Dead With Christ 10-4-26 AM

 I.            The placement (Rom. 6:3).

a.      Notice Paul’s preposition: into.

          i.      Paul does not say baptism happens because we are already in Christ.

          ii.      He says we are baptized into Christ.

b.     This language describes a change of relationship.

          i.      There is a before and an after.

          ii.      Outside of Christ; then into Christ.

c.      This is important because every spiritual blessing God gives is in Christ.

d.      To be in Christ means that Christ is now the sphere of our spiritual identity:

           i.      His death becomes the basis of our forgiveness.

           ii.      His righteousness defines the direction of our lives.

           iii.      His people become our people.

           iv.      His Father becomes our Father.

           v.      His resurrection becomes the guarantee of our resurrection.

e.      Paul says something very similar in Galatians 3:27.

           i.      Romans says baptized into Christ.

           ii.      Galatians says baptized into Christ.

           iii.      This is extremely plain language.

f.        Paul goes even further in Romans 6: baptized into His death.

           i.      Why His death?

           ii.      Because this is the place where the price was paid for sin.

           iii.      Jesus shed His blood in His death.

g.      To be baptized into His death is to enter the saving benefits that came about because of that death – not because water possesses some spiritual power.

h.      It is because God has appointed baptism as the believing, penitent sinner’s entrance into union with the crucified Christ.

i.        This should help us better understand some blessings associated being in Christ:

           i.      In Christ there is forgiveness.

1.      The blood of Jesus cleanses from sin (Rev. 1:5).

2.      It is not because we earn forgiveness by getting in water.

3.      Not because the water washes sin from our skin (1 Pe. 3:21).

4.      It is because Christ died for our sins, and God has told the believing, penitent sinner where he will meet Christ’s saving death.

            ii.      In Christ we become part of His body.

1.      Acts 2 tells us of people hearing the apostolic message, repenting and being baptized, after which the Lord added the saved to His church (Acts 2:38, 47).

2.      Acts 20:28 describes the church as the people Christ purchased with His own blood.

3.      Christ did not purchase one group with His blood and save another group somewhere outside it.

4.      The saved are His blood-bought people.

           iii.      In Christ we receive a new identity.

1.      Our defining identity is no longer: my sin, my past, my failure, my rebellion.

2.      It becomes: I belong to Christ.

j.        These all help us understand that baptism is much more than joining a congregation, completing a church requirement, or getting wet in front of an audience.

k.      If you were baptized biblically, you can look back on that moment and say: My baptism is when, through faith in God’s working, I surrendered myself to Christ, was washed in His blood, an entered the saving relationship He promised.

l.       If you believe in Jesus but have never been baptized into Him, Paul’s wording deserves your serious consideration.

          i.      If baptism is into Christ, why would we tell someone that entering Christ has nothing to do with salvation?

          ii.      If baptism is into His death, why would we separate baptism from the saving benefits of His death?

m.    Baptism does not merely point toward Christ; God places us into Christ.

II.            The performance (Rom. 6:4).

a.      What does baptism look like?

b.      Paul says it looks like a burial.

c.       This is not accidental imagery.

           i.      Jesus died, was buried, and was raised.

           ii.      Paul says our baptism corresponds to that pattern.

           iii.      We die to the rule of sin, we are buried in water with Christ, and we rise to walk in newness of life.

d.      Burial naturally corresponds to immersion.

           i.      You don’t bury someone by placing a few drops of dirt on his forehead.

           ii.      You don’t bury someone by pouring a small cup of dirt over his head.

           iii.      Burial involves being placed beneath.

e.      The Greek verb translated baptized has the meaning of “to dip, plunge, or immerse,” and that is why Romans 6 imagery fits immersion so naturally.

f.        Virtually all historical commentators across all Christian religions, with only a few exceptions, wrote that burial language fits immersion.

g.      Paul says buried by baptism.

h.      When you read baptismal accounts, they read as burials.

           i.      Jesus and John were in the water.

           ii.      John baptized near Salim because there was much water there.

           iii.      Both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water.

i.        If God just said get wet, the manner would not matter.

j.        God gave baptism meaning – it is a burial.

           i.      When a believer goes beneath the water the act proclaims that the old life is dying with Christ.

           ii.      When the believer is raised from the water the act proclaims a new life has begun.

k.      God designed baptism to preach the gospel with our bodies.

l.        Baptism is a burial because God designed to resemble Christ’s burial.

