Romans 6:1-14
Notes
Transcript
If last week was all about the grace of God and how the grace of God will always triumph over sin
How as you know more sin how graces surpasses that knowledge of sin
Church you are only saved by the grace of God
You are here today because of the unmerited favor of God sending Jesus to the cross to pay for your debt of sin
Gods grace is an absolutely amazing thing
Paul sets chapter 6 with talking so much about chapter 5
If chapter 5 was all about justified with God through Christ
Then Chapter 6 will be what it looks like to live out that faith you have in Christ Jesus
Last week left off with this
20 The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
We know why the law came
We know grace is more than your sin
To know that you are never to far gone for Gods grace is a refreshing and amazing thing
But Paul knows people
Paul can already start to sense their wanting to take advantage of the situation
And so Paul says this
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
Paul answers that question before it ever becomes a problem
If Gods grace is so amazing then why couldn’t we continue to live how we wanted knowing that grace is greater
Church that is called cheap grace
That term was made famous by a Lutheran Pastor named Dietrich Bonhoeffer
He defined Cheap Grace
As the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline.
Church it is the preaching of Jesus and forgiveness of sin without the requiring of repenting or the turning of sin
The world will tell you that God is a God of love and a God of grace and the world is absolutely right
But they forget the fact that God is also a Holy and Just God
God is also a righteous God
Paul is getting to the point and it almost a spiritual 4x4 to the face
Because of Christ death on the cross He paid your debt of sin and since you have trusted Jesus through faith you are justified by Christ
You are saved
Paul goes for the knock out punch with this question
If God has so much grace for me can’t I just live like I want, I mean God is a god a grace right
NO
God didn’t die and pay for you sins so you could accept that and not change your life
God died so that you could be reborn
You cannot continue on in sin and living how you want to live if you want to follow Jesus
Church Paul is saying the ball is in your court on this one
Do you want Cheap Grace or Costly Grace
Bonhoeffer said
“Such grace is costly…..because it costs a man his life and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner”
Church he also says this
“When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die”
Church Christ died so you would never be the same again
Paul continues
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection,
Paul is saying that because of Christ you are a different person
the old is gone and the new is there
You are a new creation
That because of Christ in your life you are no longer the same old person but you are a child of God
Paul says this before in Galatians
19 “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and 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 up for me.
Church if you have died to the old horrible mean nasty self why in the world would you want to go back to it
We do because we think we can control things if we live how we want
Then there is this beautiful picture of baptism
You were buried with him through death and if you died with Christ then surely you will live with Christ
That is the costly grace Bonhoeffer references
That yes you may think there is freedom in living how you want and doing what you want
But let me be clear you are nothing but a slave to sin and the world then
Church the true freedom is only through Christ
The true life is only when you have died with Christ and risen with Christ
Paul says Jesus died so your old self could die and that Jesus rose from the grave that we may have life
Jesus rose from the grave to give us life
If you have that life why go back to the old life
That is what Paul is telling the Jews in Rome
That is what he is telling us this morning
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
He is proclaiming we no longer have to be a slave to sin
We no longer have to struggle with guilt and shame
We no longer have to struggle with insecurity or worrying about anything this world has to offer
Now please hear me
We say all that and people start to think following Christ is super duper easy and and nice all the time
It is not
It is hard and sometimes difficult but if we are honest most times those hard times or difficult times are stuff we got ourselves into our own doing
It also dawned on me that Paul also tells us to put on The Full Armor of God, if everything was so easy and smooth why would he tell us to put on the Full Armor of God
It is because we are in a battle
Paul is going to highlight that later on in Rome
We are in a battle against our flesh and against the world
With all that said
Paul reminds us there is freedom in Christ
That freedom is found only when we become slaves to Christ
We no longer have to struggle with the sin and being enslaved by addiction or to anything else to that lead us away from Christ
Freedom in Christ give us true peace in this world that is hostile and angry mean and nasty
Freedom in Christ means we are no longer under the control of sin and the consequences of sin death
We are free and alive because of Christ
Paul continues
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.
Paul continues on with what happens when you repent of your sin and trust in Jesus
You die with Christ just as Christ died on the cross
They lowered His body from the cross and laied Him in the tomb
He was dead for 3 days
The Jews at Rome knew that
Church you know that
We talk about it what seems like almost every Sunday because it is not just and Easter Celebration but a launching point to forever change our lives
Paul is reminding us of that
Because the Jews knew of Jesus’s death they most assuredly would have known of the news of His resurrection
And church we know of the Resurrection
When that happened church Jesus truly defeated sin
The consequences of sin that came into the world because of the disobedience of one man Adam
The Righteous One Jesus defeated death
We no longer have to walk around this world enslaved to sin and the consequences
Yes the physical body will die
But Born once die twice
Born twice die once
Paul continues
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Paul explains that once again because of the death Jesus died
Just like Sin entered through one man Righteousness also spread through one man
And the effects of Righteousness being spread to all man through one man are the life that we now are able to live through a personal relationship with Christ
It is because of the grace of Christ that we have the ability to experience the fullness of grace and mercy and life through a personal relationship with Christ
When we repent or flee from our sin and trust in Jesus
Jesus died so and rose from the grave to give you life
So stop going back to the junk this world has to offer
Paul finishes this part of the letter
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.
I Think Paul is wrapping this up with the Therefore
Meaning If I could sum this up for you all
Do NOT let sin reign in your body
Jesus died so you would be free from Sin
Jesus rose from the grave to give you a new life
To be Born Again
Take advantage of that and stop running back to sin
But live in the Costly Grace that Jesus provided to you and me
You are set free from sin and because you are free
Sin is no longer master over you because of a relationship with Christ
Or church let me be very clear and honest with you
Sin in master over you because you do NOT have a personal relationship with Christ
You can change that this morning
As the Band Comes Up
This is your opportunity this morning to respond to what God has done here this morning
To respond to His calling you into a personal relationship with Christ
Or maybe you need to come to the altar in just spend time in prayer
Church the altar is open this morning
Would you respond
