against all reason wives do walk away from their husbands. Husbands do walk away from their wives what God intended as a visible picture of the spiritual marriage between Christ and his church has become at best an imperfect picture. At worst, a distorted perversion of it, but that's Romans six comes in is the Christ is the perfect bridegroom makes no mistakes. Not only is he perfectly faithful to his bride. He also happens to be all-powerful and all wise, which means that he is able to make his bride perfectly holy and faithful.

How does all this work. Romans six tells us first. There something we need to know.

Secondly there something we need to reckon and thirdly there something we need to do first.

Something Christians need to know. Paul begins chapter 6 with a question, are we to continue in sin that grace may abound, and the answer to that question is, essentially, this yes you could go on in your sedan sending to your hearts content and grace would still be grace. It's that magnanimous but you won't do that because the grace that secured your forgiveness also secures your holiness. That's how magnificent grace is God's grace is so complete and far-reaching that it not only justifies it also sanctified it doesn't only change my name on the marriage certificate. It changes my life my affections my disposition, my mind my will.

The first 10 verses of Romans six are all about a particular truth that we must know that bulky for repeating the word no verse three.

Do you not know that all of us were baptized into his death verse six we know that our old self was crucified with him.

Verse nine, we know that Christ will never die again. Paul wants us to know the truth that in Christ we die and in Christ's resurrection. We live in Christ death we die and in Christ's resurrection. We live about sounds all metaphysical and abstract doesn't. What does it mean is really very simple. It means sin is no longer our master Paul says in Ephesians 2 that we were at one time did in sin, but now because of Christ. He says that we are dead to sin sin.

At one time ruled over us. It controlled us.

It mastered us and held sway over us. But now we have died to that dominion. We have died to sin's mastery.

One of the early church father said it like this, being dead to sin means not obeying it anymore. Not obeying sin anymore.

However, many commands sin may give us. We no longer obey it remain unmoved by it as a corpse does respond to sins dominion like a dead man was Paula saying that the part of us that can't help sinning has been crucified is been abolished is been done away with its debt God in Christ has crucified the very part of me that is enslaved to sin.

So Christians are something you should know and it's that in the cross of Christ we find not only forgiveness for our sin, but also the power to overcome it. That is hugely profound. That's what we should know. But secondly notice or something we should reckon we see in verse 11, Paul says so you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Or is the King James puts it, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed under sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord now in the South. The word reckon means I guess right you recommend Cardozo in the Sierra reckon not.

When we say I reckon we mean there's a possibility there's a chance but I'm not entirely sure that's how we use that word reckon is I guess. Well, that's not what it means in Greek, the Greek word behind the King James reckon yourselves or the ESV the ESV's consider yourselves is a word of certainty of of absolute certainty it means to treat something as definitively settled to to just show you how certain this word is me point out that is the same word Paul used when he was talking about Abraham and he said Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as a righteous God isn't saying. I reckon Abraham's righteous in the southern sense of the word of God is God's reckoning is a done deal. It's certain it's it's settled. It's unchangeable and it is with that same degree of certainty that we are to reckon ourselves to be dead to sins mastery and domination.

So the question arises why would God tell us to reckon something is true that just a few verses before he told us is true. This sounds unnecessarily repetitive thing is a couple reasons for this.

The first reason has to do with the nature of the Christian walk. The change brought about by grace is not instantaneous.

It's a change that is developed and perfected over the course of a lifetime is like the bride who just got married, she's not the perfect bride yet give her 50 years to learn a thing or two about being a wife. So it is with Christians.

