Evolutionary Grace: “Freedom”
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— Our passage today is from Romans 6, beginning in Vs.15 it is found on page 943 in bibles in front of you or of course in your own bible, or app on your phone.
Picture a prisoner being released from captivity and stepping into the embrace of their loved ones. That joyous moment reflects the freedom that comes with God's evolutionary grace. Just as the prisoner is set free, we too can experience the liberation that comes from God's grace, enabling us to live in freedom and joy.
— Let’s pray as we begin
Lord God we welcome you here this morning.
We thank you for today, for the simpleness of faith in you
God help us today… help us as we navigate there topics of Grace, Sin, The Law, Your Mercy and Your guidance.
Introduction/The Big Idea
— Romans 6:15-23 is a powerful passages in Paul’s writings, dealing with the concept of freedom, grace, sin, and righteousness.
— Paul asks a question: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace?"
— His answer is a resounding "By no means!" (Romans 6:15).
I have 3 big ideas for today… listen for these concepts
1. Grace Does Not Permit Sin (v. 15)
2. Slavery to Sin vs. Slavery to Righteousness (v. 16-18)
3. The Wages of Sin vs. the Gift of God (v. 23)
— Let’s get to our message for this morning.. Open your bibles, apps or whatever to Romans 6.15. It’s on page 943 in the bibles, that are in the racks front
— Please pay attention as I read scripture, today from The Message, of course i’ll be teaching from the English Standard Version
15 So, since we’re out from under the old tyranny, does that mean we can live any old way we want? Since we’re free in the freedom of God, can we do anything that comes to mind?
16 Hardly. You know well enough from your own experience that there are some acts of so-called freedom that destroy freedom. Offer yourselves to sin, for instance, and it’s your last free act. But offer yourselves to the ways of God and the freedom never quits. All your lives you’ve let sin tell you what to do.
17 But thank God you’ve started listening to a new master,
18 one whose commands set you free to live openly in his freedom!
19 I’m using this freedom language because it’s easy to picture. You can readily recall, can’t you, how at one time the more you did just what you felt like doing—not caring about others, not caring about God—the worse your life became and the less freedom you had? And how much different is it now as you live in God’s freedom, your lives healed and expansive in holiness?
20 As long as you did what you felt like doing, ignoring God, you didn’t have to bother with right thinking or right living, or right anything for that matter.
21 But do you call that a free life? What did you get out of it? Nothing you’re proud of now. Where did it get you? A dead end.
22 But now that you’ve found you don’t have to listen to sin tell you what to do, and have discovered the delight of listening to God telling you, what a surprise! A whole, healed, put-together life right now, with more and more of life on the way!
23 Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death. But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.
— Thanks be to God for the reading of His Word.
— Let’s get to our first point
Grace Does Not Permit Sin (v. 15)
15 What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
— This GIFT with a capital G that we have tasted and lived, it is called Grace
— Grace is a gift given by God to us… So that we can celebrate our new covenant with God through Christ
— In God’s economy the demand to follow the law…perfectly was the only way to acceptance
— But in this new covenant, one based in love, we still sin, but rely on the Grace of God to allow us time to correct our sin
Grace empowers us to pursue holiness.
— The phrase "Grace empowers us to pursue holiness” means that God’s grace not only forgives our sins but also gives us the strength and ability to live a life that reflects His character—set apart and dedicated to Him.
Grace is the powerhouse that drives Holiness into our souls…
Grace:
- Transforms Our Identity
- Gives Us the Holy Spirit
- Teaches Us to Reject Sin
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— When we accept Christ, we are no longer defined by our past sins or failures but are made new.
— This is happens over and over in scripture
The woman at the well… was a woman who was currently living with a man, not her husband who had been “married” 7 times before. Christ used this woman, this woman to begin winning Samaria for Christ.
And in the Old Testament
11 One day, when Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and looked on their burdens, and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people.
— God chose all kinds of misfits to be the bearers of his Grace..
— But we are not either of those two heroes in the Bible
— listen to this
— Here is what we are.. It gives us the opportunity to be the bearers of Grace to the world.
2co5.17
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
— We are no longer “slaves” to sin but “slaves” to righteousness
Application:
- Acknowledge the freedom that God has given in His Grace.
- Note that Grace was costly… Jesus had to die.
- satan will attack, be prepared to be struck with doubt and fear in your choices
Grace Gives Us the Holy Spirit
— Through grace, God gives us the Holy Spirit, who works in us to produce holy living.
