Sermon Tone Analysis

Romans 6:11–14

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

As we continue our look at the book of Romans, we are now in the second part of Romans chapter 6.

Last week we looked at being Baptized in Christ.

We saw some of the differences between Justification and Sanctification.

He began with the indicative statement of fact - you have been baptized in Christ.

Now in verses 11-14 he tells us to Live like it!

Last week Paul answered the question of license.

So, if we sin more, than Grace abounds…and if grace abounds, then God gets more glory…so why not just go ahead and sin?

God forbid he answers!

We have been baptized in his death, therefore we are dead to sin.

We have been baptized in His resurrection, therefore we can walk in newness of life.

He told us that the Old man was crucified sot hat the body of sin might be destroyed.

We now live in Christ, not in sin.

Continuing this line of thinking Paul moves from statements of fact to Imperatives, commands.

I. Reckon Yourself

11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The word reckon here in this passage means to count it as so.

Actually, the verb logízomai (lō-gĭd-zō-mī) means to put together with one’s mind, to count, to occupy oneself with reckonings or calculations.

He is saying realize this and get into your brains… You are:

A. Dead to Sin

Sin cannot control you.

Sin cannot bind you.

It has no power over you.

You have been crucified with Christ.

When you are dead to something it has no power over you.

How can we live in sin any longer when we are dead to sin?

Paul told the Christians at Colossi...

He tells them we are dead to sin and hid in Christ…therefore we need to Mortify your members (deaden them).

These things will not be named among the Christians if they reckon themselves to be dead to sin.

We are free, but at times we don’t act like we realize that!

How sad it is to be free, but not even realize it.

After the Emancipation Proclamation was issued slaves many slave owners kept it a secret that their slaves were free.

It wasn’t until 2000 troops led by Maj.

Gen. Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston, TX and told the slaves there on the island that they were free did they realize they didn’t have to stay in bondage.

Government agents were sent across the country to see if the slaves had been freed.

To accomplish this, they would ask black people, “How are you working?

What are you getting?”

Some slaves would reply that they were not getting anything.

If that was the case the agent would have the owner present himself in front of the government.

Some people had been working for as long as a year before they found out they were due payment for their labor.

But that is not the end of it…throughout the Bible God challenges us to not only put off the bad, but replace it with the good.

So yes we are dead indeed unto sin, but we are also...

B. Alive to God

Through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, not only are we dead to sin, but we are alive unto God.

Just as were baptized in His resurrection, we have the ability to walk in newness of life!

We just need to Reckon ourselves as such.

Realize that we have this power, by the Holy Spirit in us, to live in the New man.

The true believer is not left only to the power of his own mind and thoughts to convince yourself or empower yourself to do right.

It is not a matter of mental control

God has given us the Holy Spirit to stir in us the power to obey.

A pastor went to Italy on holiday, one of the tours was to visit Mount Vesuvius.

He said, “I climbed to the summit, and there was a huge crater with smoke coming out of it because, although the volcano is dormant just now, deep down in the earth there's molten rock.”

When the pressure increases, the volcano erupts and spews out molten rock in an amazing fiery spectacle, and it pours down the mountainside in great streams destroying everything in its path.

Very quickly, the molten rock cools into a solid substance called lava rock, like this (show).

But the life has gone out of it--it's dead!

But contrast the coal!

(show).

It may look dead but it’s got life within--it's capable of giving off heat and power.

This contrast between volcanic rock and living coal reminded me of some verses in the Bible found in the Letter to the Ephesians, chapter 2. The apostle Paul was contrasting the life of people who hadn't come into a relationship with God in Jesus, as the Saviour of the world.

He said that before they trusted in Jesus: "You were dead in your trespasses and sins" (v.1).

Then something wonderful happened:

God helps us overcome sin through the Holy Spirit, but we also have a part in it!

And that is what we are talking about right now!

First to Reckon ourselves as dead to sin, but alive to God.

II.

Resist Sin

12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

The believer not only needs to come to the awareness that he is dead to sin, but he needs to actively resist sin.

This is an imperative—a command!

The Christian is responsible to resist sin!

So we resist sin this means that we...

A. Don’t Let It Reign

Don’t let sin have authority, rule or control.

The present tense is used here so the idea is a continuous attitude or behavior that you will not let sin control you.

Keep your mind off sin.

Do not entertain sinful thoughts.

Be careful what you watch, what you listen to, what you let influence you.

The more brain space you give to something, the more it will control your actions.

When I was a kid I attended Vacation Bible School for a few years at the First Baptist Church in Hammond, IN.

It was a large church of about 10,000 people.

so there were a couple of thousand kids between kids from the neighborhood and church kids.

They had skits everyday to illustrate biblical points.

They always used the same characters every year: There was Billy (a grown man dressed like a little boy, he was funny), there was Old Timer (a man in a white robe and long white beard, He was funny too, but gave good wisdom), then there was the Devil, He would come out and tempt the various characters to do something bad.

While the pastor held up the prize for the kid bringing the most visitors each day, the devil would come out and try to steal the candy when the pastor wasn’t looking.

Whenever the kids saw the devil coming out they would all shout to the pastor, “There he is…he’s here…It’s the devil!”

The pastor would act like he couldn’t understand them, and then suddenly see him.

Then he’d say, “OK kids you know what to do!”

And we would all sing a song, “Resist satan, resist satan, he will flee, he will flee, if you read the Bible, if you read the Bible he will flee, he will flee.”

Based upon James 4:7

7 Submit yourselves therefore to God.

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

The devil would run away covering his ears.

That made an impression on this young boy!

The devil doesn’t like to hear the Word of God, he’s strong until you resist Him in the power of God’s Word and submit yourselves to God.

So don’t let sin rule your heart and minds, secondly...

B. Don’t Obey Its Lusts