3298. Lessons from Christ’s Baptism

A Sermon Published On Thursday, April 18, 1912.

And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up immediately out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and alighting on him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” {Mt 3:16,17}

For other sermons on this text:

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 909, “Voices From the Excellent Glory” 900}

   {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 3298, “Lessons from Christ’s Baptism” 3300}

   Exposition on Mt 3:13-4:11 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2613, “Sonship Questioned” 2614 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Mt 3; 11:20-30 Re 7:9-17 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2704, “Flee From the Wrath to Come” 2705 @@ "Exposition"}

   Exposition on Ps 2 Mt 3 {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2409, “Great Sermon by the Greatest Preacher, A” 2410 @@ "Exposition"}

   {See Spurgeon_SermonTexts "Mt 3:17"}

1. I want to teach two lessons tonight; the first will be a most necessary one for the unconverted, the second will be more suitable for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.

2. I. Without any preface, let us at once try to learn the first lesson from the text, which relates to THE CO-WORKING OF THE TRINITY IN THE MATTER OF OUR SALVATION.

3. There are some who seem to suppose that Jesus Christ is our Saviour to the exclusion of God the Father and of God the Holy Spirit, but this is a most erroneous idea. It is true that we are saved by the precious blood of Christ, but it is equally true that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit have had their share in the great work of our salvation. In order that we might not fall into the error into which some have been entangled, it pleased God to give us, at the very beginning of Christ’s public ministry, a very distinct intimation that he did not come alone, and that he did not undertake the work of our redemption apart from the other adorable persons of the ever-blessed Trinity.

4. Try to picture to yourselves the scene that our text describes. There is Jesus Christ who has just been baptized in Jordan by John, and John bears witness that he is the Son of God because the sign from heaven for which he had been told to look had been given. As Jesus comes up out of the water, the Spirit of God descends on him in a visible form, in the appearance like a dove, and rests on him. John says that “it abode on him,” as though the Spirit was to be his continual Companion after this; and, truly, it was so. At the same time that the dove descended, and rested on Christ, there was heard a voice from heaven, saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” This was the voice of God the Father, who did not reveal himself in a bodily form, but, uttered wonderful words such as mortal ears had never heard before. The Father revealed himself, not to the eye as the Spirit did, but to the ear; and the words he spoke clearly indicated that it was God the Father bearing witness to his beloved Son. So that the entrance of Christ into his public ministry on earth was the chosen opportunity for the public display of the intimate union between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

5. Now, sinner, from this day forward, if you have never done so before, think humbly, reverently, and lovingly of all the three persons of the most blessed Trinity in Unity. Bless the Son of God for becoming man in order that he might redeem us from destruction. He left his glory in heaven, and was made in the likeness of men, so that he might suffer in our place, as the Lamb of God’s Passover, and that we might shelter beneath his sprinkled blood, and so escape the sword of vengeance. Do you know that, when Christ was baptized, he gave, as it were, a picture of his great work of redemption? He said to John, “So it becomes us to fulfil all righteousness,” by which I understand, not that he fulfilled all righteousness by being baptized, but that his baptism was a picture or emblem of the fulfilment of all righteousness. What was done with Christ when he was baptized? Why, first, he was regarded as one who was dead, and therefore he was buried beneath the waters of Jordan. So he demonstrated, by a most significant symbol, the fact that he had come to earth to be obedient to death, even the death of the cross, and that in due time he would actually die, and be really buried, as now he was submerged beneath the yielding wave in a metaphorical burial. But baptism does not consist of merely plunging the person into the water; he must be lifted out again, otherwise he would be drowned, not baptized. So the Saviour, when he rose up out of the water, demonstrated his own resurrection. By his baptism, he figuratively said, “I shall die for sinners, I shall rise again for sinners, and I shall go back to heaven to plead for sinners. My death will put away their offences, and my resurrection will complete their justification.” Go, you who long for salvation, and by faith look to the Saviour dying on the cross at Calvary, see him buried in Joseph’s tomb, see him rise the third day, and after forty days see him ascend to heaven leading captives captive. His dying, his burial, his rising, his ascension, — these are the fulfilment of all righteousness, and it is by these that you must be saved. — It is not your being baptized that can save you; it is Christ’s being baptized for you with that baptism of blood when he poured out his soul to death so that you might live for ever. It is not your suffering, but his suffering that avails for your salvation; it is not your being or your doing that is the secret of blessing, but it is his being and his doing on which you must depend for everything. Trust in Jesus Christ, and you shall find salvation in him.

