I gave you a summary the other day, yesterday that is, of Romans chapter 6, but let’s put it in its larger context now, because this is part of the context of the great action of God on behalf of humanity in rescuing this planet from its brokenness and its sin. And remember, the larger context is Romans 3, 4, and 5. Well, what are those contexts? Romans 3 tells us what God has done. He has brought his righteousness to the world in the person of his Son. Righteousness is his justice and his purity and holiness. He has brought it to us not by infusing it in us, first off, but by bringing it in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. Remember Romans 3, 21, but now the righteousness of God, Apart from the law, apart from all human effort, that is, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. The prophets and the law witness to it. In what sense does the law witness to it? The law witnesses to it in this sense, that the law reveals that we are broken, that we cannot become righteous in ourselves, and therefore the law points to Jesus Christ. The righteousness that God brings is in his Son. Even the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, Romans 3.22, to all and on all who believe. And so we learn about God’s righteousness in his Son, and we say, oh, I wish I had that righteousness. Well, God says, I’m accounting it to you. My Son became righteous on your behalf. And thus, we are counted as if we had always been just, as if we had always been good and holy, as if we had always been righteous. and is for all and on all. For all there is no difference, Paul says. They have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That is, we sinned in Adam, we went down in Adam, and thus the whole of humanity came under the judgment of Adam’s sin. And yet God wasn’t satisfied with that because he wanted to save us. He wanted to redeem us. And so what God did was astonishing. God set forth Christ as a propitiation. Remember that. We’ve studied that over the months. That is, God set forth Jesus Christ to take his judgment, to take his wrath. to take his wrath upon himself. God took his wrath and judgment upon himself that we might be freed, that we might be counted righteous. You have to see that as the great context for being freed from sin. Freed from sin is not about a personal victory over sin. It is about knowing by faith that we have been relieved from the kingdom and taken out and drawn out of the kingdom of sin and death no longer under its identity or judgment because God took the judgment in his Son by propitiating his wrath in his own person. That’s the larger context, you see. And so Paul goes on to say there’s no boasting. It’s excluded. Now remember, there’s no boasting in regard to being freed from sin, because we did not free ourselves from sin, and freedom from sin isn’t a psychological powerhouse of discipline that we have produced, in which we overcame sin. Being freed from sin is being released from its identity, from its judgment, and from its condemnation. So there’s no boasting, because we didn’t do it. And then Paul comes in Romans chapter 4 to this astonishing reality of how God saves people. He goes to Abraham and he shows us that Abraham was justified by faith. If Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about, but not before God, for what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness. And so we see that God gives faith to Abraham and says to him, basically, I’m counting this as if it were your righteousness. That means that Abraham was not righteous in himself. Well now, connect that with Romans 6, freedom from sin. That means that Abraham was not freed from sin in himself, otherwise he would have been righteous in himself. He’s not freed from sin in himself. He is freed from sin in that it is counted to him as righteousness, as he is given faith. And thus, even though we are fallen sinners and fail, nevertheless we are counted in God’s kingdom as righteous and therefore freed from the judgment and identity of sin. And so Paul goes on to say that all of this faith that Abraham had was trained in him by God. In fact, later on, he comes to say that Abraham believes in the God who calls things that are not as though they were. Well, what was not in Abraham’s life that he’s considering it as existing? His son. Abraham was told that this time next year you will have a son. You must change your name to Abraham, father of a multitude. So Abraham calls himself father of a multitude before ever he is a father. And we call ourselves freed from sin, freed from the judgment of sin, the identity of sin, and the condition of sin, when in fact it’s not actually the case. But we count ourselves that way. Now, does this mean we indulge in sin all the more? No, it doesn’t. It means that it gives us the freedom of mind to begin to do a more healthy battle. to be able to say no to sin when in other circumstances, when we’re down and out and crushed and discouraged and guilt-ridden and ashamed and afraid, we would just fall flat on our faces in sin. But when we have the knowledge that we are counted in Christ as righteous, we are counted as if we had never sinned, we are counted as justified, well, that gives us a far greater mental capacity that is inspired by faith to say no to the things that we want to do that are not healthy and not good and not right. So he says in this same chapter 