What You Must Think (Rom. 6) (6/21/26)

Good morning. An interesting verse that we read

in a passage that I'm not focusing on, but in

the Matthew passage in verse 39, it says, 10

39 says, whoever finds his life will lose it

and whoever loses his life for my sake will find

it. There's a lot of interesting seeming contradictions

and it seems that this is one of the way God

likes to communicate is through these clever

and I think because they're seemingly contradictory

memorable things that sound like they mean one

thing but in truth as you dig into it it means

the opposite. We are not going to lose our lives

by losing our lives we're going to find our lives

by losing control over our lives and giving it

to him. And the reason I bring that up shall

become apparent in a moment because I want to

talk mainly today about the passage we read in

Romans 6. And I also at some point want to include

discussion of Psalm 86, which I think illustrates

largely the same point as the passage in Romans

6. Let's pray before we begin. Father, I thank

you for your word, and I pray that you will make

your message clear from your word. And I pray

this in the name of the Father and the Son and

the Holy Spirit. Amen. It's important what we

are thinking about. It's important what we think

intentionally. And one of the things the Bible

tells us that we need to intentionally think

about is who we are as a result of the work of

Jesus. You are specifically supposed to consider

yourself to have the identity that Jesus has

purchased for you. You are not supposed to think

of yourself primarily in terms of the fact that

you disobey God. Primarily by the fact that you

are a sinner, but as a believer in Jesus, you

are commanded to think about yourself as righteous.

And that is something that Paul is going to tell

us. I find every time I drive here, we drive

largely the same path on the way to our church

on Sundays. And there's a place where the the

two paths diverge, and I should make sure to

be on 97 instead of on 332. And if I don't think

about it, as I did this morning, I had a huge

buffer of time, and I sat there thinking, I was

thinking about the sermon, and as I suddenly

looked up, I realized I was on the path to the

wrong church. And I thought, what a fitting thing.

The fact that what I really needed was to be

intentionally recognizing where I was going.

I should have been thinking about where I was

going. And Paul's going to say something very

similar. Where you are going is resurrection.

Where you are going is life. You may sin, but

you must think of yourself in terms of that resurrection.

We're going to see that. Have you ever wondered

how the psalmist speak so confidently about their

godliness? There's more than one psalmist. You

realize David, and Ethan, and Esraheit, and Solomon,

and Moses, and others that are unnamed. So the

psalmist speak confidently about their godliness.

We're familiar with Bible verses that teach us

that there is none righteous, no not one. and

that our righteousness is that of filthy rags.

But when we read the Psalms, the spirit -filled

authors who wrote the Psalms say things like

David says in Psalm 7 verse 8. Judge me, O Lord,

Psalms 7:8

according to my righteousness and according to

the integrity that is in me. Psalm 18 verse 20,

Psalms 18:20

we hear The Lord dealt with me according to my

righteousness, according to the cleanness of

my hands he has rewarded me. Is this the same

Bible that says that there is none righteous?

No, not one. That says in James, we all stumble

in many ways. That says, we all like sheep have

gone astray. Each of us has gone his own way.

Psalm 86, which I promised to mention here, says

something very similar. It says in verse 2, preserve

my life, for I am godly. Save your servant who

trusts in you, you are my God. There's confusion

for us in this because we have been taught theology

that tells us that we are definitely sinners,

and rightly so. But we also have confusion because

not just our thoughts not just our teaching but

because you live the experience of your life

you're though you look at yourself in the mirror

and you say I Know I don't even have to have

the Bible tell me to know that I'm a sinner.

I know that I'm a sinner and Yet here we are

in worship with a hymn book in the Psalter that

we are supposed not only to sing out of but also

to believe and to submit to because its words

are God's words and its thoughts are the truth

brought to us by the Holy Spirit. So we sing,

preserve me, preserve my life for I am godly.