5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Grace Teaches Us to Reject Sin
— Grace does not condone sin but teaches us to renounce ungodliness.
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people,
12 training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,
— Grace instructs us in the way of holiness, showing us what to avoid and how to live in accordance with God’s character.
Grace Frees Us from Sin's Power
— Are you going to choose the power of sin in your life over the freedom from sins power? Well are you?
14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
— Grace breaks the hold that sin once had over us. Without grace, we would still be trapped under the weight of sin’s dominion.
Grace Motivates Our Pursuit of Holiness
— Here is what the Theologian J.C. Ryle says about Holiness
"We must be holy, because this is one grand end and purpose for which Christ came into the world. Jesus is a complete Savior. He does not merely take away the guilt of a believer’s sin, He does more—He breaks its power."
Application: What are you doing to become more “Holy?” More set apart for God?
- Watch your step… your likely to fall a few times.
- The only person who can make you MORE Holy is you.
- Through prayer, scripture study, in a small group, these types of activities at least give you a glimpse of Holiness
— Here is the next big idea
2. Slavery to Sin vs. Slavery to Righteousness (v. 16-18)**
16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,
18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
— Everyone serves a master—either sin or righteousness.
— We become slaves to what we choose to obey.
— Some grasp and hold on to firmly that “I” can do all that I want and more as long as in the end I choose Grace.
— Before Christ, we were slaves to sin, which leads to death.
— But through faith in Christ, we become slaves to righteousness, leading to holiness.
Application:
- Recognize That You Serve a Master
- Choose to Obey Righteousness vs. falling sin
- Be Intentional About Spiritual Growth
— To our point #3
3. The Wages of Sin vs. the Gift of God (v. 23)
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
— My guess is that most of us have been hit between the eyes with this verse
— Interesting use of words here in a comparison… “The wages of sin and death.”
— We love to earn wages because we worked for them. Even if the reward is “DEATH.”
Sin pays its wages—death. But God offers the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ.
— In contrast, God's grace gives us eternal life, not as something earned, but as a gift through Christ.
Application:
- Recognize that sin has real, destructive consequences.
- Reflect on the areas of your life where sinful choices have led to brokenness.
— Let’s review a bit of where we have been today by looking at our three big ideas
1. Grace Does Not Permit Sin (v. 15)
— If you are living with sin, sinning with abandon, thinking there will be NO consequence for “this” sin because I won’t get caught.
— But if you are sinning… you are living under the law, because you are not living under Grace.
2. Slavery to Sin vs. Slavery to Righteousness (v. 16-18)
— We are “slaves!” That’s the word that was chosen to represent those who are willing to set everything aside for Christ
— Listen to this verse from a slightly different translation
1 From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.
— Move your life, move your soul, move every single molecule in your body towards “SLAVERY.”
— A slave to Christ Righteousness… a slave to Christ’s ways
3. The Wages of Sin vs. the Gift of God (v. 23)
— This statement is the contrast, of all contrasts in the world…
— Living a life in sin versus receiving the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
— For the wages of sin is… Death, this means more than physical death. It refers to spiritual death
—This is the ultimate consequence of living a life enslaved to sin!
As we close today…
— Today we are reminded that grace is not an excuse to sin, but a call to a life of righteousness.
— As believers, we must continually choose to walk in this new life.
— Every day presents us with choices: Will we serve sin, or will we serve righteousness?
— The good news is that through Christ, we have the power to choose rightly. We have been set free from sin and are now free to live lives that glorify God.
— This is the heart of the gospel, the essence of grace, and the hope we carry into our daily lives.
Prayer
— God we are a grateful people
— Thank you for our music today
— Thank you for the reading of The Word
— Thank you for your message today… We pray that many will hear and understand our message today
— Thank you for your gentle but firm direction for us from your Word.
— In your name we pray
— Amen!!
Closing Song
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Questions for devotion, discussion, discipleship
1. In Romans 6:15, what is Paul's response to the question of whether we should sin because we are not under the law but under grace?
2. What does it mean that grace empowers us to pursue holiness.
3. What is the big idea in Romans 6:16-18 about slavery to sin versus slavery to righteousness?
4. How does the concept of 'The Wages of Sin vs. the Gift of God' in Romans 6:23 present a contrast.
5. What is the ultimate consequence of living a life enslaved to sin?
6. How can you apply the concept of 'Grace Does Not Permit Sin' in your own life.
7. What practical steps can you take to become more 'Holy' and set apart for God.