6. Now I want you to look with humbly grateful eyes to God the Holy Spirit. You remember how Jesus Christ applied to himself the words he read in the synagogue at Nazareth: “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he has sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” It was the Spirit of God who gave success to Jesus Christ’s ministry; and if you, dear friend, would be saved, it is only the Holy Spirit who can take away from you the heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh. Please think with holy reverence of that mighty, mysterious Being who works in human hearts, and moulds them according to the will of God. By nature, you are spiritually dead, and only the Spirit of God can give you spiritual life. By nature, you are spiritually blind, and only the Spirit of God can give you spiritual sight. Even the work of Christ on the cross does not avail for you until the Holy Spirit takes from the things of Christ, and reveals them to you. You must look to Christ, or he will not save you; you must trust in Christ, or his precious blood will not be applied to you; but you will never look to him or trust in him unless the Father, who sent him, shall draw you to do so by his Spirit effectively working in you. When we are thinking and speaking of the Holy Spirit, let us always feel as if we must take off our shoes from our feet, for the place on which we stand is especially holy. You remember how solemnly Christ warns us concerning the consequences of even speaking against the Holy Spirit: “Whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.” Whenever we mention the name of the Holy Spirit, let us do it with holy awe and reverence, remembering that it is the Spirit who quickens, it is the Spirit who instructs, it is the Spirit who sanctifies, it is the Spirit who preserves, it is the Spirit who prepares us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. So, to the ever-blessed Spirit of God as well as to the well-beloved Son of God be glory and honour, praise and power, for ever and ever.

7. With equal reverence and with equal awe let us also think of God the Father. What does the Father say here concerning Christ? First, he calls him his Son. There has been much disputing about how Christ can be equal with the Father, and equally eternal, and yet be the Son of the Father. This is a great deep into which you and I, dear friends, will do well not to pry. We usually speak of Christ being the Son of the Father by what is called “eternal generation.” I confess that there is a mystery here which I can neither understand nor explain; but since the Father calls him his Son, I unhesitatingly believe that he is what the Scripture constantly calls him, “the Son of God.” In our text, we find that the Father not only calls Christ his Son, but he says, “This is my beloved Son.” What amazing love there must be in the heart of each one of the divine persons in the sacred Trinity towards each of the others! How blessedly they must look at each other with divine favour and satisfaction! There never could be any diversity in their interests, for they are one in heart, one in purpose, one in every respect, even as Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.”

8. Now, sinner, the point to which I especially want to direct your thoughts is this, — that God not only calls Christ his Son, and his beloved Son, but that he says he is well pleased with him; and this concerns you in that, if you are united to Christ so as to be one with him, and God will also be well pleased with you for his dear Son’s sake. But can a sinner ever be pleasing to God? Not in himself, apart from Christ, but all who are in Christ are “accepted in the Beloved.” His Father is so pleased with him that all whom he represents are pleasing to God for his sake. “But,” one asks, “how can I be in Christ?” My dear friend, if you are one of the Lord’s chosen, you are already in Christ in God’s eternal purpose; but the way in which you must by experience be part of Christ is by true faith in him. To trust in Jesus is to be in Jesus. To rely on the atoning sacrifice of Christ is to be one with Christ. Faith is the uniting bond which binds together the Christ in whom we believe and those who believe in him. If you are truly trusting in Christ, God looks at you as a part of Christ’s mystical body, and he is well pleased with you for Christ’s sake.

9. So, then, you have the Son suffering for you, the Spirit applying to you the merit of his atoning sacrifice, and the Father well pleased with you because you are trusting in his beloved Son. Or, to put the truth in another form, the Father gives the great gospel feast, the Son is the feast, and the Spirit not only brings the invitations, but he also gathers the guests around the table. Or, to use another metaphor, God the Father is the fountain of grace, God the Son is the channel of grace, and God the Holy Spirit is the cup with which we drink from the flowing stream. I wish that I could really make you see Jesus Christ standing by Jordan’s brink as he came up out of the water after he had been baptized by John, and the Spirit of God descending, and alighting on him, and that I could make you hear the voice of the Father saying, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” If I could do this, all I should have to add would be John’s message, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” There is eternal life for everyone who truly looks to him by faith.

   There is life for a look at the Crucified One,

      There is life at this moment for thee;

   Then look, sinner, look unto him, and be saved,

      Unto him who was nail’d to the tree.