4 that Abraham grew in strength as he gave glory to God. Now what was he giving glory to God about? Well, that the promise that God had given Abraham, that he would have a child, was as good as completed. God calls things that are not as though they were. And so Abraham was praising God for the child before the child was ever born. And that is how we look at our issue of sin. We are freed from sin. We are dead to sin, not in the sense that we don’t desire it anymore, but in the sense that we have been delivered from its kingdom. It does not condemn us. It does not identify us. So you see, the context, the larger context from Romans 3, 4 and 5, is are what give us greater ability than ever by faith to say, to affirm that we are dead to sin. And then comes chapter 5. And we’ve learned from chapter 5, haven’t we, that it’s a description of life in the kingdom of grace. Therefore, Paul says… Well, you remember what the therefore is there for, right? It’s there because Paul has given us the whole foundation that Christ has taken the judgment of the world upon himself, and therefore there is no judgment upon humanity as they trust in God. And the resurrection is not on Christ’s behalf, but on our behalf. He rose as a human being of a new humanity. Therefore, having been justified, that is, declared innocent by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Now remember, this peace is not a psychological peace, necessarily. If you lost your job last night, well, you won’t have much psychological peace. If you are worried about finances, you may not have much psychological peace. But you know that there is peace between you and God established through Jesus Christ our Lord. That larger context is what enables you to say you are freed from sin. You are freed from its judgment, its identity, its condemnation, because God’s wrath has been removed. God’s wrath is his judgment against sin. It’s not that he hates you. He hates the sin that is harming you and destroying you, the kingdom that has broken you. And he says, I’m going to put my son and my daughter in a new kingdom, in the kingdom of my son, the kingdom of righteousness and life. They’re not in that kingdom yet, but they can count it as already accomplished and done and finished, because I am the God of the future and the past and the present, and I call things that are not as though they were. So you’re already there. Count yourself as there. And so, that’s the larger context, you see. And in this chapter 5, which is freedom from wrath, Paul says, through whom? That is through Christ. We have access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We have access into the throne room of God. It is the throne room of his loving kindness, of his mercy, of his grace. And we are free to be there because of Christ. That context, freedom from wrath, which is sending away to access into his kingdom, which is bringing towards, towards his kingdom, that is what is the larger context that enables us to say, I died to sin. I died to the old kingdom of Adam of sin and death, and I’m now in the kingdom of Christ. I have access to the very throne room of God in which I stand, and I rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, the full expectation of glorifying, standing in the glory of God, the light of his presence in which there is fullness of joy. And in him there is every satisfaction. It’s amazing what all of this is telling us, isn’t it? And so, you see, our mind must receive the message of faith if it is to be an obedient mind. It is not the mind that tells us the truth. It is not the mind that is a healthy conscience. It’s faith that gives us that conscience and that enables us to speak truth to ourselves. And so Paul goes on in this chapter to say that Jesus died for us when we were without strength and ungodly and sinners and even, listen to this, enemies. When we were enemies, verse 10, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son. Now listen, if you are reconciled to God… even while you are an enemy, then you are certainly freed from sin, aren’t you? Because freed from sin means that sin has been removed as an obstacle, as an identity, as a judgment, as a condemnation. You are reconciled to God. Circumstances may come in your life that make you feel that everything has fallen apart. that God has abandoned you, that he doesn’t care about you anymore, or that he’s too busy with the rest of his universe to bother with you, such an infinitely small person you are. But faith says, no, I am reconciled to God, to his heart, even while I’m an enemy, and therefore my identity as a sinner in the kingdom of Adam no longer exists, and you let your mind speak this forth. And you see then, the context of Romans 3, 4, 5, and 6 give you ample reason to say, I died to sin. Yes, you died to sin in Jesus Christ, not in yourself, in the person of the Son of God. You’re counted that way because he did the dying for you. Well, thank you for listening today. Colin Cook here. You can hear this program any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download an app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in how it happens with Colin Cook. And if the Holy Spirit moves you, would you consider being a partner of this broadcast by donating $50 per month for the next year? It would be so much appreciated. Thank you. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
