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Back to the Bible. Let it be our plea, God's Word alone, our authority, every word, every step in the name of Christ. Back to the Bible for the way of life. Welcome to this period of Bible study. We are delighted to have this opportunity to consider with you for a little while a part of God's Word. And we hope that our time together, that you find it to be well spent and that you find our thoughts to be faithful to the Word of God and that you find them to be clear. And if at any point, what you find on this program or in any of the resources that we provide, if you find it not to be clear, but especially if you find it not to be faithful to the Word of God, then you would be our friend. You would be a help to us to reach out and to express those concerns some have along the way. And that has been for our good, not for our hurt, not for our harm. And we are thankful for those people who have reached out in consideration for what we have said. And so as we consider God's Word, we never assume that we know everything we ought to know or that we have all the expertise, but rather that we are Bible students. We're searching for God's Word, we're searching for his will. And we know that the only way to do that is to go back to the Bible. And we want to simply come to an understanding of His Word as it meant to those first century readers and what it was always intended to say to the people down through the ages. You can reach out to us at our website backtothebiblepodcast.com and we would be happy to hear from you there. If you are joining us on the YouTube channel, then you will see that we do not have our regular video this time. And the reason for that is that we're making some adjustments and rearrangements about where we're doing our recording and it is going to take us a minute to get that taken care of. But we want to make sure that we are keeping our study regular. And so my intention will be to have the Bible passages up as we discuss them, but you won't be able to see us on the video if you're joining us on the radio or through podcast. Most of the time you can see us video at YouTube and it's the Back to the Bible podcast YouTube channel and we would love to share that with you. And we're able to put the Bible passages up on the screen and that makes it helpful as we work through the text. Of course Today we're coming to the book of Romans chapter six. And last time we talked about Romans chapter five, which I think is a challenging and difficult passage. I was able to read from Brother Mott, L A Mott's commentary. A sister in Christ sent that to me, and I was so thankful to receive that. And read from chapter five there. And he takes a similar position as I did last time and maybe offer some points of clarification that needed to be made. But I would recommend that to you, especially his work on chapter five. And that's basically what I've considered in that commentary so far and found that to be helpful. There will probably be other places that I and Brother Mott would go different directions, but I thought that was helpful. What he says about the end of chapter five is good, where he says that there really have only been these two events that have had such dramatic consequences globally, and that is that Adam's sin brought death. And he points to physical death there, especially in the view of the fact that this was one event, this was one sin that brings all of this, and that is the consequence of Adam's death, Eve's death, everyone who has come after them, their death, with few exceptions regarding Enoch and Elijah and people like that. But other than that, what we have seen is a global effect of Adam's sin. And then in contrast to that, or in fulfillment of what that was a preview of, but still in contrast, we have that one act of righteousness, Jesus death is that one act of righteousness that makes it where not all will die, but that all in Christ will have life. And while I think that the idea for Adam is pointing to the physical death that is brought it in Jesus, we have opportunity to have spiritual life. We have opportunity to find the forgiveness of sins, but in addition to that, we have the opportunity to find physical life. We have the opportunity to find resurrection, eternal life. And I realize that in some ways that might be a challenging view, but I think that we would all agree when we look at 1 Corinthians 15, that that parallel is basically saying that we have in Adam death, because we're all in Adam. That's just the nature of our birth and our life. We are in Adam. And so in Adam we're all going to die. But in Christ, all will be made alive. All those in Adam are going to die. All those in Christ will be made alive. And now this is not teaching some kind of universalism. It's not that everybody dies in Adam, so that everybody's going to be raised to new life in Christ. I think there will be a universal resurrection from the dead, but some will be raised to eternal life and some are going to be raised to eternal death. But what I do think is saying is that within those people, within those men, there is universal death in Adam and all of those universally in Christ, all of those who are in him or will be saved. So now we come to Romans chapter 6. In view of that, especially with what Paul says right at the end of chapter five, where he says, where there was sin abounding, grace was abounding all the more. I think that his conversation partner, I think he's putting a question in his mouth and the conversation partner is saying, well, if in Adam all die and in Christ all are made alive, and if where sin abounded, grace abounds all the more, notice chapter six and we'll read verses one through seven. