Romans Series: Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ

so much excited to jump into our Roman series question anyone here from a different state anyone here here from somewhere else in the nation shout it out Washington State cool Brazil oh you win and Louisiana I like that accent very nice what's that too good you gotta be careful for all of our IE people that are watching online we love you that was not that was not funny you were very much a part of this family um I'm originally from Michigan and and so I moved out here uh in 2009 so now it's kind of celebrating basically the fact that around half of my life or around not half of my life because I'm 41 but um but I've lived out here in Southern California for around the same amount of time that I lived in Michigan for before I went to college in Florida.

And when I first moved out here and I talked about going back to Michigan I would refer to Michigan as home.

I'm going back home I'm going to visit home and now that I've been here uh for for so long I've married a girl from San Clemente uh born and raised uh there is some sort of a poll and I am never going back and now I I refer to this as home this has become my home uh Michigan is a part of my story but it's no longer my zip code you know some people ask me like like would you and Taryn ever move back to Michigan and I'm like absolutely no like not even if God called us we would be disobedient like like she would literally die like I'm not kidding like in the wintertime like I would lose like I'd I would be a single dad with with like she's yeah I'm San Clemente soft and so like like I'm I'm here to stay um but when I think about Romans chapter six that thought keeps coming back to me because some of us we keep calling our old way of life home in our heart in the way that we talk in old habits and old identity and old pattern that we assume will always define us and it's become so familiar to us that though we want Jesus and perhaps have said yes to him that stuff in our life still feels like home you've prayed about it you've promised yourself that you can handle it differently yet you continue to find yourself why am I back here?

Why do I keep going back to this stuff or to this place or to this relationship and sometimes we make excuses sometimes we lose hope.

Sometimes we say maybe this is just who I am and Romans chapter 6 speaks to both places it's a call to repent and there is a reason Romans 6 is going to tell us there's a reason to believe that change is possible.

Romans 6 · chapter mention

Today's message is all about how we can be dead to sin and alive in Christ.

Paul is going to talk to us about identity before behavior.

When I say dead to sin what I'm not primarily talking about is behavior modification.

I'm talking about a transformation in your identity.

He's gonna talk about what it looks like to actually consider yourself dead to sin and alive to Christ.

In Romans chapter 5 Paul's explained the grace of God he said our sin was real but God's grace was greater and through Jesus we have received right standing with God.

Romans 5 · chapter mention

We have been justified through faith in Jesus Christ.

Justified means in other words when God looks at you it's just as if you have never sinned because he sees Jesus upon you and in you.

And so the perfection and the righteousness of Jesus is given you as a free gift of grace that none of us deserve so that no one can boast it is a free gift of salvation.

Paul says grace now reigns where sin once ruled but it raises a question.

And the question is this as we turn to Romans chapter 6 verse 1 he says well then since we've experienced such an amazing gift called grace should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?

Romans 6:1

In other words what Paul is saying is if grace is so good and generous should we just keep on sinning to experience more of it?

What's his answer in verse two?

Of course not since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

The other title that you could give my message is simply this you don't live there anymore.

What Paul is saying is that you have a new identity and your new life in Christ is grounded in this new identity you have a new heavenly zip code and now there is a new life that you're called to live and you're able to live through the power of the Holy Spirit in agreement with this new reality this this this question you know if if if if God's grace is so amazing why not just keep sinning and I can just experience more of it it's a common question that I had in a different fashion when I was a youth and young adult pastor.

The question was how far is too far and the first answer to that question is if you're asking how far is too far you've probably already gone too far.

But what I would answer is how far is too far is actually the wrong question.

Here's another question.

How close can you get to Jesus Christ?

It's not about how much sin can I do with God still being okay with it.

The question for the believer is a completely different question.

How close can I get to the one that gave me such crazy, scandalous undeserving grace when I was at the lowest point when I was crushed when I was captured in my sin and a slave to my urges and surges and desires and he has freed me without my work or my earning or cleaning myself up how close can I get to the one who loves me like that this is what Paul is saying you don't live there anymore so why are you asking how you can go back into it someone say the Christian life is always forward forward we're moving forward it's it's not just forgiveness from our past it's freedom to propel us into our future see grace doesn't give us permission to sin grace gives us the power to live free.

