When I read this passage I could not help but think of the account of our Lord raising Lazarus from the dead. You remember that Lazarus was four days dead when Jesus approached his tomb. Jesus came and demanded that the tomb be opened, spoke one word and Lazarus rose and walked out. When he came out he still had on his grave clothes and our Lord said, “Loose him and let him go”. Many Christians are like that today. They have been lifted out of the darkness of being separated from God, they have been redeemed, and yet they still walk around in their grave clothes. Our Lord would say to them, Get off those grave clothes and be free. Like Lazarus we need to shed our grave clothes. We have been raised from the dead. We walk in newness of life. We need to get rid of that which remains of our deadness. In Romans 6:11-14 Paul says that having been raised from the dead, having experienced in our position victory over sin as to its penalty and power, we are now ready to take off the grave clothes and live life to the fullest. I believe most of us want to do that. Most of us want to know real victory over sin. We have this desire to do what is right, we have this desire to conquer sin, but yet we struggle daily with sin. So how do we get off the grave clothes? That is our text for today. How to overcome sin and there are three key words that will help us do that.

The first word is “know.” Notice v.3 ‘Don’t you know’, v.6 “For we know’, and v. 9 “For we know.” The first 10 verses of Romans 6 are doctrinal, they are cognitive, and they are foundational truth which we can build on. You can’t come to v.11 until you know v.1-10. What has Paul told us in v.1-10? We are one with Christ. When he died, we died. When he was buried, we were buried. When he arose, we arose. As he walks in newness of life, so we walk in newness of life. Every demand of the law was met. The power of sin has been broken. So when you become a Christian, and you place your faith in Jesus Christ, by a divine miracle you enter into his death and resurrection, your old life dies, and you rise to walk in newness of life. Not only is the penalty of sin paid but the power of sin is broken. We are a new creation, a new man, a new nature. We are not what we use to be. In Adam we died, in Christ we are made alive If we are to live as new creations, it begins with the knowledge of the fact that I am not what I use to be. I am new. I am no longer under the tyranny of sin. Sin is no longer my master. The first principle to get out of those grave clothes is to know. The prophet Hosea said the people of God were destroyed because of a lack of knowledge. Not a lack of worship activity, not a lack of religion, not a lack of revelation, but a lack of knowledge. You can never live what you do not know. You can’t function on what you don’t know. So we begin by knowing. We know the power of sin is broken. We know we do not have to be prey to sin’s power. We know we do not have to be victims to sin. We know sin cannot force us to do what we do not want to do. The tomb is opened, we have come out of the grave, and we know we can shed those grave clothes. But it all begins with knowing.

The second word is “reckon in v.11.” In the same way, count yourself or reckon yourself dead to sin but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. The word reckon literally means to number something, to count something. But figuratively it means to calculate in the mind, to affirm in the mind something is so. You know it, now affirm it to be true, believe it to be true. I know that it is hard to believe this. It is hard to believe that I died and Christ lives in me. It is hard to believe I am a new creation. It is hard to believe that God lives in me. That is difficult to believe and I will give you some reasons why it is so hard to believe.

One is that maybe you have never been taught that before. You just accepted the idea that you are going to be a victim of sin all your life. Secondly, Satan doesn’t want you to believe it. Satan not only accuses you before God but accuses you to yourself. I remember watching a story in which this elderly woman was lying in bed dying with her husband by her side. I don’t know what she had done but she kept saying to her husband. I am so sorry. The husband responded, I know you are sorry. God forgave you a long time ago, don’t you think it is time you forgive yourself. That is how Satan wants us to live, feeling unforgiven, hopeless, and a failure. A third reason it is difficult to believe sin has no power over us is it is non-experiential. It is not an experience but a divine transaction. When you were saved there was not a real death or burial or resurrection, it occurred spiritually. You have to believe it by faith.

People who are always running around looking for signs don’t have great faith, they have little faith. People with great faith accept the word of God without any external proof. One more reason: The fury of the conflict with sin in us makes us wonder. We seem to lose this battle with sin in our lives so often it is hard to believe sin has no hold on us. But we have to believe it anyway. How am I going to do that? Because the Bible says so. It is a faith fact. Count on it. Affirm it. Believe it. Be like Abraham. God told him he would have a son. He was 99 and Sarah was 90. Can’t happen, too old. Yes he might have snickered and smiled and Sarah laughed but in Romans it says he believed God. Paul said reckon yourself dead to sin. What are some practical applications of believing we are dead to sin? One is If I believe I am dead to sin then I can have confidence during times of temptations. There has no temptation overtaken me but that which is common to man and God will not allow you to be tempted above that which you are able to handle and with the temptation make a way for you to escape. There will never be a temptation you cannot handle in the power of God because sin is not your boss, your lord or your tyrant.