10. II. In beginning my sermon, I told you that the second lesson I wanted you to learn tonight would be more suitable for believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, though at the same time it may also be useful for the unconverted, just as I hope the first lesson has been helpful for the people of God though especially intended for those who are not yet affirmedly on the Lord’s side. This second lesson, on which I have now to speak, relates to THE DESCENT OF THE SPIRIT ON BELIEVERS, but I would not have dared to take the text without also calling your attention to the first lesson on which I have already spoken.

11. I want you to clearly understand that, just as the Holy Spirit rested on Christ, so he rests on all who are in Christ; indeed, when the Spirit rested on Christ, he rested on the whole Church that was represented by Christ. You remember that David says the unity of brethren is “like the precious ointment on the head, that ran down on the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments.” So the anointing that Christ received from the Holy Spirit ran down to the very lowest, and least, and last of the members of that Church of which he is the Head.

12. When the Holy Spirit descended from heaven like a dove, and alighted on Christ, that descent was intended to teach us several lessons which we will now try to learn. Consider, first, the swiftness of that descent. The heavens were opened, there was no delay, but swiftly as a flash of lightning the Spirit descended, and alighted on Christ. Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, do you feel dull and heavy tonight? Are you depressed in spirit? There is no reason why, within the next second, you should not be in quite a heavenly frame of mind, for the Spirit of God can descend on you like a dove, and immediately you shall be lifted up out of your dullness and despondency. The Spirit needs no time in which to work. The motions of matter are necessarily tardy; matter can only move at a certain rate, and there are many things that retard it. But, as you know, the motion of the mind is far more rapid; your thoughts can fly to America, and back again, more swiftly than I can describe their flight. In a flash, your mind can be soaring away up among the stars millions and millions and millions of miles away. Now, the mind of the Spirit is the highest order of mind, for he is divine, and therefore his motions are swift as the light; indeed, they are incomparably swifter than that. He descended like a dove in order to illustrate the swiftness of his flight. You remember that expression in the Song of Solomon, “Even before I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.” So it happens when the Spirit comes to us, our soul is as if it were borne along in a swiftly-driven chariot. It does not take the Holy Spirit an hour to convert a soul. The vital spark that regenerates a soul is kindled in an instant. Instantaneous conversion is not the exception, it is the rule; there cannot be any conversion unless it is instantaneous The later growth, the development of the work of grace in the heart and life is gradual, but there is a moment in which the soul passes from death to life, from slavery to liberty, from sin to righteousness. And I have already said to you, Christian friends, that you can in a moment be transported out of a dull, languishing state of heart into one of holy peace and joy. Breathe the prayer, — 

   Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly Dove,

      With all thy quickening powers,

   Come, shed abroad a Saviour’s love,

      And that shall kindle ours; — 

and there is no reason why he should not grant your request even before you have finished your petition.

13. The figure of a dove also represents softness as well as swiftness. Rapidity generally causes some measure of sound; we usually associate hurry with noise, but it is not so with the Spirit of God. He descended with silent wings, and alighted on Christ as he came up out of the river where he had been baptized. If it had been recorded that the Spirit descended like an eagle, we should have thought of the whirring of great wings; but the dove’s flight is of a far gentler and quieter order. So, beloved, the Spirit of God may come down on some of us in this house tonight, yet no one may be aware of his coming except those on whom he rests as he rested that day on Christ. Your neighbour may not perceive what has happened to you; there need be no outcry, no shouting, no violent contortions as there have been in certain revivals of which we have heard. No; the blessed Spirit frequently works invisibly, as the wind blows where it wishes, and sometimes blows so softly that we are not conscious of the slightest sound from the gentle zephyrs that fan our cheeks. I pray that, in the solemn silence of the mind, many of you may experience the descent of the Holy Spirit like a dove, so swift yet so soft, so gentle yet so strong.