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may increase, may it never be? How shall we who died to sin live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Picking up in verse five. For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man 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. For he who has died has been justified from sin. So here is Paul's conversation partner and he asks, I think incredulously, he can't believe about this talk of grace abounding in the presence of sin. And of course, this is a conversation partner that Paul is putting words in his mouth, but I think he's anticipating. Maybe one of these people who's saying we have to submit to the old law, maybe one of those people saying that a Gentile without the weight of the law on them would just run reckless. Are we going to just continue in sin then? Is that the plan? We'll just continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul here says, no, absolutely not. May it never be. Paul agrees that God's grace, even out from under the law of Moses, does not allow rolling around in sin. And I think it's important that we see this. We must not, cannot, should not use God's grace. And as an excuse for rolling around in the slop of sin. We have died. Do you not know verse three, that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. Notice the contrast with chapter five there. Those who are in Adam died because of sin. But Paul explains here that those who have been buried with Jesus through baptism and in his death have died to sin, so that we are raised up to walk in newness of life. Now he brings up baptism, their baptism, to remind them of something they already know. That when they were baptized, they died, they were buried, and they were raised with Christ so that they could walk in new life. Now, I want to make this point as clearly as I can. When we come to the Book of Romans, these people are those who have already been saved from their sins. They have already received the forgiveness. They have received gospel power. So when Paul writes to them In Romans chapter 6, he is not telling them about their need to be baptized, but about a baptism that has already occurred, their baptism that has already happened. When he explains that baptism, notice what he's saying. He's saying in that baptism, that was the moment in which we died, were buried, and were raised to walk in new life. Do you see that we should note the significance here? That baptism is. Is into Christ and it is into his death. And it is the means by which we are raised to walk in new life. So how is it that we can be in Christ, not just in Adam? How can it be that we come to have the benefits of Christ's death, that one righteous act that brings so many benefits, especially grace and life? We do that because when we are baptized, we can die and be raised with Jesus. So we're not just in Adam. We're not just in the family of Adam. We can be faithful to Jesus, just as he was faithful all the way to the cross and in the resurrection. How God demonstrates His righteousness in that Christ event, we can come to. To share in that in a way that. That makes it where we are able to escape the condemnation to death that comes in Adam. We can die and we can be raised with Jesus and in baptism, which initiates this new life of faithfulness. That we are able to participate with Jesus in His death, in. In his burial, in his resurrection. That is how the benefits of his death become ours. That's how the benefits of his resurrection become ours. We could not have followed Jesus in faithfulness without his mercy. Now I want us to emphasize the place that baptism plays here. When we read through the Book of Romans. How does Paul say That we are saved. Well, he uses this phrase that we are saved by faith. And we have made the case through this study of the Book of Romans that that word faith encapsulates way more than just belief and even more than just trust or confidence, but that it could be rendered loyalty, faithfulness, allegiance, that this idea of faith is giving fidelity to the king. But what we see here is that baptism is not put in contrast to salvation by faith. In fact, it's right at the heart of it. Do you see that Paul will talk all through the Book of Romans about the danger of being saved by works or coming to God by works of the law? I don't think he's talking about concern about obedience. And we can see here that it's not any concern about being baptized into Christ. Rather, the concern on those matters is feeling like we have to be submissive to the old law, that we have to Judaize in order to be one of God's people. That's not the case. How do I know that's not the case? Because in our baptism we die, are buried, and we are raised to walk in newness of life. Isn't that a beautiful picture? That in that watery grave we have a burial and a resurrection of. Of our own? Because verse six, knowing this, that our old man 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. For he who has died has been justified from sin. The idea there is, is that we were made right. We were brought back into relationship with covenant faithfulness to God. And as a result of that, we're not a slave to sin anymore, that guilt is not hanging over our head, that slavery is no longer a burden that we have to bear. So the one who has died has been justified. We have been made right out of and from that sin. Now, I want you to notice what he says in verses 8 through 11. If we died with Christ, we. 