Dying to Live, Part 3

If we are to live out, I believe, the fullness of the new life in Christ, if we are to really live out, we are to live out.

God is saying, Be ye holy, for I am holy. That's basic to the will of God. We know by the time we reach verse 11 that we have died and risen again, don't we? We've already taken care of that in the first 10 verses. And now we are to learn in verses 11 to 14 that having been raised from the dead and having experienced in our position victory over death as to its penalty and its power, victory over sin as to its penalty and its power, we are now ready to move on, take off the grave clothes and live to the fullness of life.

Now I really believe that Christians want to do this. I believe that Christians want to know real victory over their conquered enemy sin. If you look in Romans chapter 7, just to help us in our thinking at this point, we find in verse 15 Paul saying this, For that which I do I don't understand.

For what I would, that do I not, but what I hate, that do I. And what he tells us there is that as a believer, he has a desire to do what's right. He has a desire to see victory in his life. He has a desire to conquer sin. And then we hear him saying something very similarly in verse 18, For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.

For the good that I would I do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Here is a man struggling with sin. But I really believe that he, like other believers, desires the victory. As of yet in Romans 7, he may not know the secret to that victory.

But I think if he were not only to go into chapter 8, but to go back to chapter 6, he would find that reality, that secret if you want to call it that. Now how do we get off the grave clothes? That's what we want to talk about. How do we really strip ourselves clean? How do we, as Peter said it, lay aside the old, put off, as he said it in 1 Peter 2, 1.

How do we put off that which shouldn't be there in our lives? We're going to find that to be answered very graphically I think in this text. Now three key words are necessary for us to understand how to overcome sin. The three words are in the text, know, reckon, and yield. And the force of this whole passage collects under these three terms.

Everything that we said in the last two lessons is going to come back to collect itself under the first term. Would you notice, first of all, verse 3, the first word, know, verse 6, the first word, knowing, verse 9, the first word, knowing. The first 10 verses of Romans 6 are doctrinal.

They're cognitive. They're presenting to us foundational data, substantive truth upon which we can build. And so as we look at our text, chapter 6, verse 11, the first word is likewise. And that takes us back, pulling us all the way through the first 10 verses again. The term could be translated, things having been thus settled, we now move on.

The term likewise simply means now after all of that is well in mind and in hand, we pursue the next truth. And that's its intent. You cannot come to verse 11 without the first 10 verses. And we've learned I think in the years that we've taught the Word of God and fully together that duty is always founded on doctrine, isn't it? That exhortation never comes in a vacuum. It always comes built on a precept, built on a divine truth.

Because this is true, this is how you are to behave. And so we have had 10 verses of solid foundational doctrine. And what has that doctrine been?

Let me just give it to you as rapidly as I can. That the believer is one with Christ, right? When he died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried.

When he rose, we rose. As he walks in newness of life, so we walk in newness of life. So what he has said is that when you become a Christian and you place your faith at that moment in Jesus Christ, by a divine miracle, you enter into his death and resurrection, your old life dies, and you rise to walk in newness of life. In dying in Christ, the believer pays the penalty for sin so that sin and death make no more claim on that believer.

Not only is the penalty paid, but the power of sin is broken and sin has no more dominion over him. We now live a new life. We are a new creation, a new man, a new nature if you like.

We're not what we used to be. And so to begin with, we want to know that this is true. If we are to live out, I believe, the fullness of the new life in Christ, if we are to really live as new creations, then it begins with the knowledge of that fact that I am not what I used to be. I am new.

And I have to know that to begin with. And what is the essence of that newness? I am no longer under the tyranny of sin. You remember that? Sin is no longer my absolute master.

I need to know that. Now I believe it is a basic principle of the Word of God that people, first of all, have to know what's true. You remember back in Hosea where the prophet Hosea said of the people of God that they were destroyed because of a lack of knowledge? Not a lack of dedication, not a lack of consecration, not a lack of commitment, not even a lack of worship activity, not even a lack of religion, not even a lack of revelation, but a lack of knowledge. They didn't know so they couldn't function. You'll never be able to live out what you don't know. You remember in the very special indictment of Isaiah chapter 1 verses 2 and 3, Isaiah sums up his indictment of the people of God and says, Israel does not know.

