Sunday LINK – GOD HAS FREED US FROM SIN – Romans 6:1-11 | SL20260621

SERMON

God Has Freed Us from Sin       

Romans 6:1b–11 NRSVUE   

Have you ever wondered: If God already loves and forgives us, does it really matter how we live?  Today we’ll hear Paul ask that same question, and his answer is better news than we might expect.  

Last week, we talked about grace — about the love of God that meets us exactly where we are. 

This week, Romans 6 invites us to ask what that grace actually does in a real human life.  

We know what it’s like to want change but feel stuck in old patterns.  Romans 6 speaks directly into that tension with an announcement about what God has already done for us in Christ Jesus.  

We’ll hear the good news of what the Father accomplished through the Son and is making real in us by the Holy Spirit.  This is a story about being brought into a new life we did not create.  

Romans 6, as God’s word to us, is not a self-help plan or instructions for how to make ourselves new.  This passage is a declaration that, in Christ Jesus, we already are new.  

Let’s read Romans 6:1b–11:

Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase?  ² By no means!  How can we who died to sin go on living in it?  ³ Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  ⁴ Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.  

⁵ For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  ⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin.  ⁷ For whoever has died is freed from sin.  ⁸ But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  ⁹ We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.  ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God.  ¹¹ So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:1b–11 NRSVUE

Who Is God 

When reading the Bible, a good place to begin is to ask, what does this passage tell us about God?  And understanding who God is shows us who we are.  

Unfortunately, some people hold this narrow view of God:  

• God has a list of rules.
• Breaking those rules is called sin.
• God commands us not to sin.
• God punishes us when we sin.

And worse yet, some believe the “rules” are as random and arbitrary as opening a bag of candy and saying, you can eat the red ones but not the yellow ones.  

No.  This is not who God is.  And Romans 6 helps us see that’s not true.  

God has shown us what will lead to death.  God has shown us which ways of living lead away from wholeness and flourishing life, and he calls that sin.  But God did not leave us there!  God dealt with sin for us.  In Jesus, God broke the power of sin once for all.

God has freed us from sin.

As we’ve already said, our sermons this month have discussed grace.  We are justified, made right with God, by his grace as a gift.  Grace is God giving us love, forgiveness, and new life as a gift.  

In a sense, verse 1 is asking: if we are already forgiven and have been given grace, does it matter how we live?  Are our choices and actions even important?   

Should we continue in sin in order that grace may increase?  Romans 6:1b NRSVUE

The answer is “By no means” should we continue in sin!  Sin destroys.   See, sin is any way of living that pull us — and others — away from the love, healing, and harmony God wants for us.  We recognize sin when we see harm, selfishness, or brokenness.  

Grace is not a free pass to keep doing damage to ourselves or others.  Grace is not God saying, “Your sin does not matter.”  Grace is God saying, “I am rescuing you from what is ruining you.”  

So, we do not continue in sin — not because we must prove ourselves to God or avoid punishment, but because something has already happened to us in Christ Jesus.  We have died to sin.  

How can we who died to sin go on living in it?  Romans 6:2 NRSVUE

It does not mean Christians never struggle again.  It means sin no longer controls us.  Our relationship to sin has changed.  We do not belong to that old life anymore.  God has freed us from sin.    

Now Paul explains why believers have died to sin: because they have been joined to Jesus.  Verse 3-4: 

³ Do you not know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  ⁴ Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.  Romans 6:3–4 NRSVUE

How is it we died and were buried with Christ Jesus?  And how is it we were raised from the dead with Christ?   

Because we have been joined to Jesus.  In Jesus, God has united humanity to himself. And in a stunning mystery, that’s all of humanity — past, present, and future.  That is how we can be included in Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, even though it happened before we were even born.  

This inclusion, this union is grounded in the Incarnation.  So, when God became human in Jesus, he assumed our humanity.  And he healed and renewed it from the inside.  

This means union with Christ is not just spiritual or symbolic.  Union changed the very nature of our being.  (We call this an ontological union.)

Baptism

In this letter to the church in Rome, Paul relates our inclusion in Christ Jesus’ death to baptism.  Baptism is a practice where we use water to show this reality — that we are joined to Jesus.  Baptism does not create or activate the union, but it points to that reality.  Going under the water is a symbol of dying and being buried with Christ.  That’s why we sometimes refer to baptism as a “watery grave.”  Coming up out of the water is a symbol of rising with Christ.  

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.  Romans 6:5 NRSVUE

Baptism is a picture of dying and being resurrected united with Christ.  

Perhaps you are curious about baptism.  Baptism is for everyone.  If you would like to be baptized or learn more about baptism, we would love to support you.  Baptism is a visible way of saying: I belong to Jesus, and his story is now my story.  

What Christ Jesus has done, counts for us.  His cross becomes our cross.  His burial becomes our burial.  His resurrection becomes our resurrection.  

Baptism is a symbol of new life in Christ and freedom from sin.  God has freed us from sin.   

In Christ, we walk in the newness of life.  By this new life, we participate in love and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  The “fruit of the Holy Spirit” are the qualities that God, by the Spirit, grows or produces  in us — traits like love, patience, kindness, peace, and self‑control.  They’re the visible signs that God is transforming us and creating wholeness on the inside.  