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. For the death that he died, he died to sin once for all. But the life that he lives, he lives to God. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ, Jesus Christ. What we read there is that Paul is saying, if we have died with Christ, that is, if we have died with him in baptism and we've been raised to walk in that newness of life, then we believe in Addition to that, that we will live with him. That we will live with him. I want to go back to the beginning of chapter five, because I think this is the point that Paul is making, at least in some way. He is saying in chapter 5, verses 1 through 11 that the way we know that we are going to have eternal life, the confidence that we can have in our resurrection, is seeing what God has done for us in Christ. If God would give us Christ when we were his enemies much more, Paul says, having been reconciled to him, we are going to be saved by his life. I think Paul is saying something very similar here in chapter six. What he's saying in chapter six is if we have died with him, if we have had that body of sin put to death, if we have been raised up to walk in newness of life, then we alive in Christ now can look forward to a coming resurrection of the dead. In view of our raising to walk in the newness of life and in baptism and our hope of resurrection into eternal life. Notice that Paul says in chapter six that we should not let sin dominate us anymore. We have to consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. We need to see that even though that body of sin was put to death, it is not as if that danger is gone forever. Because he is saying here, it's because of that execution of our body of sin that we have to continually put it to death. We have to continually to consider ourselves to be dead to sin. I like the language that Paul uses over in Colossians chapter three, where he talks about the fact that we have to mortify the members of our body according to the flesh. That is what we have to continue to put them to death over and over and over. I like to use this illustration if I can. I had a brain tumor. It's now been two and a half years since I had that tumor removed. But what happened was, is they put that away. They put it to death. They cut that thing out. But do you know what I had to do? I've had to continue to put it to death with radiation, with chemotherapy, with regular observation, being prepared to go after it again as soon as it raises its ugly head. And so what we do is we think of that in the very same way that we ought to think about sin, is that it's been put to death. It's been destroyed, but it's constantly trying to raise itself back up in our lives. Just because we have died to sin doesn't mean that sin doesn't have Its allure doesn't mean that it doesn't have its issues. And so we consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We have been, and we will be raised. We have been given spiritual life, and we are looking forward to resurrection, eternal life. Now, I want you to notice here that it was not their dedication or their submission to the law, to the Torah that released them from sin. It was not that that broke these Gentiles from sin's power, but it was the death of Christ and the resurrection of Jesus and our death and our resurrection with him. I think you have a really deep consideration of what happens when someone is buried in that watery grave. They are raised a new life. And I think a good parallel for this is Colossians chapter two, verses eight, all the way through the begin of chapter three. Because what Paul will say there is, is the same thing he says here. You do not need to live as you once did, because you are not who you once were. Because of the fact that we have died, believe that we're going to live with him, that Christ has died, that he's been raised, that he died to sin once for all, but always lives. And in view of all of that, we need to commit that we are not going to live in our old lives anymore because we are no longer the person who we once were. Now coming down to verses 12 and following notice, he says there, therefore, as a result of all that we've just said, do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lust, and do not go on presenting your mortal body so that you obey its lusts as instruments of unrighteousness. But present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not be master over you because you are not under law, you are under grace. So in view of what they have done and in view of God's grace, they do not need to let sin have control. Their death and their new life means freedom from sin and new slavery to righteousness. Now notice the text. It says we are not under law, not under Torah, but under grace. Now, focusing on the Gentile audience, in my view, of course, he says that they are not being subjected to the law of Moses, but are freed from sin by the faithful mercy of God. I think we see that slavery that comes from sin for a Gentile under the law in chapter seven, and we'll talk more about that on another occasion. This Gentile figure wants to be free, but