Romans 6:1-6 (KJV) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? 3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

Children Need To Be Shown

Our Lord Jesus knows that we are children, and knows that children understand spiritual truths better when there is a physical picture or demonstration we can see.

Jesus wanted us to understand the importance of His willing sacrifice and death, so He gave us the ordinance of the Lord’s Table (Matthew 26:19; Mark 14:16; Luke 22:13). The Bible also calls this Table:

The Breaking of Bread (Acts 2:42; 20:7)
Communion (1 Corinthians 10:16), and
The Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:20)

The Lord’s Table came at the end of the Feast of the Passover. At the Table, Jesus took bread, blessed it, and broke it saying “Take, eat, this is My Body broken for you”. The unleavened bread represented the reality of the Sinless Lord Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 3:5; 1 Peter 2:22). Jesus is God become Man, Perfect Man. He is unleavened with sin. He was willingly broken on the Cross for our sins. Jesus took the Cup of the Passover, saying:

Matthew 26:27-28 (ESV) … Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

The Bread symbolized the coming reality of the broken Body of Christ. The Cup symbolized the spilled Blood of the Savior, the covering for our sins. The fact that we eat and drink this Table symbolizes saving faith, available to whosoever will – that all are able to eat and drink. The Table reminds us that because of what Jesus did, our sins are covered and forgiven, and we are “new creatures in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

The Lord’s Table is a symbol reminding us of the real spiritual blessing that God gives us through Jesus Christ.

Jesus Also Gave Us The Ordinance Of Water Baptism

Jesus not only gave us the Ordinance of the Lord’s Table, but He gave us the Ordinance of Water Baptism. Jesus told His disciples:

Matthew 28:19 (ESV) Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit …

Baptism, like the Lord’s Table, is symbolic of a real spiritual truth – one that few people talk about.

Water Baptism is symbolic of the action of God the Holy Spirit on the life of the believer.

When a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, when that person surrenders their life to Jesus as Abraham did, then God the Holy Spirit comes to that believer and does very real, very spiritual works.

The Holy Spirit:

1 – Causes the believer to be “BORN AGAIN”. Jesus said, “Unless one is born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God … you MUST be BORN AGAIN” (John 3:3-8).

2 – Moves on the believer, Spiritually Baptizing that believer. When John the Baptist spoke of the coming of our Lord Jesus, he declared:

Mark 1:8 (ESV) I have baptized you with water, but He {Jesus Christ} will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit was not available to the Church until after Christ ascended to Heaven. Jesus told His disciples that He had to go to glory before the Spirit could come to us. He said:

John 16:7-14 (ESV) I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

The day that Jesus ascended to Heaven, He told His disciples:

Acts 1:5 (ESV) John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit is defined as:

“that work whereby the Spirit of God places the believer into union with Christ and into union with other believers in the body of Christ at the moment of salvation”

The Apostle Paul spoke of the Baptism, saying:

1 Corinthians 12:13 (NKJV) For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.

The spiritual and real Baptism of the Spirit unites the Christian with Christ, and every Christian with every other true Christian. The Baptism of the Spirit happens to ALL CHRISTIANS. The Apostle said, “by one Spirit we were all baptized INTO ONE BODY”, and “have all been made to drink into one Spirit”.

Jesus gave us water baptism to show us what God does to us at the point of salvation. The text that we are studying today is one that I read from every time we do a water baptism. Water Baptism is an ordinance, not a sacrament. It is a command of Christ that shows us, just as the Lord’s Table shows us, a deeper truth few understand.

If You Are Saved, You Are Not What You Were

Romans 6:1-2 (KJV) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Some people believe that they were saved just to go to Heaven, that their salvation is just for a future event. That’s not Biblical. That is humanistic thinking, godless thinking, fleshly thinking. This is not the Way of the Master.

God saved us so that He could break us free from enslavement to sin. He redeemed us from the power of the flesh to walk in the Power of the Holy Spirit!

This was the prophecy of the Coming of Christ. “He shall SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS” (Matthew 1:21). The Apostle John said:

1 John 3:5 (ESV) You know that {Jesus} appeared in order to take away sins, and in Him there is no sin.

And again in Titus 2:14 (ESV) {Jesus} gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for His own possession who are zealous for good works.

From the very beginning Satan sent agents into the Church, attempting to corrupt the Gospel of Salvation. These agents said, “Jesus died on the Cross so that you who believe on Him can freely sin without fear of retribution or punishment from God”. The Prophet Jude spoke of these devils, saying:

Jude 4 … (KJV) … there are certain men CREPT IN UNAWARES … UNGODLY MEN, TURNING THE GRACE OF OUR GOD INTO LASCIVIOUSNESS {works of the flesh}, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ …

It is these people whom Paul is addressing in our text.

