005 FREEDOM REVEALED: The Face of Freedom – part 1

Romans 6:1-11 (1-6)

July 20, 2025

Almost 4 years ago we hosted a Disciple Now here at the church

And our theme was “Identity Crisis”.

We certainly perceive that one of the main problems of our culture

Is that people don’t know who they are.

They are searching, but they are confused.

In recent years we have seen some bizarre declarations.

· We are all now familiar with the term, “I identify as…”

· Men who identify as women

· Women who identify as men

· We’ve even see people who identify as animals, either a cat or dog or something else.

Such nonsense is rightly defined as a mental illness.

But more than that it is A SPIRITUAL ILLNESS

That all comes from a reality that

Our world has no idea what it means even to be human.

And I want to revisit what we said to those teenagers a few years ago

As a way to help us understand sanctification and the power behind it.

Do you know what it means to be human?

For many to be human means to be flawed.

· “I’m only human…” we might say.

· I can’t do this or I can’t do that, “I’m only human.”

It can even speak of wickedness or sinfulness.

· We say, “To err is human…”

And so in some way we tend to think that failure and sinfulness

Are just part of what it means to be human.

BUT WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT TO BE HUMAN WAS TO BE PERFECT?

What if I told you that to be human was to be flawless and holy?

(You’d probably laugh at me or at least argue with me.)

But I want to remind you of something.

I want to remind you where humanity started and how it started.

Genesis 1:26-27 “Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

Now we could talk there about

· Man being given authority to rule over creation.

· Them being made male and female.

· All of that is true.

But for our purpose I only want you to recognize that

Man was made in the image of God.

“Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;”

“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him;”

Now you are aware that this DOES NOT MEAN

That man was made as a visual replica of God.

The Bible says that “God is Spirit…”

· The Bible does at times speak of God’s feet or God’s hands.

· But we also read in Scripture about God’s pinions or God’s wings.

That is what we call anthropomorphic language.

God is merely described in Scripture we terms we understand.

But God is Spirit and so we are not visual replicas.

Rather, to be made in the image of God

Speaks of us as God’s representative to creation.

God made Adam and gave him authority to rule

Because Adam was to be God’s representative to creation.

Creation was supposed to learn of God by watching Adam.

In fact, are you aware of what Adam is called?

Look at the end of Luke’s genealogy of Jesus:

Luke 3:38 “the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.”

· Adam is referred to as “the son of God.”

· He is the one made in the image of God.

· He is to be a representative of God to all of creation.

Genesis 5:1-3 “This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.”

Adam is called the same thing in relation to God

That his own son Seth is called in relation to him.

· Seth is according to Adam’s image,

· Just as Adam is according to God’s image.

ADAM WAS INTENDED TO REPRESENT GOD TO CREATION.

THAT IS HOW HUMANITY BEGAN.

BUT WHAT HAPPENED?

ADAM FELL.

· He became the prodigal.

· He sinned against God.

And the image which Adam was intended to bear

Became distorted.

NOW DON’T MISUNDERSTAND.

Mankind still bears the image of God.

Even after the flood

Genesis 9:3 “Whoever sheds man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed, For in the image of God He made man.”

Man is still the image bearer of God.

But man is now a distorted image.

· Like a Picasso painting.

· Like a funny mirror at the circus.

We no longer show the true and perfect image of God.

We are NOT EVEN HUMAN in the way God created humanity to be.

We are not “holy as [He] is holy”

And because humanity lost the image,

We even adopted a distorted view of God.

· Mankind tends to think God is like us.

· We try to compare God to us.

· We try to explain God in our manner of thinking.

But man lost their view of what humanity was truly supposed to be.

AND THEN CAME CHRIST.

The One who once again rightly bore the image of God.

Colossians 1:15 “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”

John 1:16-18 “For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.”

JESUS IS THE TRUE IMAGE BEARER.

And not only does Jesus show us who God is,

But Jesus shows us what true humanity is.

