1. Chapter 6 is a turning point in the book of Romans. Romans 1-5 teaches that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, and that those who believe in Him have eternal life.
2. Romans 6-8 deal, not so much with how to get to heaven, but with the important question of how are we to live after we are saved.
3. "Even so we also should walk in newness of life" (6:4b).
4. Romans 3-5 deal with justification by faith in the crucified Saviour.
5. Romans 6-8 deal with sanctification by faith in the risen Lord.
6. Justification is not only necessary for sanctification, but justification secures our sanctification.
7. Romans 6:4 says to advance in the Christian life is to "walk in newness of life." The Greek Lexicon says "newness of life" refers to "the new state of life in which the Holy Spirit places us so as to produce a new state which is eternal life."
8. We see the same word "newness" in Romans 7:6 -- "that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter."
9. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new."
10. Have all things become new in your life? Are you walking in newness of life? Or are you spiritually dead?
11. The Christian walks differently after he is saved (cf. Eph. 2:1-10).

1. DELIVERED FROM SIN
2. YIELDING TO GOD
3. HAVING FRUIT UNTO HOLINESS

I. DELIVERED FROM SIN (6:1-4).

1. According to the Bible, continuance in sin is impossible for a genuine Christian because he is "dead to sin" (Romans 6:1, 2, 15).
2. Charles Wesley wrote:

He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoner free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood availed for me.

3. There is a lot of precious doctrine in these wonderful old hymns.
4. Being without sin, and not continuing in sin are two different things. We will never be completely sinless till we get to heaven, but there is no need to sin because we have been delivered from the power of sin.
5. Many people think Romans 6:3, 4 refers only to water baptism, but first and foremost these verses refer to our spiritual union with Christ. Baptism is a picture of our union with Christ (6:3, 4).
6. And only baptism by immersion is a proper picture of death, burial, and resurrection (6:3, 4).
7. Furthermore, only believer's baptism is correct, because little babies and unsaved children or adults cannot "walk in newness of life."
8. We need to emphasize that salvation is not only deliverance from the penalty of sin, but deliverance from the power of sin (Romans 6:6, 7).
9. "Freed from sin" (6:7) means we have been delivered from sin. It means we are no longer in bondage to sin.
10. Romans 6 begins with a very important question, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" (6:1).
11. "God forbid" (6:2).
12. The Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins in order that we might be free from the bondage of sin. Jesus took the punishment we deserved in order that we might not be punished.
13. Romans 6:3, 4 refer to our spiritual union with Christ. Baptism is a picture of our union with Christ (6:3, 4). God brings the new believer into vital union with Christ, in order that the believer might have the power of sin broken, and the divine nature implanted through his identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.
14. Baptism illustrates a believer’s identification with Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
15. And it is because of our union with Christ we are free from the penalty of sin and the power of sin.
16. The Webster–Hayne debate was a famous debate between Senator Daniel Webster of Massachusetts and Senator Robert Hayne of South Carolina. It took place on January 19–27, 1830 on the topic of protectionist tariffs.
17. Daniel Webster's "Second Reply to Hayne" is regarded by many as "the most eloquent speech ever delivered in the United States Congress.
18. Webster described the U.S. government as "made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people," and this was later paraphrased by President Abraham Lincoln in his famous Gettysburg Address as "government of the people, by the people, for the people."
19. There is another famous line in Webster's speech -- "Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!"
20. I heard an interesting story about General William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. He was preaching in Faneuil Hall in Boston, and behind the platform there is a large painting of Webster's debate with Senator Hayne, with these words inscribed: "Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable!"
21. General Booth concluded his sermon by turning to the large painting, and saying, "Liberty and Union, now and for ever, one and inseparable! Union with Christ and liberty from sin -- one and inseparable, now and forever!"
22. God wants us to understand that those of us who have trusted in Christ are in union with Christ. God wants us to understand that we have been delivered from sin. Romans 6:6 says, "Knowing this..."
23. Christians should realize what this means -- "union with Christ and liberty from sin -- one and inseparable, now and forever!"
24. Since we have been vitally connected to Christ in His death, we are also vitally connected to Him in His resurrection (6:5).
25. Therefore, "knowing this..." (6:6) means we should know that our old unregenerate self ("our old man" -- 6:6) was crucified with Christ, so that our bodies might be "destroyed" (that is, rendered powerless with regard to sin).
26. Sometimes the word translated "destroyed" (6:6) is translated "abolished," as in II Timothy 1:10, where it says Christ "hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."
27. Christ has "abolished death," in the sense that death has no power over those that are saved. That is why the apostle Paul says, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?" (I Cor. 15:55).
28. Our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be rendered inoperative, "that henceforth we should not serve sin" (6:6b).
29. "For he that is dead is freed from sin" (6:7). This does not mean we cannot sin. It means we do not have to sin.
30. By the pool of Bethesda, our Lord healed a man who had an infirmity for thirty eight years. Jesus said to him, "Rise, take up thy bed, and walk," and that man took up his bed, and walked.
31. Then our Lord said to him, "Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee" (John 5:14).
32. Later, our Lord said to the woman taken in adultery, "Go, and sin no more" (John 8:11).
33. First John 2:1 says, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not."
34. So walking in newness of life means delivered from the penalty of sin, and delivered from the power of sin. "Go, and sin no more." (John 5:14; 8:11).
35. And some day we shall be delivered from the very presence of sin!

