Uncovering the Real Me
Breaking the Power of Cancelled Sin
Text: Romans 6:1-11
As we come to this section of Romans, we are beginning a small but important series titled “Breaking the Power of Cancelled Sin.”
The heart of this series centers on three undeniable realities that apply to every one of us who has been justified by faith in the finished work Jesus accomplished when he took our place on the cross and made a permanent atonement for our sins by dying in our stead!
- We have been born again into a new creation and made new in Christ, with His righteousness imputed to us. This means we are no longer under the Law’s condemnation and have been rescued from the power of death. Death has lost its sting, and the grave has lost its victory over us because of our identification and association with Christ.
- We have been joined to Christ in such a way that what happened to Him happened to us, and what was granted or promised to Him has also been given to us! We have been rescued and delivered from the kingdom of darkness and given permanent standing in the realm of grace, with ongoing access to the One who sits on the throne of that realm – the sovereign, wise, just, and loving God who created, rules, and will one day restore all of creation!
- Though we are no longer under the dominion of sin and we abhor its wicked nature and detest its destructive practices, we continue to struggle with the practice of certain sins in our lives to the point that some of them still hold us in bondage in this life.
And the question we all want to know is this: How do I break the power of canceled sin that it seems to continue to have over me in this life?
Paul’s answer to that question is in these three chapters – the single most concentrated place in our Bible where God gives instruction on our sanctification – how to win the war against ongoing sin in our lives!
Last week, we surveyed the contours of these chapters to get the lay of the land before we set out to hike the trail. This morning, there is one more thing we need to do before we start into these chapters: we need to understand who we are and what has happened to us.
Perhaps the best way to think about this is to view our lives as a story God is writing in two parts – “The Story of Me: A Biography told in two Volumes.”
I. Volume One: The ______ ______ (Who I was ______ Christ)
Romans 6:6 We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
There are five important questions we must answer about our “old self”:
- Where was my location? (Romans 5:14, 17, 21)
- What was my Situation? (Romans 5:1-21)
- What was my Condition?
- What was my Constitution?
- What was my vocation?
II. Volume Two: The ______ ______ (Who I am ______ Christ)
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new (a whole new kind) has come.
- What is my new Location? Where was I reborn? (Rom 5:2, 20-21)
- What is my new Situation?
- What is my new Condition?
- What is my new Constitution?
- What is my new Vocation?
III. The ___________: What, how, when, and why did this happen to me?
How did I go from my “Old Man/Self ” to my “New Man/Self”?
- What Happened
- How it Happened
- When it Happened (Rom 6:1-11)
- Why it Happened
IV.The ___________: Why do I still struggle?
Romans 7:18–20 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Romans 8:5–8 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
Galatians 5:16–24 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
- My Flesh
- Uses my body
- To fulfill the strong desires
- That it gets from its sinful tastes (lust of the flesh), its sinful desires (lust of the eyes), and its prideful arrogance (pride of life)
- To do impurity, unrighteousness, and lawlessness
- The fruit of which I used to revel in, but of which I am now deeply ashamed (Rom 6:20-21).
V. The ___________: What does this all mean for me, and how does it help me win the ongoing war against sin?
- I must really understand and comprehend what Paul means when he claims that:
- I must really believe and be convinced of these things.
- And then I must truly act on them and apply them to my life every day in the battle going on in my body against my flesh, sin, the world, and the devil!
And the way that I act on them is what I choose to do with my body when my flesh calls on it to fulfill a sinful desire! I will either respond to my flesh and present my body to my old master (who has no authority over me) for sinning, OR I will respond to the Spirit and present my body for righteousness. In other words, I now serve (slave) after righteousness with my body!
Conclusion
How does God bring this kind of sanctification about in me so that it happens not just theoretically and theologically but practically and personally?
Paul’s answer is:
You must ___________ in the ___________ all day, every day!
Romans 6:17–19 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
You must rest in the Spirit’s ___________ and depend on His ___________!
Romans 8:9–11 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Ben Franklin’s Epitaph
The Body of
B. Franklin, Printer,
Like the Cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And Stript of its Lettering & Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be lost,
For it will as he believ’d
appear once more
In a new and more elegant Edition
Corrected and improved
By the Author.