And from Jesus we learn that being truly human is NOT ABOUT

Good looks or vain appearance.

Jesus “had not stately form that we should be attracted to Him.”

We learn that being truly human is NOT ABOUT athletic ability or riches or popularity.

· Jesus never played baseball or won a Grammy or amassed 1,000 followers on TikTok.

WHAT DID JESUS HAVE?

HOLINESS

He had MAJESTIC HOLINESS – He was distinct, different, set apart.

He had MORAL HOLINESS - He was tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

And not only did Jesus show us who God was.

Jesus showed us once again what it means to be human.

Things like “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”

JESUS DEMONSTRATED TRUE HUMANNESS.

Michael Reeves said:

“Jesus was utterly loving, but He wasn’t soppy. His insight would unsettle people and His kindness would win them. Indeed you read the gospels and you see Jesus was a man of extraordinary and extraordinarily appealing contrasts. You simply couldn’t make Him up. Just try to imagine the perfect man. If you do you’ll come up with some wooden caricature of a man; a saintly bore. But Jesus is so much more realistic; so much better than any imaginary perfect man. See we would make Him only one thing or the other. But Jesus you see He’s red blooded and human, but not rough. He’s pure, but He’s never dull. Serious, but with sunbeams of whit. Sharper than cut glass, He would out argue all comers in debate, but never for the sake of a mere win. He knew no failings in Himself and yet was transparently humble. He made the grandest claims for Himself and yet does so without a whiff of [arrogance]. He ransacked the temple, He spoke of hellfire, He called Herod a fox, He called the Pharisees ‘corpses in makeup’ and yet never do you doubt His love as you read His life. With a huge heart He hated evil and felt for the needy. He loved God and He loved people. So you look at Him and you have to say, ‘Here’s a man truly alive, un-withered in any way, far more vital and vigorous, far more full and complete. Far more human than any other.’”

https://www.ligonier.org/learn/conferences/made-in-the-image-of-god

That was Jesus, “Far more human than any other.”

(Human in the sense of what humanity is supposed to be.)

SO JESUS BECOMES OUR MODEL AND OUR GUIDE.

· He restores the painting.

· He clarifies the true image of God and humanity.

· He shows us what we were meant to be.

Romans 8:29 “For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;”

Now the goal is to be “conformed to the image of His Son”

That is to be like Jesus and regain the image of God in our humanity.

BUT THAT IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE.

We have seen that being holy like God is holy

Has proven to be a task that humanity has not been up to.

Even though we see in Jesus what it is supposed to look like,

WE STILL FALL WAY SHORT.

But this Jesus DID MORE than just model true humanness to us.

JESUS REDEEMED US

· He died on a cross that He might redeem us from Adam’s curse.

· He entered the grave and came out again

· All that we might regain our intended image.

And His redemption promises that we will one day be restored.

1 Corinthians 15:49 “Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.”

2 Corinthians 3:18 “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Colossians 3:9-10 “Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him”

Ephesians 4:22-24 “that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.”

DO YOU SEE THE PROCESS AT WORK HERE?

DO YOU SEE WHAT GOD IS DOING?

God is restoring what Adam lost

And God is doing it through Jesus Christ.

While we are called and commanded to pursue sanctification.

You must understand that God is at work to accomplish it in you.

AND THAT IS WHAT WE DIVE INTO THIS MORNING.

We are talking about our FREEDOM REVEALED

Namely this is a freedom from sin.

And first we want to talk about “The Face of Freedom”

Which of course is none other than Jesus Christ.

Where Adam condemned us and distorted us.

Jesus steps in to redeem us and regenerate us.

WE ARE TALKING ABOUT WHAT JESUS HAS DONE FOR US ALREADY.

And that is what Paul reminds us of here in Romans 6.

Now we mentioned it in passing last week,

But we notice that Romans 6 BEGINS WITH A QUESTION.

Paul is anticipating the response of those reading his letter.

Paul had just stated that (5:20) “where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”

That statement was a fitting summary of the first 5 chapters of Romans.