And there are some keys in this passage that

help us with this. He calls on God to preserve

him because he is godly. Then he makes it clear

that he is a sinner in the same Psalm Under the

condition of God's grace mercy and forgiveness

verse 5 of Psalm 86 says for you Oh Lord are

good and forgiving. This is the condition. He's

saying preserve me for I'm godly But I will remind

you how this works God You Oh Lord are good and

forgiving Abounding in steadfast love to all

who call upon you Now, just so no one misunderstands,

the Bible calls on us to remind God of things.

God doesn't need to be reminded, but liturgically

God has designed us to call on God to remember

things. So we tell back to him, you are good

and forgiving, verse 15, but you, O Lord, are

a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and

abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

So the psalmist is not saying I am godly because

I am great It says I am godly because you are

forgiving and merciful and It also illustrates

the fact that the life of the singer who is first

the psalmist and then also us as we sing this

we say this The grace of God has changed us in

our hearts It isn't just a label that you're

godly, but His grace actually changes you. It

says in verse 12, I give thanks to you, O Lord

my God, with my whole heart. And I will glorify

your name forever. For great is your steadfast

love to me. You have delivered my soul from the

depths of Sheol. An interesting thing, an interesting

theme in this psalm is his identity of himself.

Four times in this psalm, the psalmist calls

himself the slave of God. In verse two, he says,

preserve my life for I am godly. Save your slave

who trusts in you. You are my God. In verse four,

gladden the soul of your slave for to you, O

Lord, do I lift up my soul. if you're reading

yours and it says servant yes it's the same word

there's no difference in hebrew between the word

servant slave sometimes our english says servant

sometimes it says slave it's the same word in

verse verse 16 it says it twice turn to me and

be gracious to me give your strength to your

slave the son of your maid servant the son of

your maid servant it amplifies that first i'm

a slave the son of a slave so the identity of

the singer is I your slave come to you with a

joyful heart Reminding you of your grace and

forgiveness and now declaring because of all

that Because you have said so I am godly and

because I am godly Answer me. That's a much surer

footing when you come to God in prayer Often

when you come to God in prayer after your sin

after your failures, in need of great power from

God's directing hand. What is the foundation

upon which you stand? What credit do you have

before Him to say these things? But the Bible

tells us because of His work, you do have the

credit to stand. It's not your work. It's not

your work, but you do own it. You didn't produce

it, but it is yours. So not only do you have

it, not only do you have the right to access

this credit, you have the responsibility to tell

yourself, this is what I have. Let's look over

at Romans 6. Romans 6 says to us, What shall

we say then are we to continue in sin that grace

may abound? By no means how can we? Pardon me.

I had one last thing I had meant to say about

this song this song David is saying I'm on the

run. I've got I need you to preserve my life

Physically, I'm in physical danger But in order

to pray for that he says you have saved my life

from shale already You've saved my life from

death through grace and forgiveness." So he says,

you have saved me spiritually, so therefore I

have grounds to enter before your throne and

say to you, please save my life physically. But

that makes it one of the patterns or motifs of

that Psalm to be life and death. So taking all

of that into account in Psalm 86, life and death,

slavery, the joyful heart. and the one who can

call himself godly even though he is actually

a sinner. All of those things show up in Romans

6. What shall we say then? Are we to continue

in sin that grace may abound? By no means. How

can we who have died to sin still live in it?

Do you not know that all of us who have been

baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into

his death? We were buried therefore with him

by baptism into death in order that Just as Christ

was raised from the dead by the glory of the

father we too may walk in newness of life Your

baptism declares you own it you own his death

you own his life Verse 5 for if we have been

united with him in a death like his we shall

certainly be united with him in a resurrection

like his How was that done verse 6 says? 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 could no longer be enslaved to sin