14. Besides this, wherever the Spirit comes, he works according to his own holy nature. He comes like a dove, and he operates in a dovelike manner; and if he graciously operates on you, you also will have dovelike qualities given to you. What are they? Well, I think that the first thought we associate with a dove is that of purity. You remember that the spouse in the Song of Solomon says of her Beloved, “His eyes are as the eyes of doves”; and the Bridegroom says to his spouse, “You are fair, my love; behold, you are fair; you have doves’ eyes”; that is, eyes of purity, bright sparkling eyes that do not care to look at what is unclean. The dove in no carrion-loving bird, and you will remember that it was the only bird that was offered to God in sacrifice under the old covenant. Perhaps someone says, “Oh, but it was written in the law, ‘A pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons!’” Yes, it was so written; but then I remind you that a pigeon is only one member of the great dove family, and that it was only among the doves, of all feathered creatures, that there was found a bird that was clean enough to be offered to God as a sacrifice. So the selection of a dove as the emblem of the Holy Spirit is very suggestive, for, wherever he comes, he creates purity. If a man shall live a life of uncleanness, and hatred, and malice, and then say that he has the Holy Spirit dwelling in him, he lies, for the Spirit makes us first pure, and then peaceable. Unless you, my dear hearer, have shaken off from you the love of all that is evil, and have resolved in God’s strength, to live as becomes the gospel of Christ, you prove that you have not experienced the dovelike influence of the Holy Spirit. In my early days in the country, I was horribly shocked when I heard of a man standing on a public-house table, and saying, though at the time he was almost drunk, “I can say what none of you fellows can say, that I am one of God’s elect.” All of us who knew anything about the man used to shudder at the thought of his blasphemy in pretending to be one of the elect. Why, if the grace of God does not make a man holy, what is it worth? My dear friend, if you are determined to be damned, leave religion alone altogether; but do not pretend to be a child of God, and yet live in sin. To profess to be an heir of heaven, and then to live as an heir of hell, is such detestable hypocrisy that I pray God that all of you may be preserved from ever falling into it. Where the Spirit of God dwells, there is sure to be purity.

15. And next to purity comes peace. The dove with the olive leaf in its mouth was the sign of peace to Noah and those who were with him in the ark, and the dove has long been used as a symbol of peace. If the Spirit of God, like a dove, shall dwell with you, my dear friend, you will have peace in your own conscience, peace with your fellow men, peace with God; as Paul puts it, in writing to the Philippians, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus.” Those worrying, distracting thoughts of yours do not come from the Holy Spirit. Those carking cares, those disquieting anxieties are not the Spirit’s work. Where the Spirit, like a dove, dwells in a believer’s heart, that ancient assurance is fulfilled, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.” May you enjoy this perfect peace through the coming of the Spirit to you!

16. The dove is, next, the picture of gentleness. You do not expect to see doves fighting like vultures or ravens. I suppose doves do quarrel sometimes; but, as a rule, their gentle and amiable nature makes them harmless and lovable. So, Christians should be the most gentle of all men. We are to be willing to be struck on one cheek, and then to turn the other to the striker. I know some professing Christians who, as soon as a contrary word is ever spoken to them, boil over with rage. Well, it is not their Christianity that makes such a display as that, and it is a poor excuse to say that it is their infirmity. “Oh!” one says, “but if you tread on a worm, it will turn.” Yes, the poor little creature turns in its agony, but is a worm to be a model for your conduct? Surely it would be better to ask the Holy Spirit to give you the grace to take the Lord Jesus Christ as your example. Have you never heard of the Christian man who killed his neighbour by kindness? When his oxen got into his neighbour’s field, the cross-grained man put them into the pound, and said that, if they strayed again he would deal with them in the same way. Eventually, his own oxen wandered into his neighbour’s field, and then the Christian man fed them, and sent word that, if they came there again, he would treat them in the same way. That is the way in which we should endeavour to act towards any who treat us unkindly; by heaping coals of fire on their heads we may in time burn love into their hearts.

17. I am afraid that all professing Christians are not as gentle as they should be, though gentleness is one of the prominent characteristics of true Christians. I am not a Quaker, but I must say that, in this particular quality of gentleness, the Society of Friends has set a good example for the whole Christian Church. I wish that the spirit of non-resistance was more generally prevalent among Christians than it often is. It is certainly in accordance with both the teaching and example of our Lord Jesus Christ, “who, when he was reviled, did not revile again; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but committed himself to him who judges righteously.” These words of the apostle Peter follow immediately after his declaration that “Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow his steps.” Where the dovelike Spirit dwells, there will be a gentleness of spirit in harmony with his own nature. I am charmed with the change that is often apparent in the converts who come to join this church. When I hear of a man who, before his conversion, used to rage and rave in such a way as to be a terror to his family, yet who now, though he is at times greatly provoked, just walks away, and says nothing, I feel that the grace of God is really working in his heart. If what you call grace does not change your evil tempers, you had better exchange it for the true grace of God which will do so; for, surely, it is one of the first evidences that the Spirit of God is dwelling within a man when it makes him “gentle, showing all meekness to all men.”