· Man is sinful, incredibly sinful, in fact there is “none good, not even one”

· But no matter how bad sin was, His grace was more.

· Jesus came to redeem us from our sins and to make us children of God.

Paul therefore asks, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?”

As we noted, this is that ANTINOMIAN RESPONSE.

Antinomianism is simply a term which means “against the Law” or “No Law”

It is a title given to those who wrongly assume that

Because grace has come, Christians are free to live in sin.

· Perhaps Paul was afraid that some would misunderstand his point and adopt such a view.

· Perhaps Paul had been accused of preaching such a view.

SO PAUL ADDRESSES THE SUBJECT

Are we now free to sin?

Does grace give us a license to sin?

He asked “Are we to continue in sin..?”

“continue” there is the Greek word (ep-ee-MAY-no)

It speaks of “habitual persistence”

It can even speak of “making a place a permanent residence”

Paul is NOT talking here about the believer who may fall into sin by succumbing to temptation.

Paul IS talking about the person who claims to be a believer

But who determines to make some sin their habitual lifestyle.

In verse 2 Paul answers his question.

(2) “May it never be!”

· It is the strongest negative used in Scripture

· It is Paul’s way of showing how appalled he is at such a thought.

Today you might say, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”

Or perhaps you would ask, “Are you ought of your mind?”

That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard of!

And then Paul gives one statement that crushes the argument completely.

And it is the statement we need to understand.

(2b) “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

Well there is your answer.

And with that, this morning let’s make our first point

Regarding how Jesus has sanctified us.

#1 DEAD MEN DON’T PARTICIPATE

Romans 6:2-7

Paul asks, “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

What you have is

1. Paul stating a Christian reality

2. Then a Christian impossibility based on that reality.

In physical sense we would simply ask it like this.

CAN DEAD MEN STILL LIVE?

And you’d say, “No, that’s kind of the whole point of being dead.”

When you’re dead, you no longer live.

Solomon did a good job of explaining death to us in Ecclesiastes.

Ecclesiastes 9:5-6 “For the living know they will die; but the dead do not know anything, nor have they any longer a reward, for their memory is forgotten. Indeed their love, their hate and their zeal have already perished, and they will no longer have a share in all that is done under the sun.”

What was Solomon saying about death?

Namely this, that dead people no longer participate in the activities of life.

That’s what hurts so much when we lose a loved one.

We often talk about that first year after a loved one dies.

· They won’t be there at Thanksgiving.

· They won’t be there at Christmas.

· They won’t be there at the ballgame.

· They will no longer have any accomplishments in life.

The point is:

DEAD MEN DON’T PARTICIPATE

Well here, Paul says that “we…died”.

Now because that is the case, it would be utterly foolish

To assume that we would go on doing the same things

We did when we were alive.

It would be non-sensical to expect a man who died

To still do the things that he did while he lived.

“How shall we who died still live in it?”

So in a simple sense we understand the point.

But it would seem that Paul can see the confused look

On the face of his audience, so he will elaborate.

What do you mean “we who died”?

So Paul continues.

(3) “Or do you not know...?”

Perhaps it’s that you are not aware that you died.

Perhaps you’re dead and don’t know it.

“Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?”

Clearly Paul’s overall point is that

When we were joined to Christ we were also joined to His death.

By reason of our identification with Christ we were identified in His death.

· He became our representative, our head.

Just like we were in Adam when he transgressed the command of God

So also we were in Christ when He died on the cross.

They as our representative performed a work that we fully participate in

By reason of them being our head or representative.

THAT IS THE POINT OF THE VERSE,

But I realize that there is more that needs to be discussed.

The wording Paul uses is perfect, but it has been open to much debate

And you need to know what he means.

Paul says that “all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus”.

OK, LET’S TALK ABOUT THAT.

We are talking about those who were formerly in Adam,

But who are now in Christ Jesus.

AND THE QUESTION IS:

· “How did you make that transition?”