They don't know. And if you look in the New Testament, you find the same thing. In fact, in Philippians 4 verse 8, finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just and pure and lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think. Think on these things.

Count on what you know to be true. In Colossians chapter 3 and verse 8, very important word to us, he talks about putting off anger, wrath and malice and blasphemy, filthy communication, out of your mouth, lie not one to another since you have put off the old man with his deeds. The old man's been put off.

We saw that already. And you have put on the new man, then he says, which is renewed in knowledge. It is renewed in knowledge.

You can't function on what you don't know and so we begin by knowing. And beloved, we know that the power of sin to tyrannize us has been broken, don't we? We know that we do not have to be prey to sin's power. We know that we do not have to fall victim to it.

We do know for certain that it cannot force us to do that which is against God. Now once you know that, I think you're on your way to victory because it puts confidence in your heart. The doubt is gone. The fear is gone. You know you are dealing with a vanquished foe.

You know you are dealing with a monarch who has been dethroned. The tomb is really open and we have really come out of the grave and we can get off the grave clothes and get on with the victory. So it begins with knowing. Now let's go to the second word in verse 11. Likewise, now that you understand the knowing part, now that the foundation is laid, reckon, that's the second word, reckon. Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey its lusts. Now the second term is reckon and here beloved doctrine gives way to faith. The word know dealt with the mind. The word reckon deals with the heart.

You know it to be so intellectually and now you believe it to be so. You reckon. Now what does it mean to reckon? The word has many translation possibilities. It is used of a mathematical kind of expression. In its literal sense, it means to number something or to count something or to account something or to estimate something. But it is also used in a figurative way.

In fact, it's been used quite extensively in chapter 4. I think eight times it's used there basically translated to impute or to put to someone's account where the Lord says that in salvation God puts to our account righteousness. But it also can be used in a figurative sense to refer to calculating in the mind or reasoning in the mind or affirming in the mind that something is so and that's the way it's used here. We could translate it simply affirm. You know and now affirm that it is true or conclude that it is true or if you want to put it in the category of the genuine Christian term that is all encompassing, believe that it's true.

You know it is because the data says it is. Now believe it with a heart belief. Come to that settled confidence.

Now at this point somebody might say, well you know this is hard. It's hard for me to believe that I am a person who no longer possesses a sin nature. It's hard for me to believe that I am a person who no longer is a victim of the old man. It's hard for me to believe that I have died and nevertheless I live and yet not I but Christ lives in me. It's hard for me to believe that I possess the divine nature. It's hard for me to believe that planted within me is an incorruptible seed. It's hard for me to believe that I am a new creation and behold all things are new. It's hard for me to believe that I am already fit for eternity and that translation into glory for me will be less of a change than salvation was. It's hard for me to believe that the life of God lives in my soul.

It's hard for me to believe that Jesus Christ dwells within me. It's hard for me to accept that. I know that's what it says there but for me to affirm it is difficult.

Well I understand that. In fact I'll tell you why it's difficult. You want to know why it's difficult? I'll give you four reasons why it's difficult.

First reason is maybe you've never been taught that before. I think it's difficult for a lot of folks because nobody ever told them that. I mean they just think that they're going to be victims of sin all their life. There are a lot of folks who believe when you get saved all the Lord does is save you transactionally and leaves you in the same mess you've been in all along. And you just sort of hack your way to the jungle of sin and its tyranny the rest of your life. And they don't know any different. And that's a tragic thing to tell people. Or else they're told that when you become a Christian it isn't transformation it's addition. You were an old man in old nature you just get a new one added to it and now you've got a big war going on inside of you, you poor thing you. It may well be that you've never been taught what the foundation is.

Now you're just sort of getting it taught to you and maybe it's coming slowly. Let me give you another reason. Another reason it's hard to believe that sin has no tyranny over you and sin does not have power to utterly control you is simply because Satan doesn't want you to believe that. I don't think he wants you to believe that. I don't think he wants you to believe that he and his forces and sin are vanquished in terms of their ultimate ability to control you. If I read my Bible right Satan always shows up as the accuser of the brethren, doesn't he?