Second, If I believe I am dead to sin I can have confidence in my sinning. What do I mean by that? I mean that even when I succumb to sin I can still be confident I will not lose my salvation. Sin can rear its ugly head and cause you to obey it even though you don’t have to but the one thing it can never do is take you back from God. The penalty for your sin has been paid and it never has to be paid again. One more practical application when you believe you are dead to sin. I can have confidence in death. Jesus said he that believes on me, though he be dead, yet shall he live. I want to have confidence in temptation that it is not going to be more than I can bear. I want to have confidence even in my sin that it isn’t going to take me out of the hand of God and I want to have confidence that in facing death that death has no hold on me. So reckon you are alive to God and that it is a permanent state. Why? Because we are in Christ, in Christ, in Christ and there is not another religion in the world that says that. No one says I am in Buddha, in Mohammed, In Confucius, in Mary Baker Eddy, in Judge Rutherford, in James Russell, in Joseph Smith. They don’t say that but we are in Christ.

So we know and then reckon it to be so and the final word is “yield.” V.13. Some translations say present, mine says do not offer. It can be translated any of those ways. Now if ‘know’ has to do with the mind and ‘reckon’ has to do with the heart, then ‘yield’ has to do with the will. For 10 verses I have been telling you that sin has no power over you, that sin is not your master, but I never said sin is not a force to be reckoned with. It isn’t our lord or master but it is still a force.

It may be a dethroned monarch but it is still around giving orders that don’t have to be obeyed but sometimes are. Sin wants to pull us back under its control though it has no right to do so. Paul is saying if sin is no longer the monarch, then don’t let it act like it was. If it doesn’t have any right to do that, then don’t give it any right. The statement is indicative, an exhortation and imperative. If its power is broken don’t act like it has power. Just take a look at who you are and don’t do that. Where can sin take over, where can sin reign? In my mortal body V.13. What does mortal mean? It mean corruptive. Our mortal body will never go to heaven. Our glorified body will. It is this physical body that sin wants to rule. Before we were saved sin reigned in both our bodies and our souls but now we got a new soul, a new creation and sin is but left with the physical body to rule. Mortal is our flesh, our humanness. If I could get rid of this body I would be holy. That is why Paul says our bodies groan as it waits for adoption or redemption of our body. It can’t wait to get rid of this physical body. I Cor. 15:50 says we will get a new glorified body. But until then we are not to let sin reign in this physical, mortal, corruptible body. That is why there is still this struggle with sin. My body is the problem. Paul is saying sin will dominate you if you let it. How do I let it do that? By feeding the body or entertaining the body or enticing the body. It is the body and all its sensory factors that are exposed to the world that becomes a channel through which temptations can draw you into sin until sin reigns over you. So I think we should think about what we feed our bodies. How much time do we spend in God’s word compared with how much we spend on watching TV and social media that feeds our bodies the world’s philosophies? Sin doesn’t have to dominate your bodies because ‘don’t let it’ indicates it doesn’t have to be that way. It would like to, but I don’t have to let it. Simply put, my will has to be activated. There is nothing wrong with my body. God created it and said it was good. I can use my hands and feet to glorify God. Paul said in Romans 12 to present my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. So in a sense my body is neutral and I can use it as an instrument of righteousness or unrighteousness. I make that decision.

Paul sums it up in v.14 and so will I. We no longer have to be under constant incessant control by sin because we are no longer under the law but under grace. The law came to show us our sin. The law demands, commands, rebukes, condemns, restrains, can’t conquer sin, can’t pay the penalty and by the law no flesh is justified. Law only increases our bondage by showing us the inability of man to do what is right. But we are no longer under the law but under race. In v.1 Paul asked, “Shall we then sin so grace may abound?” No, no, no. We are new creations. We know it, We reckon it to be so. And we yield our bodies to God so sin can no longer have a launching pad to dominate us. I like you still struggle with sin. More often than not it is because of my diet, what I feed my body. But here is a very clear precise instruction to the path to victory. Sin does not have to be our master. It is a vanquished foe. Know it, believe it, and yield to God.

•••

The Rev. Dr. James Barnes is currently the pastor of White Memorial Church in Milroy.