Set Free to Preach the Gospel We Need to Hear :: Romans 6:1-11

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[Introduction]

Dear brothers in Christ, what I’m about to say is nothing new, but it needs to be said. 

It is unanimously confessed in our churches, in accordance with the Word of God, that we poor sinners are justified before God and saved only by him through faith in Christ. We cannot by our own reason or strength save ourselves. We cannot by our own reason or strength create faith. There is nothing that we can do … there is nothing we can say … to cause or merit our justification before God. 

Jesus alone saves. He alone is our righteousness. He alone lived in perfect obedience to the Father, fulfilling all righteousness in baptism. He alone suffered and died on a cross for sins. He alone has made atonement for all sin … your sin and mine … yesterday’s, today’s, and tomorrow’s … on account of the blood he shed. And he was raised from the dead on the third day for your justification. Death has no more dominion over him.

He forgives. He justifies. And He saves … YOU.

3. I am belaboring this theological truth because sadly, our world not only commonly denies it, it commonly rejects how God imparts this salvation to us.

Depending on which demographic study you listen to, at least 55 percent of US Christians today … maybe even 70 percent … reject the doctrine of infant baptism. They say there is no need for infant baptism, even when Jesus says otherwise. They say babies are innocent in the eyes of God and good at heart, even when they know that only God is good (Mt 19:17) and that out of our heart comes every evil desire (Mt 15:19). They say there is no example of infants being baptized, even when Jesus called us to baptize and teach all nations (Mt 28:19).

Given that there are upwards of 200 million Christians in the United States today, that means about 110 million people reject one of the core promises of God ... baptism washes, justifies, sanctifies (1 Cor 6:11). In fact, it saves because it unites us in the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Brothers, your neighbors are behaving like the disciples who were rebuked by Jesus for trying to prevent parents from bringing their babies to him (Mt 19:13-14). They do this because they trust themselves ... their reason, their feelings, their tradition ... more than they trust God. They think that God is somehow incapable of giving saving faith to an infant … even when they know God enabled 3,000 souls to hear the call to repent and be baptized in their own language ... all at the same time ... through the preaching of just one man ... on the Day of Pentecost. 

They prefer to rely on their own works, their own struggles, their own prayers, their own religious exercises, their own love to conquer all. They prefer to reason “in so far as” for their confessions instead of “because.” And it is teaching OUR people to do the same. 

2.

When Paul asks … Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? … the world says, Sure, why not?

To be sure, there are no church bodies in America that would actually admit in the precise words that they condone living in sin. But a growing number of church bodies ... and I am sure you know those I am talking about  ... mock Paul’s teaching by suggesting that since a phrase such as “babies were baptized” doesn’t appear in the Bible, it is therefore not important. 

They do the same thing by saying that since “abortion,” “transgenderism,” “polyamory,” “cohabitation,” and “no-fault divorce” are not specifically condemned, they therefore have no need to preach against it. But you do. They openly embrace and welcome such depravity into their community, who in turn teach our lambs to look the other way, too. But you know the truth.  

We should by no means continue in sin because ...

1. The Sacrament of Holy Baptism sets us free from the sin in our lives by uniting us in the word of the cross.

Paul frames it this way: Do you not know that as many of us who have been baptized in 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, in this way we also may walk in the newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we also will certainly be united in a resurrection like his (vv 3-7).

This is not just metaphor. Paul is telling us how baptism saves ... even the most vulnerable.

In simple words, we have been crucified with Christ. Our sin died with Jesus. It is no more. We have been cleansed with water and the word … sanctified ... set apart. And we have been raised with Jesus. We therefore have eternal life now in Christ. The life we live, we live by faith in Christ. As Jesus says in John 11: Though we die, yet will we live. This is because Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And on account of the Word in and with the water in baptism, he lives in you and you live in him. His life is your life. Behold, he is always with you.

YOU HAVE BEEN SET FREE TO PREACH THIS GOSPEL WE NEED TO HEAR

Though the old sinful flesh still clings to you ... though we all face the cravings of the body ... you are baptized … through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior. 

Though the Old Adam struggles against us to embrace evil thoughts, words, and deeds ... you are baptized … so that having been justified in his grace, we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. This saying is trustworthy and I want you to insist on these things (Titus 3:4-8a). 

[Conclusion]

Every Christian knows that God calls us to live holy lives ... to dedicate ourselves to following Jesus. But we all need to be constantly reminded of the incredible gift God has given us in baptism ... that if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will never die again. … So … consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rm 6:8-11). Amen,

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