“Being in Christ is not rehabilitation, it’s

recreation!”

Digging Up the Dead Man!

Rom 6:3-4 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, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the

glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

One of the most important lessons!

•When one becomes a Christians, this is indeed one of the most important lesson they need to properly understand!

•Yet, this lesson isn’t only for the new Christian, it is for all of us!

•There is a great deal of trouble in the lives of many Christians, because they have either forgotten and/or never understood this valuable lesson!

A constant battle!Not a one time event!

•Jas 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.•Submit to God, resist the devil, then he will

flee•Lk 9:23 Then He said to them all, “If anyone

desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.”•Deny self, take up cross, then follow me•“...present your bodies a living sacrifice...”

Caution: Danger Ahead!•Every day we as Christians/God’s beloved

children, must be careful not to keep “digging up the dead man!”

•If 1 Cor. 13 can be called “the chapter of love” then Rom. 6 should be “the death of the dead man, or the old man of sin!”

•We are told twice in this chapter that we cannot “keep on” sinning! (Rom. 6:1, 15)•“for the wages of sin is death...” (Rom.

6:23)

I.Must Remain Buried!The Dead Man...

•I would imagine that for the most part none of us would find fulfillment in going around digging up the dead! There are many reasons for this!•Dead men belong in the grave!•John 11:39 Jesus said, "Take away the

stone." Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."

It doesn’t make sense to dig up again, one just buried!

•Yet, this is what we often find many Christians doing! With the old man of sin!•Even though the old man is dead and buried,

many constantly keep digging him up again!•We must keep in mind the price that was paid,

to put away, to bury the old man!•With this in mind why would we want to dig him

back up again?•“In who we have redemption through His

blood, the forgiveness of sin...” (Eph. 1:7)

The new life in Christ is...One of crucifixion!!!

•Gal 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

•Rom 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?

•We have been “born again!” (Jn. 3:3, 7)

II. Must Remind Us!The Dead Man...

•It seems that as time goes on, many have a tendency to forget!•It is often that we need to “remember!”•We need to remember that life was hopeless

when we lived for the dead man!•Eph 2:11-12 Therefore remember that you, once

Gentiles in the flesh ... that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

The church of Ephesus!

•Rev. 2:4-5 "Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first love. "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place- -unless you repent.”

•It has been said, “if we do not learn from the mistakes of the past, we are doomed to repeat them!”

III. Can Remove Us!The Dead Man...

•The Bible often warns of the danger of turning back to a life of sin!•2 Pet 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the

pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning.

•See also (Heb. 6:4-6; Mt. 12:45; Heb. 10:26- 27 cf. 2 Pet. 1:4 & 2:18)

Last 2 verses of James!

•Js 5:19-20 Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

•We often speak of the sinner needing to be turned back to God, but what about the saint? Are we without danger?

From milk to meat!

•Heb 5:12-14 For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

The child of God cannot/ must not keep on sinning!1 Jn. 3:4-10

•We have been redeemed, the old man has been buried, we have been given new life again!

•Php 3:12-13 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,

Conclusion:•Where is the dead man in your life?

Have you buried him in baptism, has he be crucified with Christ?

•If you are a Christian, then we ask you, “have you been digging up the dead man, or working daily to keep him buried?”

•It is time we understand the need to truly live “a new life in Christ!”

•Have you begun this journey?