He really does. And he not only accuses the brethren before God but believe me he accuses the brethren before the brethren. And Satan will do everything he can to put Christians on a tremendous guilt binge. And a lot of Christians are under tremendous anxiety. Satan doesn't want us to believe that sin is a vanquished foe. And maybe we haven't been taught that. That's two reasons. Let me give you a third reason.

And this may be a surprise. The third reason that you may not know this and hang on is because basically the redemptive recreation that God did in you, are you ready for this, was non-experiential. That's right. It was a divine transaction. It was not experiential. When you were saved there was not a real death and a real burial and a real resurrection.

It spiritually occurred. But all of that truth was non-experiential. We know that because there are people who've been saved for a while and they still don't know that even happened.

You see it's non-experiential. Salvation in its purest essence is non-experiential. You can't define a person's salvation by some kind of external experience. I've seen people come to an invitation response to prayer room and cry their eyes out and it wasn't genuine, haven't you?

And I've seen people who look like we're very cold and calculating in the whole process and it was as genuine as it could be and the divine transaction really occurred. You see basically redemption is non-experiential. It is a faith fact. You can't experience dying in Christ, actually. You can't experience your burial. You can't experience being raised. You have to take it by faith.

You want to know something? The people who are always running around looking for signs don't have great faith. They just have little faith. The people with the great faith can accept the fact of the Word of God without having to have some external proof. People running around looking for external verifying phenomena to the reality of Christ in their life don't have great faith.

That's doubt looking for proof. But we have no objective external verifiable things that we can see as our evidence of death, burial and resurrection in Christ. We can't see the fact that sin is a vanquished foe. God doesn't give us this vision of sin lying down having been knocked out. We don't have that.

And so that makes it hard. But let me give you the fourth and the best reason. It's hard for us to realize that we have had the victory over sin, as I said, number one, because maybe we've never been taught that. Number two, because the enemy doesn't want us to believe that. Number three, because the whole thing is not experiential. And number four, and here's the best reason, because the fury of the conflict with sin in us makes us wonder how that could be true.

You get that? That's very important. The fury of the conflict with sin in us, which we many times lose, don't we? Makes us wonder how it can be so.

And so it is hard to believe that the tyranny of sin is broken because there's a real struggle going on with sin and we lose a lot. But we have to believe it anyway. You say, well, how are we going to believe it?

Because the Bible says so. It's a faith fact. Count on it. Affirm it.

Believe it. Now, I'm not talking about psychological games. I'm not talking about that old thing that they used to say back in the 20s and 30s, every day in every way I'm getting better and better. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about getting up every morning and saying you're really wonderful, you're really holy, you're really righteous, until finally you've got a case of self-hypnosis and you've convinced yourself of something that isn't so. I'm not talking about playing mind games. I'm not talking about that. I'm not talking about fooling ourselves. I'm saying we have to believe God's Word. Sin in its power is broken. You've got to believe it.

I mean, let's face it. Abraham had our time believing that he was going to have a son, too. That's right. He was 99 years old. Sarah was 90.

They were both long over the hill as far as it came to production. And he looked at Sarah and he must have had a snicker and a smile and she just flat out laughed. But in Romans it says he believed God. I mean, it was a faith fact. He just had to believe it because there was no way it was basically possible. But, beloved, we have to believe this. As one writer put it, what could be more frustrating than being a Christian who thinks himself primarily a self-centered sinner, yet whose purpose in life is to produce God-centered holiness? Will you want to really be schizoid? That's a good way to go at it. Believe you're a wretched, vile, hopeless sinner under the tyranny of sin and you're supposed to produce holiness.

That'll frustrate you. So Paul says, reckon. Affirm that it is so.

What does he say? Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. In truth, it means. Truly dead unto sin.

Count on it. Affirm it that your biography has been written in two volumes. Volume one is the old man, the old nature, the old self before salvation. Volume two is the new man, the new self, the new creation. Volume one ended with my death in Christ. Volume two began with my resurrection in Christ.

It is both impossible and inconceivable to reopen volume one. So the doctrine of salvation by grace does not lead me to sin. That was the original question in verse one. The doctrine of salvation by grace does not free me up to sin and have God just keep exercising grace in behalf of my multiplied sinfulness.

