Download Romans Series: Overwhelmed by Grace March 8, 2015 Message

Romans
Series: Overwhelmed by Grace
March 8, 2015
Message Two:
The Choice is Yours
Romans 6
Intro: We are looking at Overwhelming Grace – Last week we looked
at the consequences of sin vs. the great difference that grace makes.
Sounds great doesn’t it? No matter how great our sin – no matter how
many our sins – no matter how big our sin – grace is bigger and grace is
greater! It is overwhelming!
As Paul writes this letter, he now anticipates a thought that will come into
the minds of the Romans –
Romans 6:1 - Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can
show us more and more of his wonderful grace?
That may sound like a ridiculous question – but it is actually what many
people think. The reasoning is: “If God shows great grace to me when I
sin, then shouldn’t I sin a lot so that I can receive a lot of God’s grace?”
Paul does not hesitate to give the answer –
Romans 6:2 - Of course not!...
It’s kind of like he’s saying, “That’s ridiculous!”
Of course, you have the strong language of the KJV – “God forbid!”
It is obvious that since Paul has laid out the battle of sin vs. grace in our
lives, he now tells us that we have a choice to make in which factor wins
this battle.
In your life, for the deciding factor in the battle of sin vs. grace, THE
CHOICE IS YOURS! You make the call! (old football commercials…)
Prop: Are You Going to Make the Decision for Grace?
T.S.: 4 facts to consider:
1. Followers of Christ have Died to Sin
Romans 6:2 - … Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live
in it?
If we have “died” to sin, then it becomes impossible to sin! How can a
dead person sin? How can a dead person commit adultery? How can a
dead person lie and deceive? How can a dead person commit murder?
How can a dead person steal? How can a dead person attack his
neighbor’s or co-workers reputation?
This is the point of baptism
Romans 6:3-4 - Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with
Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and
were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from
the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new
lives.
It is assumed here that all the believers have been baptized.
To be baptized in water was the first act of obedience for the Christians
in the Bible, because it was the public testimony that they are now living
a new life – a life in complete obedience and devotion to Jesus. They
are now setting their life to follow Jesus!
If you have decided to believe in and follow Jesus but have not yet been
baptized …
(Have baptismal info handout with greeters – I’ll mention.)
Matthew 28:19 - Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Different people believe different things about baptism – and different
people practice baptism in different ways – Show failed method Video of Baptism fail –
Paul assumes that the believers he is writing to have been baptized and
that they have been baptized by immersion (being completely
submerged under water). The whole picture Paul is using here is the
picture of death and burial. You can’t get the power of that picture any
other way (sprinkling, pouring, etc.). This was the mode of Jewish
baptism, the mode of John’s baptism, and this is how the early Christians
of the bible were baptized. With it there was the clear picture of death.
You can’t breathe when you are under water!
Paul is saying, “Remember when you were baptized? Just like Jesus
went into the ground after He died, you went under water as a picture
that your old life is dead – so you are dead to sin! Your old life was
buried and your submersion under the water was a picture of that.
If that hasn’t happened for you, it needs to happen for you to be fully
obedient – and if you were baptized as a child, but did not really live for
the Lord for years – and you have come to Christ after long life of sin –
you need to be baptized as a public confession of your faith in Christ!
2. We will be Raised to Life
Romans 6:5 - Since we have been united with him in his death, we will
also be raised to life as he was.
Christ did not stay in the ground! He rose from the dead! In that rising,
He received a body that would never die again! The power of death was
no longer in Christ’s body. He would never be subject to death again.
Here is the illustration Paul is giving and it is powerful:
Romans 6:6-7 - We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with
Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer
slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the
power of sin.
We have received power over sin!
Just as the power of death was removed from Christ’s body, the power
of sin is removed from ours. We still have the choice to make, but the
power to choose not to sin is within us just as the power of resurrection
was within Christ’s resurrected body!
Romans 8:11-12 - The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead,
lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will
give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to
do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
If we choose to accept Christ, then with Him comes the power to
be victorious over sin! We do not have to sin! We do not have to give in
to temptation! It is our choice, but the power to choose to overcome is
within us! We are not “sinful agents” who must sin! That is how we used
to be – but that person died – baptism is the evidence – and just as
Christ was raised, and just as we came up out of the waters of baptism,
we have received a new life – and in that new life we have the power to
overcome sin!
We are and we will live with Christ!
Romans 6:8-10 - And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live
with him. We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead,
and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.
When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he
lives, he lives for the glory of God.
Is our “living with Christ” now or in the future? It is both! And the life we
live with him now is just a foretaste, a preview, of the life with Him to
come! Christ’s death and resurrection is our assurance of all this!
Now, Paul gives a summary statement of these first two points he
makes:
Romans 6:11 - So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the
power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
3. Sin Should not Control Us
Romans 6:12-13 - Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in
to sinful desires. Do not let any part of your body become an instrument
of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you
were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an
instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.
Once again we see that Paul is telling us we have a choice to make.
Paul also emphasizes that the choice we make is carried out by our
bodies – every part of our bodies – so we must realize that the body that
was controlled by sin died – a new body has been given new life that no
longer needs to be corrupted by sin.
Our minds are part of our bodies – our feet – our hands – our eyes – our
sexual organs – our heart – our stomach – our tongues …
Again Paul makes a powerful summarizing statement:
Romans 6:14 - Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under
the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s
grace.
Paul knows this idea of freedom will be misunderstood by many (has
been through the centuries – still is today!) – so he anticipates this and
asks a question that tells us this:
4. You are no longer a Slave to Sin!
Romans 6:15 - Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the
law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!
