The Romans Recipe

It’s good to be with you again as we draw near to the close of another week. Today I will continue and complete my series of talks on the special theme that I chose for this Easter season: Identification.

In my talks this week I’ve been dealing with the two great barriers that hinder us from entering into all that Jesus has obtained for us through His death: the two barriers of ignorance and unbelief. And I’ve shown you how to overcome each of these barriers.

In yesterday’s talk I shared two important facts about faith: first, faith must be confessed with the mouth; second, faith relates us to what our senses cannot perceive. We walk by faith, not by sight. There’s a tension.

Today I’m going to sum up and conclude my talks on the theme of identification by giving you what I call the Romans Recipe. I use the word “recipe” deliberately. It suggest to us a housewife with her cookbook, planning to make a cake or something else to eat. I wish that we Christians could use the Bible in such a simple and practical way as a housewife uses her cookbook. If we would, we’d find that God’s recipes always work. They always produce just exactly what God says they will produce. So today, I’m going to talk about the Romans Recipe, in other words; God’s way to make these truths work in our lives that we’ve been discussing for the past three weeks or more.

This Romans Recipe is found in Romans chapter 6, verses 1 through 14. I’m going to read those 14 verses straight off and then I’m going to go back over them and show you in a simple way just how they help you to make these truths work in your life. Romans 6 beginning at verse 1:

“What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer is master over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.” (NIV)

That’s a tremendous statement, that final statement, ”sin shall not be your master...” Sin is no longer going to dominate you and control you. There’s a way of deliverance from sin and all it’s evil consequences. And that way is through our identification with Jesus Christ in death, burial, resurrection and ascension.

Now I’ll go back and briefly point out to you the successive phases of this Romans Recipe that I’ve read out to you from God’s divine cookbook, the Scriptures.

First, of all we notice at the beginning of that passage the successive points of identification. Verse 1 says, “We died to sin.” When did we die to sin? When Jesus died. That was our death. He died, we identify ourselves with His death. Verse 6 says it again, “Our old self was crucified.” When did that happen? When Jesus was crucified, our old self, that rebel that lives inside every one of us, inherited from Adam, that old rebel was crucified when Jesus was crucified.

Second, it says we were buried with Him. How? By baptism into His death. So we not only die with Him, we are buried with Him. And then verses 4 and 5 it says, “We are also united with Him in resurrection.” Following Him through death and burial, we move out into His resurrection life. We share His life with Him.

Then the next section, verses 6 through 8, tells us the practical successive consequences of this identification with Jesus in death, burial and resurrection. Verse 6, it says, “The body of sin is rendered powerless.” That old corrupt evil nature which enslaved, which made us do the wrong thing even, many times against our desire to do the right thing, that body of sin is rendered powerless. It no longer has power. Why? It’s been crucified. It’s been put to death.

The next consequence. We are no longer slaves to sin. The most terrible in the universe is the slavery to sin. Being compelled by sin to do things you don’t want to do, things which are harmful, things which are destructive, things which will ultimately bring tremendous disasters upon you, both in time and ultimately even in eternity. That’s the slavery of sin. But through this identification with Jesus we come to the place where we are no longer slaves of sin.

And the next consequence, verse 7, says we are free from sin. More literally, we are justified. We are acquitted. Jesus paid the final penalty for our sin. When that final penalty is paid, there’s no more penalty to pay. There’s no more condemnation. We’re not even guilty. We’re not merely released from the power of sin, we’re released from the guilt of sin. We have a good conscience. We can stand, even, before the throne of Almighty God without fear. We’re acquitted, we’re justified. Christ’s righteousness has become our righteousness because first of all He was made sin with our sinfulness.

And then the final consequence in verse 8, “We will live with Christ.” What tremendous words. We will share His eternal resurrection life. In that He died, He died once to sin. He can’t die again. Now He lives forever to God, and we enter into that eternal life that Christ lives toward God. We share His eternal resurrection life.

The third part of this Romans Recipe is found in verses 11 through 13. This is the practical how-to. This is where I want you to focus your attention with me now for the remainder of this talk.

There are five steps in this how-to as outlined by Paul. First of all, in verse 11, “count yourself dead...” Believe it, reckon yourself dead, the Bible says you’re dead, believe you’re dead. Talk about yourself as dead. That’s what Paul did. He said, “I’m crucified with Christ, but nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ liveth in me...” So he counted himself dead. He saw Christ’s crucifixion and death as his own crucifixion and death. Not merely did he think that way, but as I pointed out yesterday, he talked that way. He reckoned it true. He reckoned himself dead, but also alive. You have to do the same. Count, believe, reckon yourself dead and also alive.

Steps two and three are negative, “Do not let sin reign in your body,” and the next, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin...” There is a very important negative in this recipe. You must not yield to sin. Before you couldn’t help yielding to sin. Now you have the choice. There’s a power in you that’s greater than sin. You’ve been liberated, you’ve been justified. But you still have to exercise your will. When sin comes, when temptation comes, you have to say a firm and final “NO! No I will not! I will not yield my body! I will not yield my members! I have been freed, I belong to Jesus. I’m living Jesus’ life and sin you have no more power over me. I do not yield to you! Satan, I do not yield to you.”

You know one thing I’ve learned by experience about the devil? He knows when you mean it. And when you really say it and mean it, he’ll leave you alone. But if he thinks he’s got any chance of persuading you just temporarily to change your mind, he’ll keep on bothering your. This is the way we recultivate our will which has been weakened and enslaved by sin. It’s by saying, “NO!” No to sin, no to Satan. “Satan, you can’t have my body, you can’t have the parts of my body.”

And then the next two, the last two steps in this recipe, the positive ones, steps four and five: offer yourself to God. You can’t remain an independent agent and be free from sin. That’s not a choice, that’s valid. You have to choose whether you’ll serve Satan or whether you’ll serve God. Delivered from the service of Satan, you have to offer yourself as a sacrifice to God. In Romans 12 Paul says, “Present your body as a living sacrifice to God...” Give yourself totally, all you are and all you have, present it to God. Hold nothing back. And then he says, “Offer the parts of your body to God.” Yield every part of your body to God for Him to use it as He wants for His glory.

And then this glorious promise which is the result, that which the recipe promises to accomplish, ”sin shall not be your master.” You will be set free from the shame, the degradation, the agony, all the evils that sin brings, you’ll be delivered from them if you follow this Romans Recipe, if you’ll work through your identification with Jesus in death, burial and resurrection.

Well, our time is up for today. I’ll be back with you again next week at this same time, Monday through Friday. I’ll be sharing with you on another helpful and inspiring theme.