Sermon Breakdown

1. The sermon examines Romans 6:11 which states "Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord."

2. This verse is the first exhortation in the book of Romans. We must pay close attention to it and interpret it correctly.

3. The guiding principle for interpretation is that we are to reckon as true of ourselves what Paul has said is true of Jesus Christ. This is clear from the words "likewise" and "also".

4. This is not an experimental or experiential statement. It is not about our fight against sin or getting rid of sinful feelings. It is about reckoning as true what is already true of us in Christ.

5. Our position and standing before God has already changed. We must believe this by faith in God's word, not based on our experience. This is what justification by faith means.

6. We must believe what God says about us like Abraham believed God's promise of a son even though it seemed impossible. We take God at His word.

7. In Christ, we have died once and for all to the realm, rule, and reign of sin and death. We have finished with them.

8. We must believe and reckon this to be true of ourselves, not based on our experience. This is about our position, not our practice.

9. Christ never had any sin or consciousness of sin. So this verse is not about getting rid of our sinful feelings. It's about reckoning our new position in Christ.

10. We must constantly hold onto the truth that in Christ we are dead to sin as He is dead to sin. Sin has no more dominion over us.

11. Though we still have contact with sin in our bodies, it no longer reigns over us. We are no longer under its dominion or in its territory.

12. We are no longer under law but under grace. Our relationship to the law has ended. We are not under its condemnation now or ever again.

13. There is no falling from grace. If we are in Christ, we are in Christ forever. He will never die again, and neither will we spiritually.

14. Physical death still occurs, but it has lost its sting and victory. It has no more legal rights over us. We "sleep in Jesus". Its terror is gone.

15. Though we die physically, we will never taste spiritual death - separation from God. Whoever believes in Jesus will never die spiritually.

16. Our outward man perishes but our inward man is renewed daily. Our earthly tent may be destroyed but we have an eternal building in heaven.

17. Jesus said whoever believes in Him has eternal life and will not come into condemnation. He has passed from death into life.

18. Jesus said whoever lives and believes in Him will never die. Though we may physically die, spiritually we will live.

19. The decay of our physical body does not affect our relationship to Christ. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.

20. We should not fear physical death or the loss of our faculties. Nothing can separate us from Christ's love - not death, life, angels, rulers, things present or to come, powers, height, depth, or anything else in creation.

21. Christians do not die but "fall asleep". Death has lost its sting and victory for us. We can challenge death, asking where its sting and victory are.

22. For Christians, death is gain because it brings us into Christ's presence. To die is gain. Death cannot tyrannize over us if it leads to gain.

23. We must learn to view ourselves as dead to sin and its consequences and alive to God. We must say that sin cannot enslave us again.

24. Though we may fall into sin, we do not fall from grace. We do not go back under sin's dominion. We remain in the kingdom of God's Son.

25. When Christians sin, we do not sin as slaves but as free people choosing wrongly. Unbelievers sin as slaves under sin's dominion.

26. Nothing and no one, not even the devil, can make us slaves to sin again. We are dead to sin's realm, rule, reign, and power.

27. Our attitude to sin has changed. We are no longer under its compulsion. We freely yield to sin, and it is foolish when we do.

28. "Backsliders" are Christians who fall into sin but remain miserable in it and will be restored. Unbelievers return to sin happily without misery or restoration.

29. We must reckon ourselves dead to sin, the law, and death. We have finished with them forever. We see this truth's implications for our conduct.

30. We will continue this sermon by looking at the positive side of reckoning ourselves alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.