This this change that comes about it it it takes a lifetime. And it comes about many setbacks and disappointments and failures and frustrations along the way. And so even though sins dominion was eradicated at the cross and it really was eradicated at the cross. It doesn't always deal like it was eradicated at the cross is like an army that has conquered an enemy stronghold, the enemy is no longer in control. That doesn't necessarily stop them they can potshots at the at at their conquerors. It is like a rabid dog that's been subdued and will soon be killed, but in the meantime he still snarling at you and trying to bite anyone that gets too close, the power of sin has been defeated its authority and mastery over us has been dealt with, but it's presence and activity have yet to be fully eradicated from our lives. So God tells us to reckon something to be true that he has already told us is true. And he tells us this precisely because of the nature of the Christian walk is one of gradual process over the long haul. So we have to be commanded consider true, reckon through what I've already said is true. I think a second reason God gives us the seemingly redundant command is because he knows our nature. He knows our tendency to base judgment on what feels true, rather than what is true and were all wired that way.

To some extent. He knows that at the experiential level.

We struggle with sin, to the point that it it it it time seems that sin still does have the upper hand wheat we get too close to the rabid dog we get bit. Quite often, in fact we get too close to the dog and we get bit God knows this about us and so he commands us, not merely know the truth but also to reckon that truth to be true. Dwell on it. Think about it. Remind yourself of it and be certain of it.

Something we should know sin does not master us any longer.

Something we should reckon reckon that sin does not master us any longer. But finally, there is something we should do. Verse 12 says let not sin therefore that word grounds this command and what is already said let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life in your members to God as instruments for righteousness. If verse 11 is a command to let our thinking. Be consistent with reality.

Verse 12 is a command to let our behavior be consistent with reality, it's saying you are dead to sin. Now go act like this command is necessary because even though we are dead to sin. There is the possibility that we might live as if we are still under sins dominion.

We wallow in addiction or we harbor a grudge for years as if we had no choice in the matter we convince ourselves that the rabid dog of sin has is pinned to the ground and edges eating us alive when, according to Romans six, rabid dog has been chained and caged, which means Christian if we're getting eaten up by the dog is because we stuck her hand in the case Paul is saying get your hand out of the cage.

Quit yielding your bodily members your eyes your hands your mind your emotions your tongue as slaves to sin. Why because you're not sins a slave stop acting like you are stuck, convincing yourself that sin has the upper hand because it doesn't if Christ is who he says he is of Christ is done what he says is done, you are not sin slave. Paul gives us a positive alternative to this enslavement to sin.

He tells us to present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God rather than enslaving yourself to sin.

Enslave yourself to obedience to God. In other words, live like a resurrected person live like a resurrected person. Now it's very crucial that we understand something about this command.

This command to stop sending and start obeying God is rooted it's grounded in the truth of verses one through 11 is grounded in the reality that we have died with Christ, and we are raised to walk in newness of life. Obedience to Christ.

This means this is not a call to just go out and try harder.

It's not a call to some looking inward to some moral resolve that you have within yourself some willpower to obey know this is a call first to look to what Christ has done for you and in seeing what Christ has done for you to believe it with your mind and into obey it with your body.

It's a call to look to the cross for power to overcome sin. Charles Hodge, a well-known theologian from century ago said the only effectual method of gaining the victory over our sins is to live in communion with Jesus Christ to regard his death as securing the pardon of sin as restoring us to the divine favor and is procuring for us the influences of the Holy Spirit is those who thus look to Christ not only for pardon, but for holiness that are successful in subduing sin while the legalist remains it slave. In other words, sheer moral resolve will make you more of a slave to sin. You've got to put to Christ and his merit his perfect fulfillment of God's law on the cross on the cross. If you were to overcome enslavement to sin.

This this change is is comprehensive, it affects the Christian inside and out and so it is a change that expresses itself not only an attitude of thought and motive, but also in action through concrete, observable, and even physical ways, but I would love to tease this out a little bit further but for the sake of time you have to limit what to say about it. We just point out that if you were to go home this afternoon and continue reading through the book of Romans and read chapter 6 in chapter 7 and chapter 8 I think you would begin to pick up on a recurring theme in theme is the role of the spirit.

The role that the Holy Spirit has in making practical what the death of Christ has made actually say it again.

The Holy Spirit makes practical what Jesus Christ has made actual Christ secures salvation. The Holy Spirit applies that salvation Christ secures even our practical holiness are obedience, the Holy Spirit applies that practical holiness to our lives.