I was listening to a podcast there was like a Christian um influencer that was interviewing another influencer in a different industry that is totally opposed to the will and way of God but this person um calls herself a Christian and the the Christian the genuine Christian influencer asked asked her what do you love most about Jesus and she said I love what I love most about Jesus is that he's forgiving he's always forgiving and so he came with a follow-up question and said so what's keeping you from leaving the industry and lifestyle that you're in and following him and she said I don't think I need to leave it because Jesus accepts me just the way that I am can I offend you for a second right now Jesus doesn't accept you just the way that you are Jesus came to rescue you from the way that you are he came to rescue you from who you are a life in sin and he came to save you and do for you what you could never do for yourself so that you could live a completely new life a transformed life that looks completely different than the culture and the ideology of this world the gospel is come into this place come into this church no matter your background no matter your life situation no matter your regrets no matter your sin come as you are but you don't have to stay as you are because God is powerful and he can change you from the inside out see we have divorced the gospel of forgiveness with the gospel of repentance and it's one gospel Paul takes us under one roof we can't receive his forgiveness as a permission to refuse his leading there's a new life in Jesus Christ that he offers today.

That's why Paul says in verse 3 have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism now he's teaching us some theology on baptism we joined him in his death for we died and we were buried with Christ by baptism.

And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father now we also may live new lives.

See this is why baptism matters so much let me be clear we are not saved through baptism.

We are saved by faith in Jesus Christ alone period but baptism is the believer's response of a life that is completely all in and devoted to Jesus but there is something so powerful that at times I think we get twisted or it gets missed in evangelicalism and modern Christianity when it comes to baptism because a lot of times we just see baptism as a spiritual milestone.

Sometimes we just see baptism as you know what like sometimes I'll even hear it when I ask people hey why are you getting baptized today well so something just kind of happened this week and I just feel like I need a change in my life like you kind of like need to like change your tires on your car.

I just need like a little change in my life I need a little like a different routine or sometimes we think about baptism as oh my gosh like I want to get that amazing Instagram photo coming out of the water slick back hair water beads everywhere like that's that's like cool you know I I love those photos that represents new life it's it's it's it's beautiful but there's so much more to baptism we are Paul says we are literally joined with Jesus in his death and and Jesus did not just die for you in baptism it's a symbol that we died with him.

Baptism is three things it's a funeral it's a birth and it's a wedding there was a a pastor on a different podcast I know a lot of podcasts I was just I was all I was all over podcasts this past week but pastor on a different podcast that was asked why he wears black every day every single day he wears all black and um I thought I would do it today because well first of all it represented because for him it represented that uh that when he gave his life to Jesus Christ first of all it was a funeral that old man died that old man that old junk that that life of sin that that mastery of sin oh that that died the second reason why I'm wearing all black today is because it makes you look skinnier but there is a literal death when you go under the water it stays there your your sin is forgiven it says that that we have been crucified with Christ our sin is nailed to the cross like I my dad used to preach that when Jesus forgives your sin he throws your sin into the sea of forgetfulness and he posts a sign that says no fishing allowed I know it's corny but it's sticky your your sin and the consequences of sin and death and that life that no it dies and our desires to sin should die with it.

We're raised from the water and that's a birth it's a new life I once was in the dominion of darkness but now as I come out of the water I now am born into a new family and I'm a son and a daughter of the risen king and I'm born into the kingdom of light.

It's also a marriage because I don't just stay in the water but I walk from the water into a new life that has new commitments.

Yesterday Tara and I celebrated 12 years of being married and come on now little golf clap there we go a little faithfulness we love each other so much and um excited to have childcare this upcoming weekend and we'll be able to celebrate a little bit more.

When we stood at that altar and we we made vows to each other we made a commitment like we we for richer for poor in sickness and in health until death to his heart I do I'm all in and and as we give our lives to Christ as we walk from the water of baptism and Paul tells us we literally are we're we're making a commitment I am all in from here on forward with Jesus Christ and this relationship.

So in marriage my goal is how can I honor you right it's less it's it's no longer about myself it's about the relationship Paul says this is the power of freedom that we're called to live in this new life your past sure it remains part of your story but it no longer gets to determine your identity or rule your future you don't live there anymore.