· “How did you get from being in Adam to being in Christ Jesus?”

And the answer: YOU WERE BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST.

Galatians 3:26-27 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

And the immediate temptation…

And the distortion we deal with today…

So when I got in the baptistery and was baptized in water,

That’s how I got into Christ?

AND THE EMPHATIC ANSWER IS: NO!

Water had nothing to do with it.

Water is just a symbol of what actually happened.

BUT FIRST LET ME ASK YOU, How did you get into Adam?

You say, “I don’t know, I never really made that decision. I never did anything to be in Adam.”

That’s right. You were born in Adam.

Psalms 51:5 “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me.”

SO HOW DO YOU GET INTO CHRIST?

Same way, you must be born again.

HERE Paul says you are “baptized into Christ Jesus”

That is the same thing as being born again.

LET ME EXPLAIN THE CONFUSION.

In Scripture we actually see 4 different baptisms.

3 of them are seen in Matthew 3

Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

The first is by John the Baptist, and what is it?

“with water for repentance”

· It was akin to the ceremonial washings of the Old Testament.

· Jews were to recognize their uncleanness before God and symbolic of their repentance was that they were to be baptized.

So did John’s baptism take away sin?

Of course not, it was only water.

Remember what John said to the Pharisees?

Matthew 3:7-10 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. “The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

John didn’t want the Pharisees getting in the water

Because he knew they were not repentant in heart.

That water can’t take away sins.

It was symbolic of a person who was repentant

And who wanted their sin gone.

THAT WAS THE FIRST BAPTISM.

WAS THAT SALVATION?

NO, in fact we see later in the book of Acts that there were those who received John’s baptism who still weren’t saved.

Acts 19:1-5 “It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. He said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And they said, “Into John’s baptism.” Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.” When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

So you have John’s baptism which was merely a declaration of repentance.

(Put Matthew 3:11-12 back upon the screen)

What is the second type of baptism you see there?

· It is Jesus baptizing and what is He baptizing with…water? No, the Holy Spirit.

· There is a baptism of the Holy Spirit.

Then there is a third baptism,

· This one also of Jesus and this time baptizing with what? Fire

So what does fire represent?

· Later John says “He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire”

· In John’s sermon fire represents judgment.

So here is what we have in Matthew 3.

3 baptisms.

· A baptism of repentance (water)

· A baptism of salvation (Spirit)

· A baptism of fire (judgment)

The fourth baptism is what you and I know as “believer’s baptism” where those who have placed their faith in Christ are baptized in water to symbolize their death to sin and newness of life.

Acts 10:47 “Surely no one can refuse the water for these to be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we did, can he?”

SO THAT’S A QUICK PICTURE OF BAPTISM.

Well the baptism Paul is referring to back in Romans 6

Is that BAPTISM OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

He is talking about the day when we were taken out of Adam

And the Holy Spirit immersed us into or joined us to Christ.

Let me give you another picture of it.

1 Peter 3:21 “Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you—not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience—through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,”

There Peter makes the statement that “baptism now saves you”

· But he is also very careful to make sure you know that it is not the water he is

talking about.

· Peter is talking about that inward change that occurred in your heart that

cleansed your conscience and united you with Christ.

It is not an outward water thing, it is an inward Holy Spirit thing.

Listen to Paul

Titus 3:5-6 “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,

See that “washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit”?

THAT IS WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT.

We are talking about how you were placed into Christ Jesus.

Water doesn’t teleport you into Christ.

The Holy Spirit does that.

By the work of the Holy Spirit you were born again or renewed

Or regenerated or baptized into Christ.

You were made to be one with Christ.

1 Corinthians 6:15-17 “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? May it never be! Or do you not know that the one who joins himself to a prostitute is one body with her? For He says, “The two shall become one flesh.” But the one who joins himself to the Lord is one spirit with Him.”

Like a marriage.

The Holy Spirit joined you to Christ.

You were formerly in Adam, but now you are in Christ.