It is the Holy Spirit in us that animates us and empowers us to do the doing to do the will of God. Don't do this on our own strength viral resolve with our own willpower. We have the Holy Spirit, and so Paul can tell Christians without qualification to stop it. Stop yielding to sin as if it were your master and yield yourself instead to God, who is your true master, and in saying this is in no way contradicting the truth that all of this is the result of our union with Christ in his death and resurrection. It's all of grace both the initial forgiveness of sin as well as the lifelong fight against sin that ensues conversion. It's all of grace. We also point out that Paul's description of this process of fighting sin and growing in holiness doesn't stop until perfection is attained.

God doesn't do anything halfway, he completes what he begins and so this fight for holiness will inevitably lead to perfection and glory because it's initiated and maintained by God himself. John tells us in first John three that this future hope of glory. Just looking forward to the time when I will be perfect because all see Christ has a purifying effect of sanctifying effect on me now so we look back to Christ's death and find the grounds of our holiness. That's Romans six, but we also look forward to Christ's return and we find the consequence that endgame of holiness.

That's first John three the Christian life is a fight but it's a fight that ends in glory. I want to try to describe what Romans six looks like in practice as we as we close this this morning because I don't want us to walk away thinking that all of this is just a little bit too theoretical and it really makes no useful difference in our lives only give you three principles that relate to our fight against sin and I didn't do this on purpose, but each of these principles draw on gardening analogy. The first principle is this both the root and the fruits of sin must be dealt with both the root and the fruit of sin must be dealt with every sin in your life has an internal component and an external component. There are there outward visible evidences of the sand, but behind those outward visible evidence is our inward motives and affections and thought patterns that are equally sinful. Both the action and the and the motivation behind it is sinful. Jesus said that adultery is not the only problem the lost driving.

Adultery is also sin. Murder is not the only problem that anger driving a murder is also sin, so the principle is that we are to mortify or put to death. Both the inward and the outward. Now this seems obvious does nothing like the churchy thing to say. Why does it warrant time in a 30 minute sermon, it bears saying because we are masters at deceiving ourselves.

We I know this because I've done this and I've seen plenty of Christians do it we think to ourselves if if I don't deal with the root of the sin that underlying affection or or motive.

I'm not really mortifying the sin and that's certainly true. Don't deal with the root not dealing with the sin, but then on the basis of that sin, we deceive ourselves, we excuse ourselves from dealing with the outward fruit of the sin.

And so, for example, someone is addicted to Internet pornography and they tell themselves if all I do is put a filter on my computer. I'm not really dealing with the root of the sin which is lost and so they never deal with the external manifestation of that lust less they fail to get to the root of the sin. It sounds so noble, so spiritual folks.

Yes, we need to deal with the root of our sin that sometimes you have to whack down the trunk to get to the root get the filter on your computer. Find an accountability person and deal with the internal motivations of your sin is not either or, it's a both fans remember, Paul tells us to reckon something that's the internal component, but he also tells us to do something at the external battle deal with the root and the fruit. The second principle I want to mention is this weeding the garden of our soul is sorry weeding the garden of our soul.

Daily is more effective than occasional drastic pruning weeding the garden daily is more effective than occasional drastic pruning. I have learned so much about managing the home and dealing with relationships and just about life in general from my sister-in-law Roberta.

Many of you know know her.

She comes and visits a couple times is one of those people who has amassed this vast reservoir of wisdom just from sheer life experience, and shall often say something to the Lauren me that the Roberta is probably very obvious common sense about to us. These mental lightbulbs start coming on in our minds are blown her wisdom this past summer she she told us one of her zingers and it was a gardening tip that probably everyone here over 60 already knows but to us it was a game changer.

She told us that the German nation. Of most weeds is about 10 days so in theory if you take a hello, and just kind of disturbed at the top of the soil. Once every 10 days or so you'll never have a weight problem wheat we began doing that. Realized is so much easier than waiting until you see an established crop of weeds and trying to pull them up by the roots without damaging your vegetables. At one point in the summer we got behind. We went out of town came back and in the weeds had just absolutely taken over so we spent several hours in the garden trying to reclaim lost ground.

