EPIC: High-Impact Truths in the New Testament – Part 5

Well, I'm excited about today's message. We are continuing our series called Epic. It's all about the high-impact truths in the New Testament. And today we're looking at Romans 6. That's right, Romans 6. Oh my goodness, one of the most power-packed passages in the entire Bible. You're gonna love it. I'm excited. I hope you are too. Why don't we open with a word of prayer together. Father, we thank you for this time. We ask that you would minister to us in a powerful way. We look to you and to your spirit. We trust you to guide us and lead us into truth. As we inquire of your word, we give you this time in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, as I said, we're continuing our series called Epic. And right now we're looking at the high-impact truths of the New Testament. Today we're going to be delving into Romans chapter 6. You know, that landmark passage that's all about the spiritual surgery that took place inside of you when you were crucified, buried, and raised with Christ. So we're in Romans 6. We're going to start right in verse 1. Here we go. Paul is asking an important question. Here it is. He says, what shall we say then? Are we to just continue in sin, set world records for sin so that grace may increase? Do you see his question? What's gonna happen with grace? It's gonna grow. It's gonna increase. What's gonna happen with God's grace? It's always gonna be there. Remember that you have an ocean of grace, don't you? Grace before you, grace behind you, grace on your right, grace on your left, grace on all sides. You're immersed in grace. You're basking in God's grace. There's never, ever an exhausted grace. You don't run out of the blood of Jesus. His blood has caused you to be a totally forgiven person, completely loved, utterly accepted. No matter what, you're off the charts, okay with God. So if God's grace just increases, it's grace upon grace upon grace, it's ginormous grace, then Paul's question makes a whole lot of sense, right? I mean, Paul's question is, why not just go out and sin? Because number one, then you're just showing off God's grace even more. I mean, think about it. The more you sin, the more you need God's grace. The more you sin, the more you're showcasing God's forgiveness. The more you sin, the more Jesus is looking pretty powerful. So this is the question that Paul has to answer for the Romans. Now, I want you to notice again, this question, how radical it is. It would never come out of a legalistic mindset. I mean, a legalist would never ask this question, would they? Here's why. Because the legalist would say, should we continue in sin? No way. You'll lose your salvation. Should we continue in sin? Are you kidding me? No way. All bets are off at that point. God will ditch you. Should we continue in sin? Absolutely not. You'll fall out of God's will. You'll be out of fellowship with him.

He'll be mad at you. You'll be dirty and distant. He won't hear your prayers. Your sins will be clogging up his ears. There'll be a sin barrier. You won't be at peace with God anymore. And slowly you'll backslide into oblivion, losing your salvation. You see, legalism would instill so much fear about sin, so much fear about losing God and relationship with him, that legalism would never result in the question that the Apostle Paul is asking. The Apostle Paul is asking this question because God's grace is ginormous. The only way this question comes up is if God's grace is endless and limitless and beyond compare, and you can't mess this up. And if you can't mess this up, then Paul's saying, well, why not just give it a try? If you can't mess this up, well, then why not just go out and sin? If you can't mess this up, then why not just go out and do whatever? because quesara sera, whatever will be will be, you'll be saved no matter what, you'll be forgiven no matter what, you'll be righteous no matter what, so why not just go out and act like a lunatic? Now, do you see that only the ginormous grace of God leads to this question? And I love it. I love it because we start asking that question, what's my inspiration? If I'm not scared of God, if I'm not scared of punishment, if I'm not afraid of losing my salvation, if I'm not afraid of Jesus's blood running out on me, then what is my motivation? What keeps me on the right road? What keeps me loving others rather than abusing people? What keeps me walking by the spirit versus walking by the flesh? What keeps me living a godly life if I'm connected to Christ no matter what, if I can't lose out? So, Paul's about to give us the answer, and here it is, right here in verse 2. Paul says this, may it never be, how shall we who died to sin still live in it? Now, I want you to notice his answer because it's a bit mysterious, right? I mean, his answer is mysterious because I would have thought he would have said, may it never be because God's gonna get you. May it never be because you'll lose out on the kingdom. May it never be because the Holy Spirit will hit the exit. May it never be because God will be ticked off with you. Now, notice he doesn't go there. That's not the reason he gives, is it? No, he gives a totally different justification, and the reason he gives for you not abusing God's grace is very simple. He's basically saying, are you crazy? Do you not know what happened to you? Do you not realize what occurred at salvation? What, do you think you just got some new belief? Is that what you think? What, you think you just became part of a group called Christians? Is that what you think?