18. A dove is also one of the most harmless of all God’s creatures, and a Christian must never intentionally hurt or harm others. Our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to suffer, but he did not make others suffer; and he would not have us seek to propagate his truth in a bitter spirit. If you are dealing with an infidel, let him see that, however strongly you disapprove of his principles, you endeavour to win him away from them, not by unkindness, but by love. I doubt if anyone is ever bullied into accepting the gospel. Certainly, more flies are caught with honey than with vinegar, and more sinners are brought to Christ by kindness than by unkindness. Never let anyone be able truthfully to say of you, “There is a professed follower of the Lord Jesus Christ who has done me most serious injury”; but rather let it be said concerning you, “There goes a man whom I grossly injured, yet he bore it patiently and said nothing against me because he was a Christian.”

19. You know too that, in Scripture, the dove is spoken of as a type of love. When the turtle-dove has lost its mate, everyone knows how it will sit, and moan, and mourn. “The voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land” is the scriptural description of a spiritual spring-time, the season of love and joy. If the dovelike Spirit has come into your heart, my friend, your soul will be full of love for Jesus; but if you are not conscious of his presence, you will mourn like the bereaved dove, and will dolefully sing, — 

   I cannot bear thine absence, Lord;

   I cannot live without thy smile.

If I cannot rejoice in Christ, the next best thing is to weep because I cannot enjoy sweet fellowship with him. If I cannot rest in Christ, it is a good thing if I cannot rest anywhere else. Ah, soul! if you have the Spirit of God within you, you will pine, and sigh, and cry until Christ is very near and very dear to you; but when he is both near and dear to you, then your soul will be like a vessel that is filled to the brim, yet still remaining under the running stream, and you will overflow with love and gratitude for your dear Lord who has done such great things for you.

20. Time flies, so I must close with just one more thought. You remember that, when this world was created, “the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved on the face of the waters.” Everything was in a state of chaos and confusion, there was neither life nor order; but when the Spirit of God spread his great wings over the face of the deep, and brooded, like a bird on its nest, it was not long before the voice of God was heard; and soon, disorder gave place to order, darkness to light, and death to life. The Holy Spirit comes into our heart now to work the same kind of change as that. He finds our soul in a state of chaos, formless, empty, dark; but when he mysteriously spreads his dovelike wings over our soul, life, and light, and order soon appear. We then begin to see what we never saw before. We put God into his rightful place, and we realize how great he is; and we put ourselves into our rightful place, and we realize what nothings we are. We put the law into its rightful place, and recognise how terribly stern it is; and we put sin into its rightful place, and we quail before its terrible power. When the Spirit of God broods over us, one of those first signs of the new life appearing in our soul is the penitent cry, “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Those sorrow-filled eyes, those swiftly-falling tears, that broken-hearted sigh, — all these are the result of the brooding of the Spirit of God on our disordered nature. And when at last you can truthfully say, — 

   I rest my soul on Jesus,

      This weary soul of mine;

   His right hand me embraces,

      I on his breast recline; — 

that also is the result of the brooding of the Spirit. He has quickened you, he has given you life, for only a living soul can truly say, “I do believe in Jesus.” That is a sure sign of the new creation; it is a certain proof that Christ has made all things new in you by the effective working of his ever-blessed Spirit. To any here who have never experienced the dovelike energy of the Holy Spirit, I commend the prayer Charles Wesley wrote, — 

   Expand thy wings, celestial Dove,

      Brood o’er our nature’s night;

   On our disorder’d spirits move,

      And let there now be light.

21. Dr. Watts gives us another prayer in which Christians can heartily unite, — 

   Descend from heaven, immortal Dove,

   Stoop down and take us on thy wings,

   And mount and bear us far above

   The reach of these inferior things!

   Beyond, beyond this lower sky,

   Up where eternal ages roll,

   Where solid pleasures never die,

   And fruits immortal feast the soul!

   Oh for a sight, a pleasing sight,

   Of our almighty Father’s throne!

   There sits our Saviour crown’d with light,

   Clothed in a body like our own.

   When shall the day, dear Lord, appear,

   That I shall mount to dwell above,

   And stand and bow amongst them there,

   And view thy face, and sing, and love?

May the Lord bless every one of you, for Jesus Christ’s sake! Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Ro 6}

1. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?