For one who has died has been set free from sin

We're not talking here about labeling ourselves

You know a thing you hear at the gym when you

feel like you can't go and and someone's telling

you you got it You've got to get with it. You've

got to believe in the process. You need to take

it till you make it, right? You've got to try,

and then you'll get there. That is not what Paul

is telling us. He is not saying, I know you feel

like a sinner, but I want you to pretend you're

righteous until it takes hold. He is telling

you, I know you're a sinner, but because of the

forgiveness of Christ, you Righteous It is not

a label that is Handed to you through imagination

It is a label that was purchased for you at the

cost of the life of Jesus and It was guaranteed

for you through the power Of it in Romans 6 it

says he was raised from the dead by the glory

of the father That glory from the father is so

powerful. It raised Jesus from the dead that

power that same power that could You just imagine

if you see in a film or something when there's

a bomb that explodes You see the rings rippling

outward as everything is knocked over that power

emanating that could raise Jesus from the dead

It also that power raises you from the dead It

is not cheap. It is not fake. It is not pretend

You own the resurrection of Jesus and the same

glory of God that raised him from the dead Raises

you from the dead so you don't have the idea

of of asking God to Think about me as righteous,

please God But you have the firm standing to

stand before God and say answer me because I'm

godly because you've forgiven my sins continuing

continuing down we get closer and closer I'm

trying to get to verse 11 which is one of my

favorite verses in the Bible in verse 10 I'll

skip down to verse 10 for death the death he

died he died to sin once for all but the life

he lives he lives to God and it says in verse

11 and this you'll hear why I keep saying what

I'm saying so you also must consider you must

consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to

God in Christ Jesus you know that verse in Romans

4 that says that Abraham believed God and it

was counted to him as righteousness, and it's

quoting from Genesis. That same word that God

counted it to him as righteousness is the same

word he says here where he says you have to count

yourselves as dead to sin and alive to Christ.

So our theology, if it works at all, that we

are counted as righteous for faith means you

also have to count yourself that way. It means

giving credit, but as I have said already, it's

not a mere mark on a ledger. It is a mark that

was purchased. It came with a price and it has

value. It is not an imagination, but it is your

reality. About 15 years ago, I was... I was working

as a grocery vendor, as a sales representative.

And this was kind of at the beginning of that,

for me, the beginning of learning that job. We

were supposed to dress with a uniform shirt and

wear company logos and have identification badge

on to make sure they knew who you were. It said

who I was. It said who I worked for. But I was

new to the job and I didn't understand my position.

And I remember being in a Mars grocery store

on a Saturday morning and asking one of the cashiers

where the restroom was. And seeing my company

logo on my shirt, she knew I was a vendor and

she said to go up the stair, the long flight

of stairs to the secret second floor place in

the grocery store and across the staff break

room and to find the restroom on the other side.

I was so scared to go up there. I got to the

top of the stairs and I saw a warning, staff

only beyond this point. I thought, I don't work

for this grocery store. So you may not have trouble

obeying or disobeying signs. I'm sure some of

you don't. Ken, I'm looking at you. But at that

time, I was very nervous about getting caught

sneaking where I didn't belong or being questioned

about who I was. Now a few years later by comparison,

I had really learned my position and I knew where

I had a right to go and what I had a right to

access in the store. I felt like I owned the

stores I was in. I would go where I pleased and

I feared no one. Even though supposedly we were

to wear these badges telling our name, and who

we worked for. I didn't even wear my identification

badge for the last four years I worked for the

company because it was irritating to me and I

didn't need it. I knew who I was and I had a

right to be in all the parts of the store and

I belonged there and I needed to act confident

in that fact. People didn't question, this is

just a fact, people don't question you when you

walk confidently into a place. You can walk into

the back room of anywhere confidently and no

one will stop you. On the rare occasion that

someone does ask who I was, why I was in their

space, I would just tell them the truth. I work

for this vendor. I have product here. Now notice

I said if you are confident, you can get into

anywhere. But the confidence is not based on

self -determination. It's based on the fact of

who I was. I didn't have to pretend that I was

allowed, I had to recognize the truth about who

I was and that handed me the power that was already

mine. Romans tells us who we already are. We

have been unified with Jesus in his death. Are

we who died to sin still to live in it? It doesn't

say We who might appropriate the death of Jesus

somehow if we try hard enough. If you were baptized

into Christ, you've been included with him in

his death. One who has died has been set free

from sin. You must consider yourselves dead to

sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. It's really

important to recognize the teaching of the Bible

that the resurrection is not a mere metaphor

It's a frequent metaphor Hebrew says Abraham's

body was as good as dead, but he had Isaac Isaac

was sent to slaughter, but he was substituted

by the the ram Joseph was thrown into a pit and

called dead by his brothers, but then he was

brought back out to Potiphar's house. And then

he was put back down into Pharaoh's dungeon,

but then he was raised up to be the king. The

metaphors go on and on. This is just a few samples.