You are a new creation in Christ Jesus now listen to what Paul describes that has changed because of this I'm gonna read a long passage of scripture and we're gonna unpack it.

Since we have been united with him in his death we will also be raised to life as he was and we know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives.

Here it is we are no longer slaves to sin.

For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

And since we died with Christ we know that we will also live with him.

And we're sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead and he will never die again.

Death no longer has any power over him when he died he died once to break the power of sin but now that he lives he lives for the glory of God.

So you also should consider yourselves or believe that it's true to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.

That first phrase really got my attention in the first passage that we are no longer slaves to sin.

When God freed the Israelites from Egypt one of the things that God had to do for 40 years wandering in the wilderness was form those people spiritually because they had a slavery mindset that was passed down to them for 400 years.

Their fathers and forefathers handed down a mindset of being slaves being mastered by the Egyptians and so much of what God was doing in the wilderness wasn't just delivering them from Egypt it was freeing them from the mindset of Egypt inside of them.

It was getting them not only out of Egypt but getting Egypt out of them and sometimes we too can have the same struggle in our Christian lives and this is called the process of sanctification where we're delivered and we're set free but we still have these mindsets that pull us backwards into our past past decisions, past mindsets whether it's the mindset of lack or fear or worry or or lust or control or greed you name it it pulls us backwards.

In fact we see it God gives them in the wilderness manna they don't have to work for food.

God is their provider miraculously gives them heavenly frosted flakes every single day and it nourishes everything in their their bodies like like they like they were they the full food pyramid was in in manna and yet they go at some point they go we don't want this stuff we want to go back to Egypt and eat the food that was familiar to us will always pull you backwards when God and the power of Christ and the life of Christ is pushing you forward into the new you that he's created you to be the vision for the Israelites was never to just free them from Egypt it was to bring them into a promised land flowing with milk and honey see for some of us we need to be not only set free of our sin but we need to be set free of compromises set free from relationships set free from mindsets set free from things we're looking at and we're feasting on and we need to be set free from the stuff that's pulling us back that's enticing us so that we can walk forward into the future in the promised land that God has for us that's why it's so important that in the next passage Paul says consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to Christ what would it look like if you actually believed that you were dead to sin well what do you mean dead to sin I mean I I I sin all the time or and I'm tempted to sin.

I'm talking about the the rule and the mastery and the control and the habitual sin in your life that you hate, that you despise that you wish you would never go back to what would it look like to actually be dead to that stuff and alive to the desires of Jesus Christ.

Because here's the truth what you believe about yourself will determine who you become your belief needs to be I'm now that I've said yes to Jesus I'm dead to sin.

I'm alive to him if you believe who God says you are hear me you will start looking like Jesus if you believe that you have been set free if you believe that you are saved if you believe that you're forgiven if you believe that you are a child of God if you believe that you are an overcomer if you believe that the the life of Jesus is actually better than the Orange County life you will start looking like Jesus someone say I am who God says I am and God says you are dead to sin you don't live there anymore you are a son and a daughter of the king so here's what Paul says Paul says don't let sin control the way that you live don't give in to sinful desires.

Don't let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin.

Instead give yourselves completely to God for you were dead but now you have new life.

So use your whole body your eyes your ears your mouth your hands use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God because sin is no longer your master for you no longer live under the requirements of the law instead you live under the freedom of God's grace dead to sin alive to Christ but how?

The power is in partnership through Christ you have been freed from the power of sin but we have to partner with the reality of the gift that we've been given and steward that gift and make decisions according to our salvation that's what produces the freedom actually we have to look at that word decide for a moment you have to decide every day am I going to choose this or that and will this choice help me become more like Jesus or more like the culture of the world that word decide the Latin root for it means to cut.

And I got a picture as we were talking about this message this week you know Tay and I as we were talking about the message and we were praying I got a picture of people that so desperately want to follow Jesus and you love God but it's like you're caught in a spider web like you have strings attached to your arms and your legs and Jesus is lovingly saying follow me.

Mark out a straight path for your feet and you're like why can't I hear his voice?

Why do I feel distant from him?

Why does it feel like there's so much distraction and A mixture in my heart.

It's because Jesus is lovingly saying, Be with me and follow me.

