5-3 Buried with Christ
As we have been emphasizing the JG characteristic, evangelism, this month, it will do us good to review a message or two gleaned from Romans 6. As we evangelize, we never need to lose sight of the thoughts implied in this passage.
- Folks are saved by the grace of God (v. 1). We do not save people, we prayerfully strive to lead them to salvation made available by God (Titus 2:11). Our work is but an extension of the blessings God has provided us. We are “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works (Ephesians 2:10).
- We are not just trying to baptize people. We are trying to lead them to newness of life (v. 4). It is not the number baptized that is important. It is the number saved and faithful to the end. Jesus taught us this in the great commission in Matthew 28:19-20. We are to “make disciples” (the proper translation where the KJV has “teach”) by baptizing souls and teaching them to continue in faithfulness by “observing all things” God has commanded.
- The new Christian (and the old) has renounced sin in order to become a new creature. We are “dead to sin” (v. 2). We should not serve sin (v. 6). We should consider ourselves to be “dead indeed to sin” (v. 11). We must not allow sin to “reign in your mortal body” (v. 12). We are not to obey the lustful desires of the flesh (v. 12). Sin must not have dominion over us (v. 14) because we are under grace.
- We and those we teach must have indelibly imprinted on our hearts that freedom from sin is the result of obedience from the heart (v. 16-17).
- Dear teacher, we must ever remind people that the wages of sin is death (v. 23), but there is eternal life through Jesus Christ.