The resurrection metaphor happens a lot in the

Bible. Noah going to the death punishment of

the flood, only to come out again on the other

side. Shadrach in the fiery furnace. Daniel in

the lion's den. But all this is not in the Bible.

as a neat picture but rather because it is pointing

to the most important powerful thing the actual

physical death and the actual physical resurrection

of Jesus and that power provides us not only

with knowledge that we can access in a metaphorical

spiritual way But it provides us with the knowledge

that we are actually raised in the future Bodily

and we are raised presently spiritually you are

already dead to sin and alive to Christ if you

are a believer in Jesus if you have Repentant

and been baptized if you are then you know that

sign of baptism says you are dead and resurrected

So it's actually totally appropriate to tell

you that despite being a sinner, you must consider

yourselves as dead to sin and alive to Christ.

I want to say that the ideas in Romans can seem

very complex. Have you tried to read through

Romans? Have you tried to get your head around

Romans? I assume if you do, you will spend decades

doing it. If the ideas that Paul were teaching

were simple, it wouldn't have taken the brilliance

of Paul's 16 chapters to try to explain it to

us. It is crammed with information. Sometimes

we need to accept the fact of something before

we understand it. It's great to learn how a car

works. It's great to be able to fix a broken

car. It's great to be able to diagnose a troublesome

problem, a sound in your car before it gets to

the actual braking. It's great to be able to

describe its processes and its systems. But you

know what the most powerful interaction is you

can have with a car? Pick up the keys, get in

and drive it. And you can do that before... You

learn all the parts and mechanisms of the car,

and it doesn't prevent you from continuing to

learn the parts and mechanisms of the car after

you already drive it. But you can see that it

works, and you can get in and drive it now. And

I want you to pour over Romans, and I want you

to plumb the depths of the cave full of jewels

and to mine it for riches. But before you understand

all the pieces, the ways and the mechanisms of

how God has saved us I Want you to know that

you are saved I Want you to know that you are

not a slave to sin any longer Remember in psalm

86 we call ourselves God's slaves four times

and Romans 6 says the same thing After verse

11, it goes on to say, let not sin therefore

reign in your mortal body. So this is the outworking.

If this is a fact, if this is a fact that you

are alive to Christ, then what is the conclusion?

