This sermon is one that I very much need to hear, because the words "We who have died to sin, how can we still live in it?" ring loudly in my ears. Every one of you have experienced this, I am sure: you seek to obey God and live a life that is pleasing and holy before him, but there is that one trap that you continually fall into. Then you repent and confess your sin to God in the promise of new obedience, but then you fall again, and the cycle of sin and repentance wears you down. 

"How could God forgive me for the same sin, over and over?" you ask. Paul answers: "Our old self was crucified with him, in order that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we might no longer be slaves to sin." 

Yet in my experience, the struggle continues. I do not feel that my old self is dead. It seems all too alive and well for a corpse. It's all well and good to talk about progressive sanctification, to say that these things take time, but that does not remove the horrible fact that I am still sinning, and often times it is quite deliberate. We all experience this, especially in relationships. We fall into patterns of speech or behavior which hurt others. Children, don't you find yourselves doing things which hurt your parents or your brothers and sisters? Aren't there times when you do it on purpose? Times when you know exactly how to make them mad, and you know that you shouldn't do it, but you do it anyway? And parents, husbands and wives, you may be more sophisticated, but don't you do the same thing? Wives, are there times when you bring up something your husband did, simply out of spite,  simply because you are upset with him? And husbands, do you ever make fun of your wife, or say something rude, just to show that you're the boss? My friends, these things should not be.

But there is another relationship where this becomes even more common: our relationship with God. There are things that you do which annoy him, and you know it, but you do them anyway. Paul describes this vividly in Romans 7:15-25.

But how has God rescued us--how can God rescue us from this predicament? That is the question before us. The answer lies before us in Romans 6: those who have been united to Christ by baptism into his death have been given new life in him. So to answer our question, we must consider first, how we are united to Christ; second, what it means to be united to Christ; and finally, why our union with Christ is so important.

Q. 29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy Spirit. 

Q. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. 

Q. 31. What is effectual calling?

A. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel. 

I. How we are united to Christ 

Paul states in verse two: "We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" You who are in Christ have died to sin. How? Because, Paul tells us, all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death, and he died to sin, as Paul tells us in verse 10. Therefore, all who are baptized into Christ, share in his death. This means that through your baptism, you have actually died to sin. Let me say right off the bat that I'm not saying that just getting baptized saves you. But let's take Paul seriously when he says that "all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death." Baptism is the means, the instrument that the Holy Spirit uses to unite us to Christ. Paul is talking about ordinary baptism. Some people try to make a distinction between water-baptism and spirit-baptism, saying that these are two different things that are pretty much unconnected. But the New Testament connects the two. On the day of Pentecost, Peter stands up and says, "Repent and be baptized for the remission of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." Water baptism and the Holy Spirit are connected. It is not that everyone who is baptized automatically is saved. No, water cannot save you. Rather, baptism is the means of uniting you to Christ and his church. It is the way in which we enter the promises of God.

Baptism is a means of grace--it is the instrument by which God grants us the benefits of Christ's death and resurrection, through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. But it is more than just that--it is the means by which we are united to Christ in his death. (Galatians 2:20--crucified with Christ.) When Jesus Christ was crucified, he died in your place, as your substitute. But the only way that his sacrifice could have any benefit for you, is if his death becomes yours. In the last few sermons, we have been looking at the accomplishment of redemption: how Jesus Christ humbled himself and died for us; how Jesus was raised from the dead and exalted to the right hand of the Father. Now we are turning to the application of redemption: how the Holy Spirit applies to us the benefits of salvation. And our Catechism agrees with the scriptures, that we all of the benefits of Christ are ours through union with him.

Paul says in verse 6 that "we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." Do you believe that? Do you believe that your old self--that sinful, prideful, lustful, hateful, old self--is really dead? Paul tells you that you were crucified with Christ, so that you should no longer be a slave to sin. Because the only way to be freed from sin is to die. Baptism is a picture of that death. It is indeed a baptism into death, as Paul calls it in verse 4. When you were baptized, whether as an infant, or as an adult, you were baptized into Christ's death. Because the only way to enter into life, and the only way to become free from sin, is to be united to Christ's death. And Paul promises that those who have been united to his death, will also share in the glories of his resurrection. 