II. YIELDING TO GOD (6:13, 16, 19)

1. The Christian life is a life of surrender. Citizens are to "yield" to those in authority. In Romans 6:12, sin is pictured as a wicked king demanding submission and obedience.
2. The apostle Paul says, "Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof" (6:12). In other words, do not allow sin to occupy the throne of your heart.
3. We are to yield to God, not to the flesh (6:13).
4. "For sin shall not have dominion (power) over you..." (6:14).
5. When Paul wrote this epistle, Rome (like all of the other big Gentile cities) was filled with immorality, and corruption, and all kinds of wickedness (cf. Rom. 1:24-32).
6. So Paul says, Do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God (6:13).
7. The same Greek word translated "yield" (6:13, 16, 19) is translated "present" in Romans 12:1. "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
8. We must not yield our bodies to sin (6:13, 19). Rather we are to yield ourselves completely to God. We are to present our bodies "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God," which is our reasonable service.
9. One preacher put it this way: "Sin may be dormant but it need not be dominant...We must resolutely determine that sin will not rule and reign in our hearts and lives" (Stephen Olford).
10. A.T. Pierson tells about a man with a drinking problem, whose wife was threatening to leave him because of his drinking. When he was drunk he was mean and violent and she felt her life was in danger.
11. A.T. Pierson begged the man to stop drinking, but the man refused to give it up. He said he had tried to stop many, many times, only to keep going back to it again.
12. Pierson wrote this: "He was a church member, but I told him frankly that I felt convinced he knew nothing of the grace and power of God; that the troubles that drive a true child of God to his knees, only drove him to his cups; and I set before him the great truth and fact, that the moment a penitent sinner truly lays hold of Christ, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Shall We Continue in Sin?).

III. HAVING FRUIT UNTO HOLINESS (6:19, 22)

1. Romans 6:19 says that before conversion, "ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity."
2. But a great change took place when we received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour. We were regenerated and sealed and quickened and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
3. Now, God says: "Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness" (6:19b).
4. We have already noted that the word "yield" means "to present," and that Romans 12:1 says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service."
5. Romans 3-5 deal with justification by faith, and Romans 6-8 deal with sanctification (holiness) by faith.
6. Justification is God for us.
7. Sanctification is God in us.
8. Justification declares the sinner righteous.
9. Sanctification makes the sinner righteous. "For sin shall not have dominion over you..." (6:14a). This promise speaks of deliverance and freedom for all who have received Christ and are walking in newness of life.
10. "For ye are not under the law, but under grace" (6:14b). When we put ourselves under the control of God's grace, the power of God's grace begins to operate on our lives, we have "fruit unto holiness" (cf. 6:22).
11. There is a contrast here -- the rotten, shameful fruit of sin, and "fruit unto holiness" (6:21, 22).

CONCLUSION:

1. David Brainerd was a missionary to the American Indians in New York, New Jersey, and eastern Pennsylvania. He was born in Connecticut in 1718, he died of tuberculosis at the age of twenty-nine in 1747.
2. Jonathan Edwards preached his funeral sermon and published the journal which David Brainerd had kept.
3. David Brainerd wrote this in his journal: "I never got away from Jesus, and him crucified, and I found that when my people were gripped by this great evangelical doctrine of Christ and him crucified, I had no need to give them instructions about morality. I found that one followed as sure and inevitable fruit of the other. I find my Indians begin to put on the garments of holiness and their common life begins to be sanctified even in small matters (even in a trifle) when they are possessed by the doctrine of Christ and Him crucified."