Licensed to Sin?

Romans 6:1-2 NLT - 1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it? 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! 22 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. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Do we have any Bond fans in the house? There was a movie entitled License to Kill. In essence, after friends of Bond were murdered, Bond gets one of the perpetrators, but before he can get the other he is given an assignment to go to Istanbul, TU, which he turns down and his License to Kill is revoked. At which point he becomes a rogue agent.

We are in the sixth chapter of Romans and the theme is sin. In our highlighted scripture texts this morning Paul is asking the question of the saints; do remember this book is written to the saved, not to the unsaved. In essence his question and the title of today’s message comes in the form of a question, Licensed to Sin?

Chapter five ends with Paul extolling God’s wonderful grace ruling and giving us right standing with God and eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We’re in, we have been justified through our faith in Jesus Christ. Our debt has been paid and we’re on our way to heaven. But there seems to be a misunderstanding about grace.

There were those then and some even now who would use grace as an excuse to sin. WHHAAAT? Preacher, so it ain’t so. Child yes. There are those who use grace as an excuse to do what they know God has said not to do, and think their salvation is a get out of hell free card.

Paul challenges that thinking, asking the question “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?” And he quickly answers his own question, before anyone has time to ponder it as if it is a real question.

Of course not!

God forbid!

By no means!

Certainly not!

May it never be!

Absolutely not!

That’s unthinkable!

These are just some of the ways this verse is translated. I have a couple more, Don’t be ridiculous! Come on now weally?

The grace of God is not to be taken advantage of, it’s not to be used as if it’s a privilege for the elite or a license to sin; it’s not a get out of hell free card.

Because another question remains, listen Linda listen, “Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?”

When we gave the preacher our hand and the Lord our heart,

when we confessed with our mouth and believed in our heart,

when we went down in and came up out of the water of baptism,

what we professed is, we are dead to sin, it no longer lives in us and we will not willingly take part in it.

When we are baptized, being lowered into the water represents dying and being buried with Christ.

We died to our old way of life.

We died to our old way of thinking.

We died to our old way of talking.

We died to our old way of living.

We died to our old desires.

We die—to self.

The old man passed away, the old man dies, who you once were is now gone; the sins you committed are now forgiven.

And because you died with Christ you will also live with him. Because when you came up out of the water you were raised to life, just like Jesus was. We are no longer slaves to sin. We now have the power in Christ to live new lives.

I GOT THE POWER!

Phil 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ Jesus who strengthens me.

1 Cor 10:13 - KJV - There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

NLT - The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.

Sin no longer has power over our lives and we are no longer slaves to sin. There is no, “The devil made me do it” defense to offer up. Because when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.

Greater is he who is in me than he who is in the world. And who is in you? When you’ve given your life to Christ, the Holy Spirit lives in you and He is there

to lead and

guide and

comfort and

teach and

protect and

remind you

of who you are and the power you have and what you can do. The Holy Spirit lives in you and gives you the power to say no to sin, to say no to dumb stuff.

We can do some dumb stuff sometimes. Can’t we? How many have found yourselves saying, “Now why did you do that?” and you were talking to yourself.

It happens, prisons are full of people who, I am absolutely sure, have at least one time, said to themselves, Now why did you do that? And perhaps the only difference between them and you is you didn’t get caught.

The only difference between them and you is the grace of God saved you. You see, none of us are innocent. We were all born in sin and shaped in iniquity. We’ve all done something that was deserving of death. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. His glory is a gift, so no one can boast. No one can earn it. Knocking on doors doesn’t make you better, saying God in every sentence doesn’t get you closer to heaven.

There is no good thing in us, save the grace of God and the Holy Spirit who makes his abode in our heart. And I thank God he does, because without him, I could very well be sitting in a jail cell or even dead right now, but for the grace of God. And you could be right there in the cell next to me.

But thanks be to God that is not our story, because when Christ died he broke the power of sin and because he did sin has no power over you either. You have been freed from the law of sin and death, through Christ Jesus.

And because you have been freed, don’t allow sin to control the way you live, don’t give in to sinful desires, don’t let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin.

You are stronger than you realize. But when you feel yourself getting weak, we all have areas of weakness, there’s no shame in that; the first step in overcoming is admitting you have a problem or weakness. But when you feel yourself getting weak, when you feel yourself about to snap, when you feel yourself close to the edge,

pray,

phone a friend,

walk away,

do a woo saa,

sing a song of praise,

pet the dog,

go for a run,

recite Scripture

Whatever you do, allow the Holy Spirit who we’ve already acknowledged, lives inside of you, let him have his way and instead of sinning, you’ll find yourself blessing.

When give yourself completely to God, not only do you have a new life, your whole body can become an instrument to do what’s right for the glory of God. When you give yourself completely to God, sin is no longer your master and you no longer live under the requirements of the law; you live under the freedom of God’s grace and whom the Son sets free is free indeed.

In verse 15 Paul again asked the question, “Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning?” And again the answer quickly comes, “Of course not!”

He then tells them, you are a slave to whatever you choose to obey. What you choose has consequences. You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. You can choose death or you can choose life. Death or life. Umm, it would seem like that’s a no brainer, but there are people who choose death every day.

Why would a person choose death? Because they just don’t believe

that God is God,

that He is who He says He is,

that He did what He said He did and

that He can do what He says He can do

Or maybe it’s because they just don’t know, because no one told them. When’s the last time you told someone outside your house about Jesus? When’s the last time you invited someone to church? When’s the last time you went therefore, and taught all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: and taught them to observe all things whatsoever God commanded you: knowing that God is with you always, even unto the end of the world.

This sixth chapter of Romans is reminding us that we were once like slaves to sin, doing what the master said, knowing it was wrong but having no choice in the matter. You had no obligation to do right because sin was the boss and you had to do what the boss said do. That behavior led to shame and guilt and embarrassment and remorse and humiliation.

But glory to God! You have been rescued from death, you are now free to live a life of holiness. So prepare your minds for action and exercise self-control. Put all your hope in the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. 14 So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires. You didn’t know any better then. 15 But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. 16 For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.” 17 And remember that the heavenly Father to whom you pray has no favorites. He will judge or reward you according to what you do. So you must live in reverent fear of him during your time here as “temporary residents.” [This is not your home. Your life here is but a vapor. It is such a small part of the eternity you have before you.] 18 For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And it was not paid with mere gold or silver, which lose their value. 19 It was the precious blood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God.”

Because of Christ’s sacrifice we are now free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God, what you do now leads to holiness and those things result in eternal life.

There are consequences for everything we do. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

Have you accepted your gift? God is offering it to you now. Will you accept?

When Jesus gave his life on that cross over 2,000 years ago, he did it because He knew this day was coming for you. He knew that whatever day and whatever time you heard this message you were going to make the decision that this day, at this time, you were going to choose life. He knew that you were going to walk away from that old, dark, sinful life into the glorious light of Jesus, right now. All it takes is a prayer

Lord God, I choose life today, please forgive for my sins, Jesus I believe you are the Son of God and I give you my heart right now, in your name I pray amen.

It’s that simple, if you prayed a prayer similar to that, welcome to the family, please let us know, you can connect with us by going to our website at www.lovechristianctr.org for all the ways of contacting us and how you can join us live on zoom or the ways you can support this ministry.

Should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? 2 Of course not!

When you gave your life to Christ, your license to sin, was revoked you no longer serve darkness, you are a child of God and you carry the light of Christ.

Communion