Now, the word, "freed" in verse 7 is the word normally translated "justified." Those who have died with Christ have been "justified" from sin, they have been set free from its guilt and power. This is why baptism is the only means of grace which cannot be repeated, because just as Jesus Christ died but once, so you can only be united to his death once. The reading and preaching of the Word is the means of God's instructing and leading his people by his written revelation in Scripture. The Lord's Supper is the means of God's nourishing his people and sustaining them in their growth in grace, and prayer is the means of God's encouraging and comforting his people. Look at the words that I used, "instructing, leading, nourishing, sustaining, encouraging, and comforting." All these things are continual needs in the church. 

Baptism, though, is God's means of uniting his people to Christ's death and resurrection. And even as Christ died once for all, so also baptism is done once for all. So in one sense, we can say with the apostle Peter, that baptism is what saves us. That may startle some of you. But you must understand what the New Testament means by baptism. Peter says in I Peter 3:21 that the flood in the time of Noah corresponds to the "baptism that now saves you also." But he goes on to say, "not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand." In other words, baptism means more than just getting sprinkled with water. In order for your baptism to be a saving baptism, you must also have a good conscience toward God, which means that you must also believe. I grew up in a Baptist church, and I was baptized when I was eleven, but my baptism was not complete until I believed in Jesus Christ. Some of you may have been baptized as infants, but Peter warns you that baptism must mean something more than getting wet. Your baptism must be brought to life by faith in the death and resurrection of Christ. You must be united to his death and resurrection.

II. But what does it mean to be united to Christ? 

Q. 31. What is effectual calling?

A. Effectual calling is the work of God's Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ, freely offered to us in the gospel. 

Paul uses the phrase "walking in newness of life." What is this new life? Paul has just finished talking about the parallel between Adam and Christ in Romans 5. Adam is the head and origin of the first humanity. Christ is the head and origin of the new humanity. The disobedience of Adam brought death to all who are in Adam, The obedience of Jesus brought life to all who are in Jesus. All who are in Adam die in Adam. All who are in Christ live in Christ. Just as through the one offense of Adam--eating the forbidden fruit--brought condemnation to all his people, so also the one righteous act--the death of Christ--brought justification to all his people. There is a fundamental unity between the head and his people. Whatever happens to the head, happens to his people as well. So if you are united to Christ, that means that whatever has happened to him, is now true of you as well. 

But how does this union work? Have you ever tried to describe how Jesus lives in you? Where is he? Is he somehow attached to you--like a Siamese twin? Is he living inside you--like you live in your house? Remember what Paul said in Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me, and the life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me." Christ lives in you not as a man lives in a house, but as the source and substance of your very life. Every part of you is bound up in who he is. If you are in Christ, then your whole identity is rooted in Jesus Christ. 

When the Scripture tells you that you are in Christ, that you have been united to him, it is literally true. His life has now become yours. Your old self--your old life--has died with him. And the new life in Christ is Jesus Christ himself dwelling in the believer by the power of the Holy Spirit: This is not something that is just "intellectually true." It is not some mystical teaching, neither is it just a metaphor for conversion. Rather, it is something which affects you in everything you do, because it means that you really and truly participate in the death and resurrection of Christ, and that means that your whole life is bound up in who he is. 

Have you ever wondered how much of your obedience is your own effort, and how much is Christ at work in you? That puzzled me for many years. Some people seem to think that God does everything, and we do nothing. Others think that God does a lot, but expects us to do the rest. When I finally began to understand Paul's teaching on union with Christ, I began to realize, that you can't distinguish between your obedience and God's work in you. All of your obedience is the product of a very real union between Christ and you. If you were just attached to Jesus, then all your obedience would be yours, based on the advice of Jesus. If Jesus lived in you, as some sort of "guest" then your obedience could be divided up into percentages. But because it is a real life-union, and your new life is Christ, in one very real sense, all of your obedience is due entirely to him. 

Yet at the same time, because you have been united to Christ--it is also really and truly you who are obeying. Paul puts both these sides together in Philippians 2:12-13: "Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who is at work in you both to will to do for his good pleasure." Think of it like this: The Holy Spirit now thinks through you, acts through you, and to some extent, speaks through you. For instance, I had a horrible temper when I was a boy. My older brother was often the target of my flare-ups. As I grew in grace, the Holy Spirit thought loving thoughts through me, toward him. And I was supposed to jump on board, so to speak, and think those thoughts as the Spirit of God prompted me, repeat those thoughts toward my brother. It was me thinking those thoughts, but it was also Christ thinking those thoughts through the Holy Spirit. So also in your life, if you are in Christ, then the Holy Spirit is planting the seeds of good and holy thoughts in your heart. You are merely to walk according to the Spirit, thinking God's thoughts after him.