Here again “What a ridiculous thought! God forbid!”
You can’t get a stronger statement from Paul than this! He doesn’t want
anyone thinking this horrible thought! It is a deceptive thought from the
enemy of our souls to keep us trapped into sin! Paul refers to it as
“slavery.”
Romans 6:16 - Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever
you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or
you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.
They understood slavery well. Some of the members of this church were
slaves. Some of them owned slaves. Many of them were likely treated
harshly. Some of them were possibly guilty of treating slaves harshly.
Paul says, if you choose to sin, relying on the greatness of God’s grace
to continue to bail you out time after time, then you are not serving god,
you are not serving Jesus, you are a servant – A SLAVE – to sin. And
that slavery will destroy you.
They could conjure up pictures in their minds of slaves being abused and
possibly even murdered. Paul wants them to know – they have died to
sin – they have been given a new life – choosing to sin could cause that
life to die in them - sin will abuse them, mistreat them, bring them pain,
and possibly even murder their new life!
Then, he writes another summary statement to put this point in the
perspective and context of everything he is saying in this section:
Romans 6:17-19 - Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you
wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free
from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous
living.
Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the
illustration of slavery to help you understand all this…
The Bottom Line – this is your choice! The original question – Should we
keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his
wonderful grace? God forbid!
This is our choice to make – and this is the choice we must make –
Romans 6:19 - … Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity
and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give
yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.
He closes this section by clearly spelling out the results of the choice:
Romans 6:20-23 - When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the
obligation to do right. And what was the result? You are now ashamed of
the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. But now you
are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you
do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. For the
wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ
Jesus our Lord.
Do you remember the shame of your previous sin? You are now free
from that! What you used to do would end in eternal destruction, but you
are free from that!
You are free from sin’s power, because you made the choice to put your
faith in Christ and His work on the cross! Now the choice you have made
leads you to living holy, overcoming sin – and the ultimate result: You will
live forever! Just as Christ’s resurrection gave Him the power in His
body to never die again – you will receive the same power!
John gives the perfect balance 1st John 1:5-10 - This is the message we heard from Jesus and now
declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we
are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in
spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in
the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other,
and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not
living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim
we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word
has no place in our hearts.
This is the part we are familiar with …
Sin exists in our human nature – what are we to do?
Romans 12:1-2 - And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to
give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be
a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly
the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this
world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way
you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good
and pleasing and perfect.
1st Corinthians 15:31 ESV - …I die every day…
Back to John 1st John 2:1-2 - My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will
not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our
case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly
righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not
only our sins but the sins of all the world.
Perfect balance 1st John 3:4-10 - Everyone who sins is breaking God’s law, for all sin is
contrary to the law of God. And you know that Jesus came to take away
our sins, and there is no sin in him. Anyone who continues to live in him
will not sin. But anyone who keeps on sinning does not know him or
understand who he is.
Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people
do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is
righteous. But when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to
the devil, who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God
came to destroy the works of the devil. Those who have been born into
God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in
them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God.
So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the
devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other
believers does not belong to God.
John is not denying the possibility of sin in the Christian. He declares
that all have sinned. Even in the Christian sin is found. To deny it is to
be a liar. However, he also declares that sin is incompatible with the
Christian. To commit sin is to be of the devil. John is talking about
CHARACTER. He is talking about the HABIT of sin! Our CHARACTER
is not to sin. We do not make a HABIT of sinning. When we read that
“those who have been born into God’s family do not sin,” if we could
understand fully the original Greek, we would understand it to say, “he is
not able to sin habitually.” John is not saying it is IMPOSSIBLE for the
Christian to sin. He is saying it is INCONSISTENT with the
CHARACTER of the Christian to sin. He is dealing with a prevailing
character, not primarily an isolated act.
However, we must understand the importance of John saying it is
IMPOSSIBLE for the Christian to make a HAB IT of CONTINUALLY
sinning! How can this be impossible? The ‘SEED” OF God is in us! The
NATURE of the ALMIGHTY GOD is in us! So, the new birth involves our
taking on a new nature by God planting in us the seed or life-giving
power of God. To be born again is a deep, radical, inward
transformation. Also, this new nature we receive in our new birth stays
with us! It continually pushes us to holiness. It is this continual influence
of God’s nature which enables John to state without fear of error or
contradiction that the Christian cannot go on living in continued sin!
2nd Corinthians 5:17 - This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has
become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
2nd Peter 1:4 - And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us
great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to
share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by
human desires.
We do talk a lot about grace! We should! We need it!
But I’m glad we can also talk about the POWER – the victory over sin!
Not just forgiveness – but freedom from its power and control over our
lives!
The choice to sin will ultimately kill you and cause you to experience an
eternal death. The choice to put your faith in Jesus and live as one who
is dead to sin, one that has a new, overcoming life, will ultimately give
you the power to live forever – as Christ – with Christ!
Concl: So, Are You Going to Make the Decision for
Grace?
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Followers of Christ have Died to Sin
We will be Raised to Life
Sin Should not Control Us
You are no longer a Slave to Sin!
You don’t have to be… Baptism is a picture of our death, burial and
resurrection – Jesus’ death and resurrection is the guarantee of our
victory over the sin which kills and destroys our lives!
He did it! He didn’t do it half way! It’s done!
The only power sin has in your life is the power you give it!
He died to take the punishment of your sin – He rose and lives to take
away the power of sin!
These message notes are the intellectual property of Randy
Blankenship and are intended for the reader’s personal use only.
For any other use please contact Randy Blankenship at
[email protected]