· Adam was your representative.

· Christ became your representative.

· Adam was your head.

· Christ became your head.

And it is the Holy Spirit who performed the ceremony.

He immersed you into Christ.

I just want you to know that it wasn’t water that did that.

FAITH WAS THE CATALYST

Galatians 3:26-27 “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”

· It all happened “through faith”

And when you placed your faith in Christ Paul says

“you were baptized into Christ”

It’s not something you did, it is something God did.

You didn’t baptize yourself, you were baptized.

I JUST WANT US TO BE CLEAR.

We are talking about how you came to be united to Christ.

· When you heard the gospel and believed in the finished work of Christ,

· The Holy Spirit took you out of Adam and placed you in Christ.

· Just as Adam once acted on your behalf and condemned you.

· Now Christ acts on your behalf and saves you.

So: YOU WERE UNITED WITH CHRIST.

THAT MEANS that now you are a participant in Christ’s works.

Remember, while in Adam you were a participant in Adam’s works.

· In Adam, you sinned in the garden. You got credit too.

· In Adam, you transgressed the command of God. You got credit too.

· He was your delegate, your representative, your federal head.

Well now you are in Christ so you become a participant in Christ’s works.

And here Paul wants to highlight 3 works of Christ

That you participate in by reason of being in Christ.

His death, His burial, and His resurrection.

(3-5) “Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,”

Are you understanding this?

· When He died, you died.

· When He was buried, you were buried.

· When He was raised, you were raised.

Just like God imputed the works of Adam to you,

So now God imputes the works of Christ to you.

SO when Paul says in verse 2 “we…died”

NOW YOU KNOW WHAT HE MEANS.

He means we died with Christ.

But Paul also wants you to know THE RAMIFICATIONS of that.

(6-7) “knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin.”

Here is where Paul comes home with his argument.

You want to know if you can still live in sin?

· You want to know if you can “continue” in sin?

· You want to know if you can keep living the way you used to live?

“May it never be!”

WHY?

Because in Christ you died and dead men don’t participate

Any longer in the aspects of their former life.

Paul said, “he who has died is freed from sin.”

Now this is what we introduced LAST WEEK.

This is what we call DEFINITIVE SANCTIFICATION

This is something that Christ already did for you.

· He took you with Him into death.

· He took you with Him into the grave.

And that is a good thing, because by doing so,

He set you free from the sinful habits of your old fallen life.

THAT IS THE POINT.

· Christ already killed your old man.

· Christ already killed the man of flesh.

· Christ already laid aside your old self.

· (we’ll see next time) Chrit already put on your new self.

He did that.

He pulled you out of your old life.

NOW LISTEN.

YOU DIDN’T DO THAT, CHRIST DID THAT.

Salvation is NOT your best effort to live a better life.

(That is morality and it saves no one)

Salvation WAS NOT when you decided to turn over a new leaf.

Jesus talked about when a man moralizes himself and rids himself of his demons, how that man ends up worse than when he started.

Matthew 12:43-45 “Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. “Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. “Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.”

Your death is not something you did.

It is something Christ did.

He died, and because the Holy Spirit identified you with Him, you died too

And the result is that

You no longer participate in the affairs of your former life.

“How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”

YOU DON’T.

Furthermore:

“he who had died is free from sin.”

AND THIS MORNING BRETHREN, LET THAT SINK IN!

THIS WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE FOR YOU.

· He set you free from sin.

· He set you free from the power of that old man.

That man who was overcome with lust and greed and anger

And envy and strife and jealousy and discontentment.

JESUS KILLED THAT MAN.

He no longer has control.

Praise Jesus for that! He is sanctifying you!

He has come, in the image of God,

And He is working to conform you to His image.

He is working to recreate the proper image of God in you.

He is concerned with your sanctification.

He went into death that He might take you with Him.

And so that through death your old master might be killed.

SANCTIFICATION IS POSSIBLE BECAUSE OF CHRIST’S WORK.

YOU ARE FREE