Why not read about it this week?  You’ll find it in Galatians 5.  You can also read a list of deficient or malformed qualities that are the opposite of what the Holy Spirit produces in us.   

We do not continue in the old habits and old thinking that do not reflect  our new life in Christ.  Verse 6 calls it the old self.  Why would we continue?  It’s not who we are any longer.  The old self is dead.   

⁶ We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, so we might no longer be enslaved to sin. ⁷ For whoever has died is freed from sin.  Romans 6:6–7 NRSVUE

The old self was crucified with Christ.  Not slowly improved.  Not trained.  Not managed.  Crucified.  Put to death.  Finished.  This means sin no longer owns us.  Shame no longer defines us.  Fear no longer rules us.  The past no longer controls us.  Not because we became strong, but because Christ was strong for us.  God has freed us from sin.   

In Jesus, God became human and he did not come to manage our sin. 

• • • He carried it in our place. 

He did not come to guide us around death. 

• • • He entered death for us. 
    • He absorbed the brokenness of the world into his own body.  

This is what God has already done in Christ.  This is what the cross has accomplished and what the empty tomb has made true.  This is what baptism declares: you are joined to Jesus, and his story is now your story.  

God calls us to participate in the loving freedom of a new life in Christ.  It is like a prison door that has already been opened.  The chains have already been broken.  There are no guards to stop you from leaving.  The door is open.  Freedom is already yours.  But some people still sit in the cell because they do not trust that the door is really open.  Paul is telling the church: you are not trapped anymore.  You are not owned by sin anymore.  You are not ruled by death anymore.  You are not defined by your past anymore.  You belong to Christ.  

Christ gives us his life.  He shares his breath with us.  He shares his future with us.  He shares his freedom with us.  

We are united with Christ in his resurrection.  That means the power that raised Jesus from the grave is the same power that works in us.  Not because we earned it.  Not because we deserve it.  But because God is generous and faithful.  

It is like a lamp sitting in your living room.  The lamp may be beautiful.  It may be new.  It may even have a good light bulb.  But no matter how hard the lamp tries, it cannot shine on its own.  A lamp has no power by itself.  The lamp does not create electricity.  It receives it.  The light flows from the source.  

We do not create new life.  God gives it.  We do not produce holiness.  God grows it.  We do not save ourselves.  Christ saves us. We do not raise ourselves.  God raises us.  We do not rise into new life because we are strong or disciplined.  We rise because God is strong.  

The Holy Spirit is God with us and in us, empowering us live this new life.  This is what the Holy Spirit is producing in us: new desires, new hopes, new courage, new love, new peace, new patience.  This is what God is growing in us: trust, kindness, mercy, forgiveness, faith.  Not because we are faithful, but because God is faithful.  

If we have died with Christ, we believe we will also live with him.  Romans 6:8 NRSVUE

We still struggle.  We still fail.  We still fall.  But we no longer fall alone.  We no longer rise alone.  We belong to Christ.  Romans 6 reminds us that real life comes from our union with Christ.  The life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit flows into us.  Our actions do not make it true, but we experience our union with God by trusting, showing up, by receiving, and participating in it.  

Perhaps you are thinking: “I cannot show up and participate. I still struggle with old habits; I have doubts and questions.  There’s so much I do not fully understand.”   

Here’s the good news:  Jesus does not just die for us.  He also believes, obeys, prays, and worships for us.

Our weak faith is held within his perfect faith.  Our failure to always avoid sin is gathered into his perfect, sinless life. Jesus has already lived the perfect human life for God — and we share in it.

So, you are welcome in Jesus’ Body, the Church, and in this congregation with all your questions, doubts, and struggles.  We rarely grow in isolation.  We are changed and formed together.  As we share life together, God is transforming us into his people who reflect his love to the world.  Community is where grace becomes tangible.   

Consider Yourself

This passage ends with powerful words:

Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.  Romans 6:11 NRSVUE

Count yourself. Deem yourself. See yourself dead to sin and alive to God. It’s as if Paul is holding up a mirror, “See! This. This is who you really are.”

God has already deemed you, counted you dead to sin and alive in Christ. Now wake up to this reality! See it about yourself!

Do you know someone who needs to hear that? Is there someone this week who needs you to hold up a mirror and say, “Look, this is who you are … made new in Christ”? As Jesus’ Body, we can live this good news in our neighborhood. Let’s join Jesus in his ongoing mission to make all things new.

God has freed us from sin. It’s reality. May we see it as true about ourselves.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit offer us this simple and holy invitation:

Come and rest in what Christ has done.  Come and trust that the cross was enough.  Come and believe that the tomb was and is empty.  Come and participate in the life Christ gives.  Come and live like someone who is already free.  Come and live in the love that cannot fail.

The gospel simply means good news — good news about what God has done for us in Jesus.  And here is the gospel of Romans 6:  Christ died for you. Christ rose for you.  Christ lives for you.  Christ reigns for you.  And Christ shares his life with you.  

The old self, held captive to sin, is dead!  You are free.  By the Spirit, you are alive in Christ.  Remember who you are and live from that new reality.    God has freed us from sin.   LIVE FREE!    

CLOSING PRAYER   

SONG OF RESPONSE

Discussion Session