Romans 6: 1
Help for Sinning Christians

But the longer answer is found, spelled out, in the passage before us.  That passage leans very heavily upon the paragraph before this one in which Jesus Christ is pictured as the "Second Adam."  Adam was our representative in the Covenant of Works, so Jesus Christ is pictured as the "Second Adam."  Adam was our representative making us sinners by his representation, so Jesus Christ is our representative in the Covenant of Grace.  It is for this reason that we are to take all these expressions in Chapter 6 and in early chapter 7, that speak about our death and burial and resurrection with Christ, not as mystical experience, but as a description of our having accomplished all of these things in the person of our representative before the Father -- Jesus Christ.

But what my major concern is here this morning, is four directions which the passage gives us, with regard to dealing with sin in the Christian life.  Notice them:

I. THE FIRST DIRECTION THAT WE SHOULD KEEP IN MIND IS WHO WE ARE.

1. We are -- each one of us who knows the Lord Jesus Christ -- an heir of the unbelievable, unlimited, grace of God, by means of our "justification."  The last part of chapter 5 speaks of grace abounding!  God the Father imputed all of our sins to Jesus.

2. And the tenor of our text this morning is one of almost unbelief that anyone would use this grace of God as an occasion to sin.  Paul's expression is a familiar one in the Pauline letters: "mei genoita" is the Greek. "May it never never be!"  "Perish the thought," the Victorians might have said!

3. Perhaps one of the contributing reasons that makes our society so decadent is that it has lost the old Victorian value of family loyalty, where, in good families -- especially families of social standing -- every child was instilled with the consciousness of "Remember who you are!"

And yet we do!  And therein lies the evidence of "total depravity" and the proof of the inexplicable grace of God!  But let that fact be a continual deterrent to our sin, as individual Christians and an encouragement to pray for forgiveness, as the Lord taught us in the "sample" prayer: "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors."

II. THE SECOND DIRECTION IN THIS PASSAGE -- REGARDING DEALING WITH PERSONAL SIN IN THE CHRISTIAN LIFE -- IS THAT WE ARE TO EXERCISE DISCIPLINE SO AS TO NOT SIN. 

1. V.13 is typical of numerous verses in the passage before us.

2. There are those who have been taught that trying hard not to sin is, what they call, "legalism."  That seems to me to be incorrect.  The New Testament frequently talks about character, and earnest striving to avoid sin, just as this passage does.

V.13: "Let not sin, therefore, reign in you mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.  Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but yield yourselves unto God."

I address this especially to those of us who have been Christians for many long years.  It may be time to pull up our socks and get serious about following Christ.  It may pertain to seemingly small things, but the exhortation is to us. ("V.12a")

And not only to those of us who have been Christians longer than you once thought that people lived, does this exhortation come.  But to every person here this morning, who claims to be a Christian, the Word of God comes to you! ("v.12a")

III. NOW NOTICE THE THIRD DIRECTIVE REGARDING DEALING WITH SIN THAT IS GIVEN HERE: WE ARE TO YIELD OURSELVES UNTO RIGHTEOUSNESS.

1. "V.13" Now this is not just the opposite of "letting sin reign in (our) life."  "Yielding yourself to righteousness" deals with such practical things as who you share your life with and where you put your priorities and how you relate to other people -- good and bad, as well as not allowing sin to reign in your life, uninhibited.

If you hang around with people who are not Christians and share their places and their activities, you are likely to be doing the opposite of "yielding yourself to righteousness."

You have to be the judge, because God has made you "assistant manager" (you might say) of your life, which actually belongs to him.  But beware regarding the unbelieving people with whom you spend long hours and large blocks of time, lest you be like Lot, the nephew of Abraham, whom the phraseology of the K.J.V. describes as "pitching his tent toward Sodom."  In the past 20 or 25 years our secular culture in America has spiraled downward at an ever-increasing speed: Advertising, T.V., and other entertainment has been doing so.  Is there a Christian here this morning who is "pitching his tent toward Sodom?"  "v.13 b" 

It is a part of your discipline as a Christian to manage your life so as to not put yourself unnecessarily in the way of temptation.  That is just part of what it means to not "yield yourself to unrighteousness" but, on the contrary, to "yield yourself unto God."  I'm sure that most of us can think of times when we have ignored such a direction as this one.  And we all do this to some extent!  Thankfully there is great grace poured out upon grace for us who have trusted the Savior!  But the exhortation is ("v.13-14")

2. And this "yielding ourselves to righteousness," also has to do with keeping ourselves spiritually healthy.  V. 19 speaks about yielding our members -- i.e., our being, our faculties -- to righteousness for sanctification.  The idea is that we cannot make ourselves better or stronger, but we can bring the obvious means of grace that God has given us, into our lives: The Word of God, prayer, the sacraments, and serious fellowship with God's people; not to say also, the being under the discipline of Christ's local church.

V. 17 talks about a "standard of teaching" to which you were committed.  That is: loaning yourself to the Word of God, under the direction of God's people and the teachers of his church -- whether they might be actual leaders of the church or writers, or even friends who take an interest in our Christian life.

Do you use the sacrament of communion effectively?  Obviously, you use the means of Christian fellowship (since you are sitting here).  And that is a means of grace.  But are you using it adequately -- being attentive and open and prayerful in your involvement in the fellowship of the Lord's people?  Do you attempt to apply to your own life the sermons and Bible studies that are brought to you?

There may come a time in your life when you will be tempted to remove yourself from the fellowship of God's people, and will this verse be a strong call to yield yourself to God as an instrument of righteousness by being a more serious hearer of the Word of God in the context of the fellowship of God's people gathered as a church?

IV. THE FOURTH DIRECTION HERE IS TO CONSCIOUSLY RELY UPON THE HOLY SPIRIT

Chapter 7: 6 talks about our being discharged from the law, i.e., that we no longer keep the law as a means to our own salvation (which is essentially what every unbeliever is doing, unbeknownst to him).

It does not mean, as is sometimes alleged, that we can't keep the moral law in details, but try to obey the "spirit" of the law as our good heart inclines us.  What it means is that before we knew Christ, we were under the law like every other lost person is and had no help but our own selves.  And we were like every other lost person who has ten times better knowledge of what is good than he practices.

But now, we are under the Covenant of Grace and we have the dear Holy Spirit to prompt us and to teach us and to empower us. 

The exhortation here is to never forget the dire need we have of the Holy Spirit and his "very present help in time of need."  And even when we are not conscious of a need, we are to frequently call upon divine aid in our struggle against sin and to maintain a visible and aggressive devotional life of some sort.

If you are not doing this, then today is the time for a change in your Christian life -- when you should get back to, or initiate (as the case may be) a life of prayer and meditation and fellowship with the living God, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to those of us who have trusted Christ.