Now you can't tell when it's the Holy Spirit, and when it's you, because the Spirit is constantly at work in you, and you are constantly growing in grace. But it would be a mistake to try to figure out which is which. Just like in so many of God's dealings with humanity: the Bible is 100% the Word of God, yet it is also totally the product of human writers. Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, but he is also fully human. Your sanctification is by grace alone, yet God insists upon your faithful obedience. Our union with Christ does not obliterate who we are, but rather it enables us to be who we were intended to be. And yet there is another side to it. A higher and more glorious side, because it is not simply that we have been restored to the old creation, where Adam and Eve were, but rather we have been exalted in Christ to a glorious new creation, where we receive all the blessings that Jesus does. As Peter says in 2 Peter 1:3-4, "His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world, caused by evil desires." Whoa! "Participate in the divine nature?" Certainly not in the way that Jesus Christ is divine! But because we have been united to Christ, we will, and indeed, we do, receive in him all the blessings and benefits which he has received from the Father.

III. By now you may be beginning to see why union with Christ is so critical

Jesus Christ is the one who triumphed over sin and death. Verses 9-10 of Romans 6 say, "For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God." If Jesus Christ had never united anyone to himself, then he would have lived forever, but we would all perish. He had to die in order to pay the price for our sins, but if he died, he would destroy death because death could not hold him. 

As John Calvin once wrote: "It was his task to swallow up death. Who but the Life could do this? It was his task to conquer sin. Who but very righteousness could do this? It was his task to rout the powers of world and air. Who but a power higher than world and air could do this? Now where does Life or Righteousness, or lordship and authority of heaven lie, but with God alone? Therefore our most merciful God, when he willed that we be redeemed, made himself our redeemer in the person of his only-begotten Son." 

But God chose a very strange way for Jesus to triumph over death. Because when Jesus hung there on the cross, death came for him. The grave opened its mouth to swallow him up. It looked as though Jesus had given up without a struggle. But that was the biggest mistake of Death's life--so to speak--because when Death took hold of Jesus Christ, the one who was true God and true man, and brought the eternal Son of God down to the grave. When Death came for the one who had life in himself, death died. That is why the great Puritan John Owen, wrote about the Death of Death in the Death of Christ. The power of his divine life overcame all his enemies and ours, yet it is also by the power of his human life that his victory was given meaning for us. If the one who is fully God and fully man has defeated sin and death, then sin and death have no power over those who have been united to him.

If Jesus Christ has destroyed the power of sin and death, then you need to be united to him, and Paul says that in order to do that you must be baptized into his death, and that baptism must be brought to completion by faith. But, if you have been united to Christ, and if you have died with him, then you are not under the power of sin and death, but rather, you are under the transforming power of God in Jesus Christ. That is why Paul says in verse 11, "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." 

Sin is not your master--so do not let it master you. Sin has no more authority over you, than it does over Christ. Do you understand that? 

If you have believed in Jesus Christ and been united with him through baptism, then you died with Christ. And if you died with Christ, then you have died to sin, and that is how you have been rescued from the power and dominion of sin. 

But if you have not been united to Christ, if you have not been united to him by faith through baptism into his death, then you will never live with him. Because if you have not died with him, then you will not be raised with him. The death he died, he died to sin--if you have not died with him, then you are still under the power and dominion of sin. Yes, Jesus Christ triumphed over sin, but if you are not united to him, then you still remain in sin. And if you remain in sin, then when Christ destroys sin, he will destroy you. And yes, I have spoken of the death of death in the death of Christ, but if you do not believe in him, then you still remain under the power of death. And if you have not been united to his death, then when he returns to destroy death, he will destroy you. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father but by me." He didn't say that because he wanted to keep as many people out as he could. He said it because the only way to avoid being destroyed with sin and death, is to be united with the one who conquered sin and death. 

But if you believe in Jesus Christ--that he is truly the Son of God, and that whatever he has done for the redemption of the world, he has done it for you--and if you are baptized into his death, then you too, will be united to him in his death, and also in his resurrection, so that you might share in his glorious life.

Copyright © 2003 Peter J. Wallace