What, you think you just got a more conservative lifestyle or something, that you got something called faith, some generic idea called faith? What do you think happened to you at salvation? Because I'll tell you what happened. You got your heart ripped out, you got your spirit ripped out, and it was replaced through a radical surgery at the core of your spiritual being. So that's why he says, may it never be, how shall we who died to sin still live in it? Now, I want you to notice that it's almost like he's saying this is logically impossible. Like, how could this even happen? How could you get a dog to quack like a duck? How could you get a duck to bark like a dog? You can't really get that to happen, can you? How could that possibly happen? So what he's saying is, how could you get a righteous, holy, blameless child of God with a new heart and a new spirit, how could you possibly get them to continue in sin and love it? It's not going to happen. It's impossible. It makes no sense. Given their new DNA, given their heart transplant, given what's happened at the core of your being, you will never love sin again. So, if you hear what I'm saying, and you hear what the apostle Paul is saying through this passage, you hate sin, you don't really want to sin, so how could you possibly live in it any longer? Now, there's another reading of this that I think is worth talking about. You died to sin, so you were plucked out of Adam. You were plucked out of your sins. You're not dead in your sins, you're alive in your Savior. So, if you were plucked out of your sins, and you were put in your Savior, how could you live in your sins any longer? How could you continue inside of sin if you are inside of Christ? So, this is geography as well. Look at you. You've got new geography. You've got a new location. The realtors say it's all about location. Location, location, location. You've heard it, right? A better location means better value. Well, spiritually, you have the ultimate in value. You were taken out of Adam, and you were put in Jesus. The best location. in the universe so basically you don't have to try to get any closer to God if you're in Christ you're not in sin you're in Jesus all right so notice Paul's logic then may it never be let's not continue in sin because look at you you're different you're an alien you're a stranger you've had a heart transplant a surgery a ripping out out out with the old in with the new this is about your nature and your core and your new life and the substance of your being and what makes you tick when nobody else is looking and you're all by yourself what makes you tick when nobody else is looking what do you really want when

nobody else can see what is that heart inside of you yearning for do you hear that so Paul is suggesting that even if the church people couldn't see even if your family your relatives your friends didn't know that there's a place within you that drives everything it drives the machine called you it's new hardware it's new hardware it's new components and they're righteous in fact in this chapter later in verse 17 he actually says you became obedient from the heart and you became a slave get this a slave of righteousness that means you're connected to righteousness you're harnessed to righteousness you're fused and bonded to righteousness you can't get away from righteousness it's your destiny you can flirt with sin but righteousness is your destiny because you're a slave to it now remember when you were a slave of sin you couldn't get away from it now you're a slave of righteousness you can't get away from it isn't that awesome to think about all right so here we are in verse 3 and he says or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into his death look at the problem with the church today is the problem that we're not dead to sin no that's not the problem is the problem we need to try harder no that's not the problem what's the problem according to Paul what's the problem with the church today here it is we don't know what we have we don't know what happened to us this is why Paul asks or do you not know do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ all of us who've been immersed placed into we've been surgerized we've been ripped out of Adam and put in Jesus do you not know that that means that what happened to Jesus happened to you you were crucified in him you were buried in him you were raised and seated in him whatever happened to Jesus happened to you so if you catch my drift if you follow what I'm saying this is the neglected half of the cross message now the first half of the cross message we're doing okay with in the Christian world today we're doing all right the first half of the cross message is Jesus died for your sins the second half of the cross message is that you died with Jesus do you hear that Jesus died for you you died with Jesus now Romans 6 is about that second message you died with Jesus now I would