What are the ways that you need to act because

of that? As my pastor growing up said, that was

the what, and here now is the so what. So what

if you are free from sin? Well, Paul says, let

not sin therefore reign in your mortal body to

make you obey its passions. Do not present your

members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness,

but present yourself to God as those who have

been brought from death to life, and your members

to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin

will have no dominion over you, since you are

not under law but under grace. What then are

we to sin because we are not under law but under

grace by no means? Do not know that if you present

yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves you are

slaves of the one whom you obey either to sin

Which leads to death or of obedience which leads

to righteousness? But thanks be to God That you

who were once slaves of sin have become obedient

from the heart To the standard of the teaching

to which you were committed and have been set

free from sin and have become slaves of righteousness

so while Paul gives us the instruction I Want

you to take this truth of your resurrection and

go out and sin no more Right I say as Jesus says

to the woman caught in adultery go and sin no

more Go live in freedom He goes on to say Act

in righteousness because you are already a slave

of righteousness He describes that whoever submits

to the master of one or submits to the master

of another is the slave either of sin or of Righteousness,

but he doesn't say the fact that you sin daily

Means you are a slave to sin he says you have

already passed from being a slave of sin and

you are already a slave of righteousness he says

you have submitted to God joyfully from the heart

the way that Psalm 86 says the same thing I worship

you with my whole heart do you notice that that

can happen at the same time that you can still

be a sinner so you can't say well not me I'm

not joyfully obedient to God from the heart because

I sin that's not the that's not the test The

test is not whether you sin, but whether you

worship God. I heard this as a good illustration

years ago, probably from Doug Wilson, that said

that consider a man and a fish. Both of them

can go in the water and both of them can go on

the land. But if you take a fish out of water,

it starts to panic and it longs to get thrown

back into the water. You can dive deep down under

the water, But you have to come up for air now

imagine you were a fish and a miracle has happened

and you've been turned into a man You could get

back in that water But you can't stay under it

and This is this is the difference there are

people who are unrighteous They are not godly

they do not know the Lord and they can obey some

laws of God outwardly But they are ruled by their

nature Now Christians, you too can sin. You too

can do things that are unrighteous, but that's

like returning to the water. You can't stay there

because your heart pulls you to repent. You know

inside you, I shouldn't have done that. I am

sorry. I want God's forgiveness. That is the

indication. You have to go back to... Back to

the land and breathe the water of the gospel

number be the water breathe the oxygen of the

gospel that says you are forgiven I I want to

I want to illustrate a Positivity to the idea

of the being a slave slave to God as a positive

thing That's what we are called to. And because

of that, I wanted to read a poem that I think

illustrates something of this. And it maybe is

a bit oblique to read this. But I thought of,

this is one of my favorite poems, is John Donne's

poem, The Bait. So you know how far we're walking.

It's just this one page here. And this is, this

is, old -timey language, but it's about a man

saying he's going fishing with the woman he loves,

and he's not gonna take nets and hooks and those

things, and he's not gonna need the sun or the

moon, because she'll provide the light and the

fish will swim right to her. He says, come live

with me and be my love, and we will some new

pleasures prove. of golden sands and crystal

brooks, with silken lines and silvery hooks.

There will the river whispering run, warmed by

thy eyes more than the sun. And there the enamored

fish will stay, begging themselves they may betray.

When thou wilt swim in that live bath, each fish

which every channel hath will amorously to thee

swim. Gladder to catch thee than thou him. If

thou be so seen be sloth, By sun or moon thou

darkenest them both. And if myself have leave

to see, I need not their light having thee. Let

others freeze with angling reeds, And cut their

legs with shells and weeds, Or treasurously poor

fish beset With strangling snare or windowy net.

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest the bedded

fish in banks outrest of curious traders sleeve

silk flies Be which poor fishes wandering eyes

For thee thou needs no such deceit for thou thyself

art thine own bait The fish that is not catch

thereby alas is wiser far than I So The reason

I read this is I love the language and the cleverness

of saying I Want to take you fishing with me

to prove to you how? Wonderful you are because

every fish in that stream will swim Straight

to you longing to betray himself to you longing

to hand himself to you Because any fish that

could get away from you is smarter than me I

long to betray myself to you just the same. And

that funny play of words, that funny reversal,

I would betray myself to you, is to say I would

deliver myself by giving myself to you. The Bible

over and over uses phrases like this, where God

says that His law sets us free. The law of the

Lord is perfect, restoring the soul. It says,

but because I have followed your law, you have

set my heart free. I am bound by your law. I

am bound to be free. I want to access the life

of Christ and I will do it by knowing I am dead.

I am dead to sin. Want to be liberated from sin

so I will know that I am certainly a slave I

am a slave of Jesus and that language is distasteful

to us But the truth is if you knew the glory

of Jesus if you could see it you would long to

be his slave You would long to come to him and

say Whatever you say whatever you say Lord that

I will do. And the way that you can access the

love for him is recognizing what he did for you

out of love for you that has certainly put you

in a position to come before him and not only

say, please help me, you have made me godly.

And I long, because you have made me godly, I

long to be godly. So I have come to deliver myself

to you. let's pray father we would be your slaves

we would take on the death that you would include

us in and we thank you that you have already

done this for us as we are those who trust in

you you have given us new life instead of death

you have given us freedom by giving us your law

But we don't have to sustain this on our own.

We don't have to make this happen It is the work

of Jesus on the cross and is the power of God

that raises him to life That we have been given

father. Thank you Please keep this ever on our

mind and draw us draw us ever toward you in Jesus

name. I pray