I got a plan and a purpose for your life.

I want to walk with you.

I want to talk to you.

I want to give you a hunger for my word.

I want to give you a leaning and a pull into my presence.

But all the while, every day, you're also being pulled back by the distractions of life, and there's a division in your heart because of compromise.

And I'm preaching to myself just as much as I'm preaching to anyone.

Today is a call to repentance.

And repentance says I'm making a decision to cut compromise, to cut distractions, to cut divisions in my life that's keeping me from God's best.

Repentance says life is not a game.

Heaven and hell are real.

And there's a sobering reality in the scripture.

There are people, Jesus says, that someday are going to see him face to face, and they're going to say, Hey Jesus, check it out.

We prophesied in your name.

We healed in your name.

We cast out demons in your name.

We did all these amazing things in your name.

And he's going to say, Depart from me, for I never knew you.

That's a sobering thought when we think about how much compromises in the church today where maybe we say yes to Jesus Christ, but then we stay disconnected from his will, from his way, and we make decisions our entire life that are diametrically opposed to the word of God and his plan for your life.

What do we think we're gonna hear someday?

God is giving us this loving invitation today, and it's it's found in Amos chapter 3, verse 3.

Amos 3:3

It says, Can two people walk together without agreeing on a direction?

You want to walk with Jesus, but there's a division in your heart, there's divided loyalties and priorities, there's there's compromise and there's distraction, and and and you're saying, I want to be with Jesus, I want to walk with Jesus, but you haven't actually agreed upon a direction.

And so you're walking over here and you're being pulled over here, and Jesus is saying, Follow me.

And once you give him that all-in commitment and you start cutting things from your life and uprooting things from your life, you start cutting what you watch, you start cutting what you feed on, you start cutting what you listen to, you start cutting away what you're feasting on on your phone, you start cutting certain relationships that are toxic, you start cutting away, you will start moving and moving closer to Jesus, and the reward is proximity in his presence, and you'll start hearing his voice clear, you'll start being around him, you'll be in the dust of the shoes of your rabbi, and you'll start to look like him, and you'll start to sound like him, and you'll start to live like him, and you're gonna start to love like him.

I'm telling you, as you make a decision and another decision, and another decision, you're going to be walking in unity in the same direction as Jesus Christ.

Here in Orange County, the enemy is lulling us to sleep with lukewarm Christianity.

The thing that we love most about this area in San Clemente so many times is that it's 72 and sunny year-round.

And I think God is calling me to preach this kind of message today because we're in a heat wave.

It's a hundred and sunny, and everyone's complaining.

Because I didn't move here for this.

There's a license plate that says best climate in the world.

I got it on my the back of my car.

72 and sunny.

It's not too hot, not too cold.

It's just right, nice and comfortable.

And if we're not careful, that same heart and mindset will creep into church here in Orange County.

I just I don't want to be too little for God, so I want to do the religious things.

I want to check the box, I want to be a good person, and I want to sing some songs from time to time and read a devotional every once in a while.

But but but I don't want to be too much for God because I don't be that weirdo.

I don't want to be that person that just stands out.

Like I don't, my image is too important.

I don't want to be too on fire.

So, you know, even in worship, okay, raise your hands, okay.

You know, I'll be right here.

But there's no way I could do that.

And let me just tell you, lukewarm Christianity is a lie from the enemy, and it is lulling our culture to sleep.

I don't care what you or I feel about Christianity, I care what God says about Christianity.

In Revelation, he speaks to a church and he says, You aren't hot and you aren't cold, you're lukewarm, and I'm gonna spit you out of my mouth.

Because nobody likes lukewarm coffee.

And I'm preaching to you in love because I'm preaching to my heart, because I see at times how casual Christianity can creep in even to my heart when you begin to get older and you start having kids, and so many of our conversations are just revolving around kids and money and sports and schools and where we live and interest rates and all of that stuff matters.

But God says, seek first the kingdom of God.

Talk about the kingdom of God, talk about the purpose of God in your conversations.

Where is God in your conversations?

Where is, hey, man, I was dealing with this and I repented and I confessed, and you actually talked to someone in the church and you prayed together, and God freed you of that, and you give you give him praise and you give him glory in a conversation.