just have you hit the pause button in your mind for a minute ask yourself okay I've been a Christian five years 15 years 50 years how many messages in church have I heard about me dying with Jesus now just think about that how many messages in church have you heard about you dying with Jesus now for most of us this can be zero or two or if we're lucky four right I mean and for many of us it's zero for a whole lot of Christians for their whole life the answer is zero they've heard a ton about Jesus dying for their sins payment for their sins Jesus died for me but look at what Paul is saying do you not know what happened to all of us all of us who are Christ? Do you not know? Because it's happened to you, but it's possible that it's happened to you and you don't know about it. Do you remember when you were born physically? You know, I have no recollection. The day, I mean, it was October 31st, 1972. I'm sure it was a gorgeous fall day in the state of Virginia, in the city of Manassas, and Prince William Hospital was happy to have me, but I have no recollection of that day. Now, did it happen? Yeah, it happened. Absolutely, it happened, but I have no recollection. I have no memory. I have no recollection of the events of that day, no flashbacks to that day, nothing. But it happened. So, if you were to come to me and say, Andrew Farley, do you not know that you were born October 31st, 1972 in Manassas, Virginia? I would say, well, yes, I do know that, but somebody had to tell me that. Somebody had to tell me what happened to me. It already happened, but somebody had to tell me. Now, that's what Paul is doing here. Romans, Texans, Americans, citizens of the world who are in Christ, do you not know what happened to you at salvation? You are in Christ. And because of that, the events of your life include, you hung on a cross, you were put in a tomb, and you were raised to newness of life. Now, he goes on with this thought. He says, therefore, we have been buried with him through baptism into death. Now, do you bury a person that is alive? You don't bury people alive. You only bury dead people. The reason Paul is including this little bit, because the burial didn't do much, did it? I mean, we talk about the cross. We talk about the resurrection. We don't really talk about the burial much, but the burial signifies a finality. Death has occurred. That death is legit. Nobody breathes dirt. And so, Paul is saying that you were buried with Christ. Your old self is gone, no longer breathing, no longer living. We're not going to build a theology that resurrects your

old self. Your old self was buried. Now, he continues in this surgery. Verse 4 goes on. He says, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Now, do you see? He's saying he didn't leave you in that tomb. This surgery is complete. It's not a halfway done job. There are people today under the auspices of good, healthy Christianity, and they are telling you to try to die. They're telling you you need to die daily. They're telling you you need to die to self. They're telling you, you need to go through some radical surgery. God's going to put you on the operating table. God's going to take you on a long journey. He's trying to fix you, change you, kill you, resurrect you. What Paul is saying is the opposite. Please don't put the construction cones out. Please don't get up on the operating table. This is not a process. Did you hear me? And I meant it. This is not a process. You're not a process. Now, yes, you're learning, and that's a process. Yes, you're growing in your knowledge and understanding. Yes, that's a process. But this is not a process. This is a finished work. And so what he's saying is just as Jesus died one time, you died one time. Just as Jesus was buried once, you were buried once. And just as Jesus has been raised to newness of life, coming out of that tomb with life springing forth forever, eternal life, you also have been raised one time. Now, are you learning about it? Yeah. Did you not know about it? Maybe you were clueless. Is there a process of getting to know this? Absolutely. But is it going to happen again? No. I will never be born in Prince William Hospital in 1972 ever again. It happened once. It's over. It's done. I just need to know it happened and live life. Likewise, you too have been born spiritually. You've been born again. It's never going to happen and it's never gonna be more true. You simply need to learn what's happened to you. It happened once. So, do you see what's going on here? I mean, I hope you hear the implications. My heart's desire for you today is that you would realize you are not a fixer upper. You are not under construction. You are not a mess in the process of trying to get right and get better for God.

You are not on some long journey. We keep talking about the journey and the process and how progressive it is, and we emphasize that, and I know that that draws in the emotions. It does. Man, if I could talk about the process and the journey, and I could tell you about my pain and my rejection and the stuff I've been through, and I could say I'm a mess just like you, then I could bring you to tears, and you would understand me, and I would understand you, and I would feel your stress and your trouble, and you would feel mine, and we would have a beautiful kumbaya moment of how we're all a mess. And that is so great for empathy. It is. It's fine. It's good. For empathy and understanding of people's problems, but we're not talking about our problems today. We're talking about what happened to you at salvation. You are not in process. You're the product of a finished work. You are not a mess. You're a masterpiece. You are not being made righteous. You are not being made holy. You are not becoming a new creation. Out with the old, in with the new.