he can't find it under the law. But the fact that we are not saved by the law as a Gentile, but by grace motivates us even more fully to faithfulness. And I think we'll see how that works at the beginning of chapter eight. I think he's emphasizing that they are freed from the penalties and the consequences of the law, which would remain if they put themselves under the law's obligation and if not for their death and resurrection to new life in Christ. Now, I don't think that Paul is saying here that the law was not gracious, it was the law was a gift to Israel. But to take the law as it stood fulfilled in Christ and to impose it on someone like a Gentile, who had never been intended to live under that law, who had always been supposed to receive Christ when the law was fulfilled in him, to take that, all that's being opposed are the rules and the consequences because the grace is in Christ. That's where God's righteousness, that's where the faithfulness to God's promise is put on display. And we understand the relationship between a law with consequences and, and a gracious relationship are very different. Can I use an illustration here as well? I have a law relationship. I didn't come up with this illustration. I have friends who did. I have a law relationship to the United States government with regards to my taxes. I want to follow the law. I want to be obedient in my responsibility to that. But every write off and every number that I can crunch to make that duty and that responsibility as small as possible, I am looking for it. I don't want to send an extra dollar, not one, and I don't do that. I want to obey the Lord and I want to obey the government. I want to render to Caesar what is Caesar's, but I don't want to do any extra. And really I don't want to have to think very much about that. I don't want that to have to dominate my concerns. My wife does most of the numbers on that and we go and we write that check and it is what it is. And I want to do it just right because I don't want to give any more, but I don't want to give a dollar too little because I don't want to have to deal with that situation anymore. Of course, I've got to deal with it next year as well. You know that. However, that is not the kind of relationship that I have with my wife. My wife, there are rules and there are instructions, but it is a relationship that is built on grace. It is a gift to me. And as a result, my interest in pleasing her is not just making sure I do the very bare minimum and don't do one minute extra. No, I want to look for opportunities to make her happy, to bring her joy, to take care of her in every way that I see fit, that the Lord would see fit. Why do I do that? Because it is not just law, it is grace. Now, what does Paul say here? He is saying, and we know this to be true, that the grace relationship doesn't demand less of us. It demands all of us. We need to quit, Paul says, allowing our body to be used as tools for unrighteousness, as instruments for unrighteousness. But we need to let them be used as instruments working the righteousness of God. We are going to be slaves. We, one way or the other. Either we are going to be slaves of sin, which is going to lead to death, or we're going to be slaves of obedience, which will lead us to righteousness. Right standing with God and the decision of what our instruments are going to be used for is up to us. God has granted us new life with forgiveness and the pattern in Jesus. So we must deny ourselves and. And whatever pleasures would come from sin. And we have to give allegiance to the Lord so that we walk in righteousness. Now, what we're going to see in the rest of chapter six, and we'll have to save some of that for next time. But that Paul was so thankful for the people that he was writing to because they had committed to that. And so we have in verses 15 through 17, he says there, what then shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? May it never be. He says, do you not know that when you go on presenting yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness. But thanks be to God that though you were the slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were given over. Paul was so thankful that the people that he was writing to had committed to that pattern of teaching, to that form of doctrine, and were obedient so that they were free from sin and slaves to righteousness. Now I want you to note here Paul's distinction, his difference between law and grace. This cannot be. Listen. This cannot be a distinction between obedience and grace. But the distinction is between the works of the law as imposed by the Judaizing teachers and the grace of the Gospel rendering obedience. Giving allegiance to Jesus demands obedience. But it is obedience to the king to whom the law was pointing, that not submitting to the law of Moses, that had been fulfilled in him, and not an obedience that would be in a shallow way. And so what he says here is that he is thankful that they have obeyed from the heart that form of teaching which had been delivered, to which they had been given over. They had been committed to that, and they had submitted to it. And for that, Paul is thankful. Well, that'll be all the time we'll take for today. Until next time, we bid you a pleasant good day. Back to the Bible. Let it be our plea. God's word alone, our authority, every word, every step, in the name of Christ. Back to the Bible. For the way of life.