III.            The purpose (Rom. 6:4).

a.      Paul tells us why we die and are buried with Christ – so that we can rise different.

b.      Notice the movement – death, burial, resurrection.

c.       This should sound familiar to us (1 Cor. 15:1-4).

           i.      Paul reminds the Corinthians of Christ’s death for sins, His burial, and His resurrection.

           ii.      This is the saving gospel.

d.      Romans 6 shows the sinner responding to that gospel in a God-given likeness of it.

           i.      Christ died – we die to sin.

           ii.      Christ was buried – we are buried in baptism.

           iii.      Christ rose – we rise to walk in newness of life.

e.      The gospel is not just something we believe happened.

f.        It becomes the pattern into which our lives are placed.

g.      Romans 6:17-18.

           i.      The Romans obeyed a form, or pattern, of doctrine.

           ii.      This means a likeness.

           iii.      Paul just described death, burial and resurrection.

h.      This is why baptism is not a human work attempting to earn salvation.

i.        It is obedient faith reenacting the gospel God has told us to obey.

j.        Pay attention to Paul’s sequence.

           i.      Paul does not say, “Believe, begin walking in newness of life, and later be baptized.”

           ii.      He does not say, “Repent, receive newness of life, and then baptism symbolizes it.”

           iii.      He does not say, “Confess Christ, receive newness of life, and afterward be buried to demonstrate what has already taken place.”

k.      What Paul says is “We were buried with Christ by baptism into His death so that we can be raised to walk in newness of life.”

l.        Faith, repentance, and confession are all necessary.

m.    But none of those should be isolated from the God-given response that culminates in baptism.

           i.      Faith, repentance, and confession all bring us to baptism.

           ii.      In baptism, through faith in the working of God, the old person is buried with Christ and the new life begins.

n.      The power is not in the water – it is in God.

o.      Colossians 2:12 makes the very clear.

           i.      Who is working – God.

           ii.      Who is trusting – the sinner.

           iii.      Who is saving – God.

p.      Baptism is not salvation by human merit – it is salvation received through obedient faith in God’s working.

q.      Notice the word – walk.

r.       Baptism is not the finish life of discipleship – it is only the beginning of the new walk.

          i.      Some talk about baptism as though the only important thing is getting someone into the water.

          ii.      Paul, and God, are both equally concerned with how that person lives when he comes out of the water.

s.      When we are buried with Christ, there are some things that need to stay buried:

          i.      Bitterness, sexual immorality, dishonesty, cursing, selfishness, drinking, uncontrolled anger, envy, jealousy, worship of money.

          ii.      Whatever is sinful about us needs to stay buried.

t.       We don’t rise from baptism to continue living as though nothing happened.

          i.      Paul says we rise to walk in newness of life.

          ii.      Listen to what he told the Corinthians… (2 Cor. 5:17).

          iii.      Romans 6 – baptized into Christ.

          iv.      2 Corinthians 5 – in Christ, a new creation.

u.      If you’ve been baptized, Romans 6 is asking you, “Are you living like someone who died?”

v.      Every day we are choosing again to live the life that began when God raised us with Christ.

w.    We are buried with Christ so we can rise to live like Christ.

IV.            The promise (Rom. 6:5).

a.      Paul has moved from the past “were baptized,” to the present, “walk in newness of life,” to the future, “we shall be…”

b.      Baptism looks backward to cross, changes how live today, and points towards future resurrection.

c.       Paul certainly uses resurrection imagery in describing the beginning of Christian life, but verse 5 reaches toward the ultimate consequence of union with the rise Savior – those united with Christ in baptism have hope of sharing in His resurrection.

           i.      One day Jesus will return, the graves will open, the dead will be raised, and judgment will come.

           ii.      Those who belong to Christ will be raised to eternal life with Him.

d.      The Christ who conquered death will raise His people from death.

e.      Baptism says “I am tying my entire future to Jesus Christ.”

           i.      His death becomes my death to sin.

           ii.      His burial shapes my burial in baptism.

           iii.      His resurrection begins my new life.

           iv.      His final victory over death guarantees my hope beyond the grave.

f.        This should change the way you and I face death.

           i.      We grieve and we hurt.

           ii.      We miss people.

           iii.      We don’t pretend death is pleasant.

           iv.      But we don’t face it the grave as though it is the end of the story.

g.      For the one united with Christ, burial is temporary.

h.      Jesus walked out of His tomb, and because He lives, His people will rise.

i.        Those who die with Christ can face death expecting resurrection with Christ.