It was so much harder work and some of our good plants or vegetable plants were damaged in the process dealing with sin before it has a chance to fully take root in your life is far more effective and far easier than reacting with radical life changes to a sin that is already established itself in your heart, John Owen, I love what he says in his book the mortification of sin, he says, wound your sin every day. Wound your sin every day. Every time you think about it. Stop on wounded every day. Don't don't assume just because you haven't binged in a while the sin is dead, be self skeptical enough to realize that sin is always lurking just beneath the surface. You simply can't go days and days without washing yourself in the word, confessing your sin to the Lord stirring up your affections for godliness, for holiness, for virtue. Our engagement in the battle needs to be regular and frequent, not occasional and sporadic.

The last principle of mention.

Is this not only must sin be weeded out but godliness must also be cultivated in in a garden. The healthier larger the vegetable plants are, the less of a chance.

The weeds have of gaining an upper hand. Similarly, when it comes to the soul sin is to be mortified but virtue is to be nurtured. Doug is fond of saying it like this sin needs to be replaced with the superior pleasure.

Sin needs to be replaced with the superior pleasure to remember the illustration from Greek mythology of of the sirens. The sirens were creatures who would lure ships to their shore with beautiful music, only to have those ships wrecked on the rocks and the sailors killed. Jason had his men plug his ears, and tie him to the mast so that he would be able to hear the tempting music.

But he still heard it through the earplugs and it almost drove him mad when he got too close to the sirens call Orpheus on the other hand, he was a musician.

He was wiser when he heard the beautiful music of the sirens. He pulled out his own instrument and he began playing music that was far more beautiful, far sweeter in order to drown out the sound of the sirens. He replaced the life-threatening pleasure with a superior life giving pleasure.

So our objective in fighting sin is not just to eradicate wickedness.

We need to do that but also to cultivate godliness. If you notice whatever Paul tells us to put off something he also tells us to put on its opposite in Colossians 3, he tells us put off sexual immorality, covetousness, anger, slander, and lying. Then he tells us to put on kindness, humility, meekness, love tells us in Galatians 5 to be done with idolatry and jealousy in rivalries and dissensions than he tells us to walk in joy and peace and patience and self-control were not merely to not yield our members to unrighteousness. We are also to yield our members to God as instruments of righteousness to the fight has a negative component and a positive component. What are you doing to cultivate your love for the virtues of Christ likeness. Let me just summarize what we've seen this morning enclosing Romans six tells us first.

All or something we should know we should know that sin does not have mastery over anyone who is United to Christ by faith.

There's also something we should reckon we should believe we should consider with certainty that sin really isn't our master and that we really have been resurrected to a new capacity a new ability of righteous living. And then finally there something we should do. We should live like resurrected people as one person, one pastor put it, we should live like what we are becoming in knowing and reckoning in doing these things are three principles we need to keep in mind first. Remember to deal with both the root and the fruit of sin. Secondly, keep short accounts wound your sin every day to let it grow and take root and become a monster before you deal with it, deal with it now. And thirdly, as you mortify sinful habits and attitudes.

Make sure you also foster godly habits and attitudes spiritual discipline for the good of your soul. Nurture virtue church. The goal in all of this fighting and weeding and struggling and mortifying is not to make your Christian walk miserable. The goal is joy.

The goal is to arrive at the end of your sojourn on this earth and be able to hear the Lord say well done good and faithful servant. The goal is not to remain that naïve bride of one hour, but to grow into that holy bride of 50 years, who knows and loves and serves the bridegroom the depth and sincerity. That is simply not possible for the newlywed brothers and sisters.

Christ is our bridegroom Christ is worthy of a pure and chaste bride in Christ has supplied everything we need to not only belong to him but to please him. So go wage war against your sin and the power of the Holy Spirit, knowing that God will complete that which he has begun spray or thank you for calling us out of darkness into light and help us walk as children of the light we pray in Jesus name