Where is like, man, I'm I'm obsessed with Jesus, and I gotta just tell you what he's been saying, what he's been speaking, and we open up the word together.

I want to experience in our church and in Orange County a crazy zeal for God that I have never experienced before.

I'm 41 and I believe that I don't have to keep getting pulled backwards, but that God wants to push me forward and the best days are still ahead of me.

How about you?

Why is he crazy?

Why is he why is he so passionate this morning?

Man, I just feel the Spirit of the Lord is saying, Don't settle for that 72-degree casual Christian lifestyle where comfort is your God, it is an idol and it is a horrible master.

The purpose you want, the joy you want, the peace you want, the freedom that you want.

When you wake up and you go, I can't wait to spend time with God.

What assignment does he have for me today?

How can I advance his kingdom?

How can I help build his church?

How can I love other people?

Ooh, man, I'm telling you, that is the life that you're made for.

I cannot give God casual Christianity when he did not give me casual crucifixion.

And so many of us, we want to, we want to feel the desire for God before we do anything.

To cut things away and to go all in for him.

Let me tell you.

Put yourself on the altar first, and you'll begin to feel the fire.

Be willing to be a sacrifice for God, go all in, and you will experience the fire and the power of God in your life.

Romans 6, 22 and 23 says, But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God.

Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Today I say death to casual Christianity.

Today I say death to lukewarm living.

Today is a day of repentance, today is a day of new life, today is a day just like this where you go, there is a funeral that is happening, and the past is staying in the past, and I am being made new.

And as I'm being made new, I am making a decision to go all in with Jesus Christ.

Maybe that's for the first time, or maybe today is a reconsecration where you go, you know what?

There have been areas where I've been complacent, where I found myself to be a little apathetic, where I've lost my zeal and my hunger for God.

There is no guilt and there is no shame.

Why?

Because Paul leaves it by saying, Yeah, sin pays you a wage called condemnation.

God gives you a gift called grace and eternal life, and there is life available for you.

See, sin always wants to pull you backwards, and God wants to lovingly push you forward.

As a father, it's such a joy to get down and help my kids learn how to ride a bike.

And I get down and I'm I'm guiding the bike, I'm pushing their back, I'm helping them experience what freedom now feels like.

God doesn't you expect you to walk alone in this.

He wants to walk with you, he wants to lead you, he wants to lovingly guide you into freedom.

And today is the day where I believe for many of us, he's simply asking us to repent from casual Christianity to no longer allow lukewarm living to be what happens on Monday.

Maybe your life has looked like, man, Sundays are great, and I can give God some worship on Sundays, but Monday, Tuesday through Saturday, it starts to get dry.

It just feels empty, and I gotta keep coming back for that holy buzz.

Let me just tell you, God did not save you to just get you into eternal life someday.

He saved you and he delivered you to experience freedom from Egypt to enter into the promised land today, eternal life today, heaven in your heart today, joy and purpose and freedom today, the fire of God in your belly today.

Telling you it's available for you.

And so I just want to invite you to stand to your feet today.

I just feel the Holy Spirit is in this room and he wants to minister to hearts today.

And today is a day of doing business with the Lord.

There is no guilt, shame, or condemnation.

This is only consecration, where today is a marking moment, and you say, I want the fresh fire of God in my life.

I don't want complacent Christianity, death to casual Christianity.

I'm putting my life on the altar and I'm saying, God, burn anything and everything up that's keeping me from seeking you first.

And so I want to invite you right now, if that's you and you want that in your life, I want you to run to the altar right now.

I want you not to walk.

I don't want you just to be timid about it.

I literally want you to run to the altar.

Run.

I know it's crazy for your image.

I know it kind of feels awkward.

It kind of feels like I don't know if I should do it.

I want you to run to the altar.

Your level of passion and your level of zeal matters in this moment.

You're saying, I want God more than money, I want God more than comfort, I want God more than lust, I want God more than all of this stuff that will not fill me.

Holy Spirit, fill us with fresh fire.

Fill us with fresh zeal.

Holy Spirit, fall upon the burning ones.

Jesus said, I have come to set the world on fire, and I wish that it were already burning.

So Jesus, set us on fire today, right here at the 9 30 service in San Clemente, set us on fire.