No, no, no. Because when I was saved, sin as a tyrant was canceled out. And I must believe that.

I must believe that. I am in Christ and His holiness is mine and sin has no more dominion over me. Now what that means is that I, and this is in theory, I really never have to sin, right? I am never a forced sinner, a victim of some wretchedness inherent in me that is not conquered.

Sin has no more dominion. I am in Christ and Christ is in me. Marvelous thought. Isaac Watts put it this way, in Him the tribes of Adam boast more blessings than their fathers lost. So we are in His eternal purpose, His eternal plan, His eternal presence, His eternal power. We have been blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies.

He is working in us to work out His good pleasure. He who began a good work in us will perform until the day of Jesus Christ. God has created us new and we need to reckon that. This is Grace to You with John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Masters University and Seminary, helping you understand how you can have freedom from sin. John, as you said today, it's a glorious truth that we as Christians are dead to sin and that the power of sin has been broken. And yet I know this is a source of struggle and confusion for a lot of Christians because frankly, it doesn't feel like we're dead to sin. We're certainly not impervious to sin.

With all the temptations we face and the things that we give in to, sometimes repeatedly, it's difficult to feel like the victory has been won. Yeah, and I think this is what we used to talk about when we talked about the believer's position and the believer's practice. Before God, you are dead to sin. That is to say sin has no power over you in terms of its punishment. You will never be held guilty for your sin. You will never be ultimately punished for your sin because Christ took your punishment. So when you say you're dead to sin, you mean that at this point, because of what the gospel communicates, because of what the gospel truth has accomplished in your life, you no longer have a debt to sin that has to be paid. You don't even have a debt to God for your sin that has to be paid because Christ paid the debt in full. So in the positional sense, you are dead to sin.

That's your position. So that when God looks at you, he sees you covered with the righteousness of Christ. He sees you clothed in righteousness. He sees you as if you had not sinned.

He sees you as if he's looking at his own son who has covered you with his righteousness. That's your position. The fact is, that's not yet taken total control over your practice.

So you're in the right uniform, but your behavior is inconsistent with the uniform that you wear. And I think we have to understand that. And that's the way it's going to be to the time that we leave this world and face the Lord. And that is why Romans 8 says that we in this body groan, longing to be delivered from this fleshly body. We are dead to sin in a positional sense, but in a practical sense, we're still fighting sin because we have remaining sin that's in our fallen flesh. And it's going to be there till we get a transformed body in that eternal state. This is where all of us struggle and live and move as believers. And this is such an important series.

We've produced a brand new study guide that you can get a hold of. It's called Freedom From Sin. It's a beautiful 250-page book, Precious Truths of Romans 6 and 7, laid out. And it goes right along with the current radio series. It's a powerful, powerful book.

I want to encourage you to get one. It'll lead you to all the richness that Paul lays out for the first century church in Rome and for you and myself as well today. Formidable resource, questions to help you think through things reasonably priced, free shipping in the U.S. Get a copy of Freedom From Sin study guide today or maybe several copies for your Bible study group.

That's right, friend. This new study guide will help you see that if you're a Christian, you have been liberated from the grip of sin, and you can experience the blessing of that freedom right now. To order the Freedom From Sin study guide, get in touch today.

Call our toll-free number, 855-GRACE, or go to our website, GTY.org. Again, the Freedom From Sin study guide includes a question and answer session at the end of each chapter. Great for prompting discussion in your home Bible study or with your family. To pick up a copy of Freedom From Sin, call 855-GRACE, or go to our website, GTY.org. And friend, thanks for remembering that your support keeps Bible teaching, like you heard today, on the air. You help us encourage people around the globe with hopeful messages about the person and work of Christ and about how to honor the Lord in daily life and the life-changing truth of the gospel. To partner with us, make a tax-deductible donation when you call, 855-GRACE, or you can donate online at our website, GTY.org. The website one more time, GTY.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson, reminding you to watch Grace To You television on Sunday, check our website for stations and times, and then be here next time when John continues his look at how you can know true, lasting freedom from sin. It's another half hour of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Monday's Grace To You.