Romans 6:1-2 (KJV) What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 God forbid …

The Christian – born again and Baptized by the Holy Spirit – does not find sin satisfying. The Christian is dead to sin. We are told:

Romans 6:2 … How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?

Water Baptism reminds the believer that we are in union with Christ. Though the Christian can and does sin, we are “DEAD TO SIN”. Sin has no hold on us. It is part of the old, dead way of life we had before we came to Jesus.

Romans 6:3 (KJV) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Word Study: The day you are saved, you are “BAPTIZED INTO JESUS”. The Holy Spirit spiritually and eternally links your soul to Christ. You are IMMERSED {baptizō}, you are SUBMERGED, you are WASHED, you are CLEANSED by the Spirit in Jesus. When the Apostle addresses the Church at Corinth, he writes:

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 (NKJV) Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, 10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Word Study: The unbeliever is covered with sin. In contrast, the believer is apolouō, washed off, fully cleansed. The Baptism of the Spirit BAPTIZES US INTO JESUS CHRIST, fully identifying us with Jesus.

Water Baptism symbolizes the Baptism of the Spirit.

Romans 6:4 (KJV) Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Before we were saved we …

Ephesians 2:2 (KJV) WALKED ACCORDING TO THE COURSE OF THIS WORLD, according to the prince of the power of the air, the SPIRIT THAT NOW WORKETH IN THE CHILDREN OF DISOBEDIENCE …

Before salvation, we walked with the darkness, and with the prince of darkness. Before salvation we focused on fulfilling the desires of our flesh. Now saved, we walk according to the Spirit of God.

We died with Jesus. We rise again with Jesus. We live for Jesus. We belong to Jesus.

Romans 6:5-6 (KJV) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: 6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

We are no longer servants of sin, but servants of the Living God.

If You Are Saved, Your Father Is Different

The Scripture does not teach the humanistic doctrine that there is a “General Fatherhood of God”. Our Lord Jesus was very specific when He addressed the unbeliever. He told the religious but unsaved Pharisee:

You are of YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL (John 8:44).

Our Lord taught that all of mankind is divided into two groups, the tares and the good seed:

Matthew 13:38-42 (KJV) The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; (39) The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. (40) As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. (41) The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; (42) And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

The Christian is someone who was a child of wrath.

That was your state before you came to Calvary. On the day you saw yourselves as sinners in the hands of an angry God, sinners labeled by God as “Children of Wrath”, sinners in need of the Savior, you came to God on bended knee. Like the Philippian jailer you heard the Gospel of salvation and asked (Acts 16:30) “what must I do to be saved”? You heard the answer (Acts 16:31) “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” – and you believed in Him Who died for you on Calvary. Oh blessed Blood of Christ, how You cleansed me from all sin. Oh Precious Head now wounded, how you have washed us whiter than snow! On the day you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ your life changed, dear Christian. Before you were saved you were dead in trespasses and in sins:

Ephesians 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins

Colossians 2:13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;

yet afterward you were made alive by the ever living and ever reigning Savior. By Grace ye have been saved. This is no symbolic salvation, no ritual, no pretend. Sin is no imaginary bogey man, but it is a real killing thing. The ancient Israelite sacrificed animal after animal, spilling blood that could only be a temporary covering for sin. Every shadow of the Old Covenant foretold of the day when Jesus Christ would come and, in a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20) Jesus would make offering for our sins. Unlike the shedding of animal blood the shedding of Christ’s Blood would be a permanent covering, a blotting out of the handwriting of ordinances against us. A real solution to our real monster would be given to all who believe in Him.

Saved by faith in the Gospel, Jesus baptizes us in the Holy Spirit. We are changed from children of this world to His people, purchased and prized possessions. Jesus said:

John 10:27-28 (KJV) My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: (28) And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

Jesus calls His people “My sheep”. Break that down. First He said “My”. If you are saved, you belong to Jesus. As the Scripture says, “You are NOT your own – You are BOUGHT WITH A PRICE” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). You don’t belong to you. You belong to Jesus. Second, Jesus says that we are His “sheep”. He is the Shepherd, the Boss of us if we are saved. We follow the Shepherd.

And the Shepherd does not wallow in sin!

Romans 6:6-8 … knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him

If you are Christ’s possession, if you have given yourself to Him as Lord and Savior, neither sin nor death has any hold over you. Praise God! Heaven is the destination of the believer in Christ. Heaven in glory, and Heaven on this earth walking with Jesus.

Do you know Him? Oh Beloved, if you do not, may the Holy Spirit touch your hearts, and bring you from death to life this very day. Do not leave this place without Jesus. May God so secure your souls. Call upon the name of Jesus, surrendering to Him, and you shall be saved. Amen and Amen.