If the sinfulness of man has really given an opportunity for the display of divine mercy, then the devil’s logic would be, “Let us commit more sin, so that there may be more room for grace to work.” But Christians have learned their reasoning in another school, and to such diabolical arguments they answer in the words of the apostle: — 

2. God forbid. How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer in it?

The two terms are exactly opposite to each other. If, through grace, we are dead to sin, how can we live in it? If, sinners as we are, we come to Christ to be saved from sin, then it would be a complete misuse of language to talk about being saved from sin, yet still to continue in it. Besides, the apostle goes on to show that the ordinance, by which believers in Jesus are to be admitted into the visible Christian Church will not permit them to continue in sin.

3, 4. Do you not know, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1627, “Baptism — a Burial” 1627} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2197, “Christ’s Resurrection and our Newness of Life” 2198}

You remember, my brothers and sisters in Christ, that hallowed hour when you went down into the liquid tomb, when, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, you were immersed on profession of your faith in Jesus Christ. By that solemn act you demonstrated your death to sin; and when you were raised again out of the opening element, by it you made a profession of your faith in Christ’s resurrection; and, moreover, you did then and there, since you had received the grace of God in truth, profess to rise to newness of life. How could you, then, go back to sin? That would be to make your baptism a lie; indeed, all of you are unbaptized unless you have been baptized into Christ’s death.

5, 6. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection: knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that from now on we should not serve sin. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 882, “The Old Man Crucified” 873}

God has driven the nails through the active powers of our sin; both hands and feet are fastened to the cross of Christ, and though the heart and the head may sometimes wander, yet our old man is crucified with Christ so that the body of sin may be destroyed; and we are looking forward to that happy day when the old man shall be dead altogether, and we shall be prepared to enter into the inheritance of the saints in light. We believe that our old man will never die until we die, but we thank God that the death of our body will also be the death of the body of sin.

7. For he who is dead is freed from sin.

He can no longer live in it, for he is dead; and if we are really dead in Christ, we can no longer live in sin as we were accustomed to do.

8-11. Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him: knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died to sin once: but in that he lives, he lives to God. Likewise consider yourselves also to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 503, “Death and Life in Christ” 494} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 2933, “Dead, Yet Alive” 2934}

If Christ could die again, then believers might lose their spiritual life, and there might be such a thing as falling from grace; but while Jesus lives, no member of his mystical body can die. His own promise is, “Because I live you shall live also.” He died to sin once; we do the same. He lives no more to die; we also do the same. Highly privileged are those who are dead with Christ, and blessed is that ordinance in which we illustrate our death and burial with him.

12, 13. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you should obey it in its lusts. Neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin: but yield yourselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Your legs used to carry you to the theatre; compel them now to carry you to the house of God even though you are weary. Your eyes could look long enough on wickedness; do not let their lids fall when you are sitting to hear a sermon. Let all the members of your body which once served Satan now serve God. Consider that your whole body is a consecrated temple, and do not be satisfied unless all of it is reserved for the great God himself.

14, 15. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1410, “Believers Free From the Dominion of Sin” 1401} {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1735, “The Doctrines of Grace Do Not Lead to Sin” 1736}

This is another of the Antinomian {a} suggestions that were made in the apostle’s time, and that are still made now; and how does Paul answer it? Why, with this solemn adjuration: — 

15-18. God forbid. Do you not know, that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey: whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness? But God be thanked, that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.
{See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1482, “Our Change of Masters” 1482}

Is that not a glorious sentence, “Being then made free from sin?” Yes, the fetters are all gone; we have put up our feet on the block, and the chains have been knocked off; we have put our hands down, and the irons have been broken in pieces. Free from sin! It is true that sin still tempts us, but it cannot prevail against us; it tries to put the bit in our mouth, and to ride us as it once did, but we no longer submit to its sway. Sin is now an enemy to fret and worry us, but not a king to trample on us, and rule over us.

19, 20. I speak according to the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for just as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity leading to more iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness to holiness. For when you were the servant of sin, you were free from righteousness.

You disdained the silken bonds of piety; you said that you would never wear what you called the iron fetters of grace; you were “free from righteousness.” So, surely, now that you are the servants of righteousness, you should seek to be free from sin.

21-23. What fruit had you then in those things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. {See Spurgeon_Sermons No. 1868, “Death and Life; the Wage and the Gift” 1869}

{a} Antinomian: One who maintains that the moral law is not binding on Christians, under the “law of grace.” spec. One of a sect which appeared in Germany in 1535, alleged to hold this opinion. OED.