Liberated Living

(Study in Romans 6:1-14)

Overview: This is an exposition of Romans 6:1-14, and we will see what it means to be
crucified, buried, and resurrected with Christ. And how these truths can be a helpful reality in
your life.

Text: Romans 6:1-14

Introduction: There are many believers who are not fully enjoying their Christian life or
experiencing the victory purchased for them because they do not completely understand what
Jesus Christ did for them on the cross.

Two thousand years ago Jesus Christ won a decisive victory over sin on the cross. And the very
moment you placed your faith and trust in Him-You were instantly forgiven of all your sin and
immediately freed from the power of sin. Then making you a new creation He placed the Holy
Spirit in you to enable you to live within that victory and to enjoy that freedom. One of the
greatest truths of the Christian life is the One who gave His life for us also gave Himself to us so
that we would have the power to live a victorious life.

Theme: That’s what Romans Chapter six is all about and in these few verses Paul shows us how
to live free from the bondage of sin and enjoy a victorious life.

1. There Is Something You Need To Know (Romans 6:1-10).

God wants you to know that when you trusted Jesus Christ as savior you were totally identified
with Him. Speaking of our identification with Christ, Paul said, “For if we have been united
together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His
resurrection” (Romans 6:5).

What happened to Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection happen to you. When Jesus was
crucified, your sinful nature was crucified with Him. When He was buried, the old man was
buried with Him. When He was resurrected a new man, you were resurrected a new man, and
His victorious and powerful life is your victorious and powerful life. So, how can you experience
that victory and know His power? First, you need to know that you were crucified with Christ.

a. You were crucified with Him. “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” (Romans
6:6). When Jesus Christ was crucified, your old man, your old sinful nature was crucified with
Him. As a result of this crucifixion sins rule and reign was broken. Sin lost its power, its control,
and its authority in your life. Paul made that clear when he said, “What shall we say then? Shall
we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any
longer in it?” (Romans 6:1-2). “For he who has died has been freed from sin” (Romans 6:7).
Practically this means We are now free to say ‘no’ to sin and to say ‘yes’ to God. We are free
from being controlled by the power of greed, pride, envy, and covetousness. We are free being
dominated by unsatisfied desires, frustrated passions our insecurities and our fear of failure. We

1
do not have to be dominated by the lust of the flesh or poisoned by a spirit of bitterness and un-
forgiveness. When you trusted Christ as Savior, your old sinful nature was crucified and as a
result, sin lost its control, and authority in your life

b. You were buried with Him “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into
Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism
into death” (Romans 6:3-4a). At salvation our sin-stained past was buried with Christ. Baptism
symbolizes the burial and washing away of all your sins. As believers our sin-stained past is
forgiven and forgotten, and your sin will never again stand as a barrier between you and God.
Your sin stained past died and was washed away two-thousand years ago, in our Lord’s death
and burial”
To Jeremiah, God said, “I will forgive their iniquities and I will remember their sin no more”
(Jeremiah 31:34). The prophet Micah, God said, He “will cast all our sins into the depths of the
sea” (Micah 7:19). Not until you and I know that we have died to sin’s power and are dead to
our sinful past will we begin to live a liberated life.
c. You were raised with Him “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the
likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Romans
6:4b-5). At salvation we were raised as new creations and inhabited by the Holy Spirit, so we
can walk in the newness of life. As a new creation you were raised in true righteous and holiness.
Paul said, “the new man was created according to God in true righteousness and holiness”
(Eph. 4:24).

Because of our identification in Christ’s resurrection available to us is resurrection power. Paul

said, “that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection” (Philippians 3:10). He who died
for us, also died as us, now He lives in us that He might live His life through us in resurrection
power. His death, burial and resurrection made available to you resurrection power.

Our victory begins, when we know that we are dead to sin, alive unto God and as new creations
we have been empowered to walk in the newness of life.

2. There Is Something You Need To Reckon. (Romans 6:11)

“Likewise, you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus
our Lord” (Romans 6:11). To live life in the Spirit, we must reckon our death, burial, and
resurrection with Christ as true.

a. The meaning of reckoning is to add up the facts. The word “reckon” means “to count on a
fact as being true.” We are to count on the fact that we are in Christ, dead to sin’s power,
delivered from our sinful past and empowered to live a new life. Reckoning does not make this
true. It is already true. But reckoning on the fact that you are dead to sin and alive in Christ frees
you to live out of that fact. It enables you to draw upon the resources and power available to you
through your union with Christ. It is like shopping; we are free to shop and spend money
because we know there is money in our bank. In the same way we can are free to say no to sin
and live a new life because we know that Christ has already made provision and provided power
for our victorious living.

2
b. The manner of reckoning is to act on the facts. To reckon is an act of faith, it is a choice to
take God at His word and depend on the fact that we are dead to sin’s power, delivered from our
sin stained past and empowered to live as a new person. It is only when we by faith appropriate
these facts, will we see any measure of victory over sin.

Practically how do we reckon ourselves dead to sin?

When the flesh comes knocking at your door tempting you to sin by faith count on the fact that
you are dead to sin. Then depending upon the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit say, “Lord,
nail this temptation to the cross.” And that is exactly what he does; He immediately puts
temptation to death.
When the devil reminds you of your sin stained past, then count on the fact that you were buried
with Christ. Then depending upon the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit say, “NO” my past is
forgiven and forgotten. It was buried with Christ in Joseph’s borrowed tomb.

3. There Is Something We Need To Yield. (Romans 6:12-14)

“Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do
not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to
God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God”
(Romans 6:12-13). To maintain the victory won for us on the cross, we must know that we are
dead, buried and resurrected, by faith reckon this to be true, then we must consciously,
continually and completely yield ourselves to God.

a. The yielded life is the Spirit empowered life. It is only when we “present (yield) ourselves to
God” will we experience the power of God. The “yielded life is the Spirit empowered life.” Only
the Spirit of God can empower you to reckon sin dead in your daily life. That is why the
scripture says, “Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16).

b. The yielded life is the liberated Christian life. When the flesh, the devil and the world come
knocking at the door of your life tempting you to sin you must remind them, “that by the death of
Christ we have been delivered from the power of sin, in His burial we have been released from
the our sin stained past and through His resurrection we have become a new person, raised and
empowered to walk in the newness of life with Christ.” Then yield yourself to God and
depending upon the power of the Holy Spirit say to them, “You are no longer welcomed, get out
and stay out.”

Conclusion: When we know that in Christ, we are dead, buried and resurrected, by faith reckon
this to be true, then consciously yield ourselves to God. We will experience the power of the
Holy Spirit enabling us to live a victorious Christian life. To those who know, reckon and yield,
God promises victory from the power of sin, Paul promises,“For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:14).