If any person is in Christ, they are a new creation. The old has gone. The new has come. Otherwise, folks, get this. Come on. Here comes temptation at my doorstep, and what am I gonna do? Hope that I'm dead enough to sin? I hope I'm mostly dead, you know, with a Monty Python theology. No, he's only mostly dead. Well, put him on the wheelbarrow anyway and hope for the best. Maybe he'll die soon. Temptation comes. It knocks at the door of my mind, and I have to decide, am I really dead to this thought? Am I really dead to sin, or do I need to die more to sin? Is dying to sin progressive? Does it take discipline? Does it take effort? Does it take time? Does it take energy? No, it takes death. In fact, we're gonna see in this very passage that the way you get freed from sin's power is you die to sin, and then all you gotta do is learn about it. Learn that you're dead to sin and alive to God, and count on it.

Like, make decisions based on it. Like, every day, I make decisions based on the fact that my first name is Andrew, and my last name is Farley, and I was born in Manassas, Virginia in 1972, and I live in Texas, and there's a whole lot of things about me that I assume now. I count on those things. I'm a married person. I count on the fact that I'm married. I have a child, a son named Gavin. I count on these facts. They're true, and I live as if they're true because they are true. Now, here comes sin, a nasty thought, an ugly thought, a lustful thought, a sick thought, a bad thought, a critical thought, whatever it is, it comes at me. I live as if I'm dead to that thought. Why? Because I am. Because I am. Now, I can act like I'm alive to it, and you know what? I take it in. I entertain it. I play with it a little. Ugh, miserable man that I am. I'm doing the very thing that I don't wanna do. I could play with it.

I could flirt with it. I could entertain it, or I could live as if I'm dead to it because actually, I really am. Wow. All right, let's keep going. Here we are in verse five. He says, for if we've become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. This is a Greek logic, basically. If A, then B. If A is true, then B is true. If we died with Jesus, how in the world would we not be resurrected? If whatever happened to Jesus happened. to us, what is he gonna quit on us in the tomb? No, crucified, buried, raised, it's just logical. He carried us through the whole process. It is not happening, it's happened. It's not happening, it's happened. All right, he says, knowing this, here's the most powerful verse in the entire chapter. Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. What happened to your old self? It says, is crucified with him. What tense is that verb in?

Get out your fifth grade grammar book. What tense is that verb in? Was crucified, it's already happened, it's past tense. What was crucified? Your old self, all right? What do I do when somebody says I need to die to self? I say, no thank you, no sir. My old self died, past tense. I'm not gonna die to self, I'm not gonna deny myself, I'm gonna count myself alive because my old self already died. I didn't like my old self. But you know what? Catch this, I really like my new self, don't you? I really like my new self. Why would I deny it? I really like my new self. Why would I kill it? I really like my new self. Why would I think it needs improvement or a process or a journey or a surgery or breaking? God's gonna break it, no. God has made us complete. He's building us up, not tearing us down. I really like my new self. How about you? So I'm gonna count myself alive and I'm gonna be myself. Don't deny yourself, be yourself. When Jesus said, whoever's gonna follow me,

they gotta follow me into death, they gotta take up their cross, deny themselves, follow me, guess what? You did that. You answered that invitation. That's been done. You followed Jesus. Where did he go? To Calvary, why? To die. Then where did he go? The tomb. What happened? You followed him there. Then where'd he go? Out of the tomb, up to the right hand of God. You followed him there too. So you were very obedient to that invitation. You've been crucified, buried, and raised. Now why would you try to start that all over again? Don't deny yourself, be yourself because you're the new self. Wow, all right. Verse seven, so simple. How do I say no to sin? Watch this. He who has died is freed from sin. So what do you need? You need a workbook? Maybe you need an accountability group.

That's what you need. You need a group and a book. You know what you need? You need memory verses. That's what you need. If you just memorize enough verses, maybe flashcards. So we're gonna memorize verses to fight temptation. We're gonna use flashcards. We're gonna get an accountability group. We're gonna get some workbooks. We're gonna do all kinds of stuff. And we're hoping, you know what you really need? You just need time. You know, the older Christians, the older people in life, you know, they probably have mastered temptation, right? Everyone here who's older, doesn't it just get better with time? Not really, right? Well, maybe I just need to grow. If I could just grow a little, then that would be the answer to temptation. So is it a workbook? Is it an accountability group? Is it a memory verse? Is it a flashcard? Is it time? Is it growth? Is it just hoping it'll get better somehow? Verse seven, he who has died is freed from sin. When a thought hits you,

when a nasty thought hits you, are you thinking about death? Because I am. When a nasty thought hits you, do you think I'm dead to that? Because I am. I'm slowly discovering that that is actually the answer to temptation. Oh, I'm learning it, but the fact doesn't change. He who has died is freed from sin. Here comes that thought. It hits the gateway of my mind, and I say, Lord, I'm one with you. I'm dead to sin. I'm alive to you. I'm above that thought. That thought is beneath me. I'm better than that thought. I'm not fulfilled by it. that thought, that thought didn't come from me and I don't want it, I'm going to ignore it, I'm going to fix my eyes on you, I'm going to think about something else, I'm dead to that thought. Now that thought could be vengeance, you know, somebody wronged me, I want to get them back. That thought could be bitterness, resentment, I'm hurt, so you know what, I'm just going to hold it against them because that'll help me if I just keep score, that'll, yeah, vengeance, bitterness, resentment, lust, envy, all those thoughts hit, what are you going to do with them, just hope that it gets better with time, nope, it gets better with death, he who has died is freed from sin or do you not know that you've died to sin, you see the logic, wow, so powerful, so rich, so deep, I hope you see this, this is a big, big deal. All right, we'll finish with just a couple more thoughts. Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the

dead, is never to die again, death no longer is master over him. All right, we're going to quit in one verse, but I guess I would ask you before we quit, why is the Apostle Paul emphasizing that Jesus died once? Now, I know that Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus died once, I know why Hebrews does that, Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus died once because you were forgiven once, Jesus died once, you were forgiven once, Jesus will never die again, you'll never be forgiven again, you are completely forgiven once for all, but you know what, this has nothing to do with forgiveness. Why is Paul in Romans 6, why is he emphasizing that Jesus died once? Because he wants to show you that you died once, you died to sin once, you're not dying to sin, you're totally dead to sin. Watch his logic, he says, Jesus is never to die again, for the death that he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. Now, watch verse 11, even so, or in the same way, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. I love myself, do you? Oh, Andrew, you can't say that, that's sacrilege, that is blasphemy. No, I don't care what other people think, you know what I discovered? I love myself because I love who God made me, I love the new self, and I'm only one person, I don't have two selves, I love myself. Do you love yourself? If you don't love yourself, what is all this funny business about identity in Christ that you say you believe? It's nonsense to you, unless you love yourself. Oh, I know what happened, self, the word self became a dirty word for you, self is a dirty word in church for a lot of people. Oh, we gotta talk bad about the self, it's self versus God. No, it's not, not if you're the new self. You're on God's team, I love yourself, I love your new self, and it's the only self you got, I'm counting you alive to God. I'm asking you, don't deny yourself, be yourself, love yourself because God made you the new self. How would we ever love our neighbor as ourself if we hated ourself? See, this is the answer, stop hating what God loves and stop trying to fix what God says is new. You're not getting right, you're right, you're not finding peace, you're at peace with God. You're not in a process, it's a finished work, look at you, you're clean and close and new and one with Jesus. Yes, learning, yes, growing, yes, tempted, but you, there's nothing wrong with you. God loves you, I love you, do you love you? Do you love yourself because you're the new self? And maybe it's time you agreed with God about yourself. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for this powerful truth. We're not an obstacle, we're an instrument. We're not in your way, we're your kids. We're not supposed to hate ourselves or hate our lives. We already hated our lives and lost our lives. We already denied ourselves, now we count ourselves alive. We're not gonna fall prey to a mixed message anymore. We're the new self, we're happy to be here. We're in the thick of it, we're united with you. You've accepted us, we're gonna accept ourselves. Thank you for this beautiful new creation that you've made us. We love you, we're grateful, in Jesus' name, amen.