Romans 6:15-23
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SLIDE 3
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 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? 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,
Romans 6:15-
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SLIDE 4
and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
Romans 6:18-
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SLIDE 5
But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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INTRO:
Depending on who we are, and what we believe, and what philosophies we are loyal to, and what experiences we have gone through, and what things influence us...
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… we will bring unique context to any given topic or statement.
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This is very pronounced in politics. This is very pronounced in hot social topics. This is very pronounced in religion. This is very pronounced in the media. And this is very pronounced in geographical residence.
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People who only listen to Fox News will bring a different context to a topic that people who only listen to CNN might bring.
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People who live in NYC will bring a different context to a topic that people people who live in Missouri might bring.
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People who have struggled with gender identity will bring a different context to a topic that people who have never struggled might bring.
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People who have experienced discrimination will bring a different context to a topic that people who have not experienced discrimination might bring.
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People who experience the benefits of capitalism will bring a different context to a topic that people who grew up in poverty might bring.
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People who believe the Word of God is God-breathed and true, will bring a different context to a topic, that people who don’t believe God’s Word is true will bring.
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Our bias, will often dictate our context.
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The Apostle Paul has just made a statement about law and grace in verse 14…
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Many different people, who bring unique bias to that statement, will also bring unique context.
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Many will walk away thinking… - “I am free to do whatever I want. There is no value in the law. There is no need for law. I can sin freely and God will forgive me freely.”
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Every society has its anarchists.
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Paul knew this… so he moved on, in vs. 15, to combat any context that might improperly interpret grace, in the life of the believer.
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SLIDE 6
What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
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Some might think… if the rules are not dictating my behavior… then I can do whatever I want.
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Paul is going to show us… where as this response might be true… yes, while you can do whatever you want… it IS NOT, AT ALL… beneficial, fruitful, or liberating.
There are many accounts where the term “under the law” is used… but here, there is no definite article.
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And I know what you’re probably thinking… “who cares?”
Now, before we delve into this passage, I’d like to address a context that some of us might bring to this topic...
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In the modern day, mostly American, church, people are very focused on themselves. And they go to church, and they open their Bibles… looking for something that address them, individually. - To the idea of Christianity, they respond with the question:
SLIDE 7
“What’s in it for me?”
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And while, there is a lot in our Bibles that addresses our lives specifically… -We, as individuals, are not the main topic of the Bible.
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I’ve told you many times… Christianity is not a self help program… and the Bible, is not a self help manual.
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But, this is how many in the modern, consumer driven church think about it.
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For this reason… many avoid the OT completely. They feel like the teachings in the Law and the prophets, are not applicable to their daily lives. The Law and the prophets, do not contribute to their goal of being happy and successful… so, they don’t read it.
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And, as more and more churches cater to this mentality.... the law and the prophets get’s taught, less and less.
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They say… -Jesus fulfilled the law… - we are not under the law… so now, since we are all about Jesus and grace, we don’t need to read the OT.
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THE LEVEL TO WHICH THIS THINKING IS FLAWED… IS UNIMAGINABLE.
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BUT… it plays to the context we as individuals might bring to verses 14 and 15.
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I often ask people I meet about their church. What do they like about it? What brings them back? What excites them?
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More often than not… I’m given answers that focus on a community connection, or the band, or the excitement, or an emotional connection, or some program involvement.
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Hey, I understand that we have the best church-coffee in town… but that is not why you come back here…
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Often times, people bring self centered context to church.... and the idea is this: “Church, and christianity, is helping me live a happy and successful life.”
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And yes… there are things in the Bible which will contribute to our happiness and to our success..
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BUT AS I’VE ALREADY SAID… that is not the main thrust of what our lives as Christians are to be all about.
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I don’t want to hear Christians bragging about their connection to the groups, or their excitement about the programs.. or how good their worship band is…
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I want to hear Christians bragging about their connection to Jesus, and their excitement about Jesus. -This is what we are really, supposed to be all about. While, God might fix you in the process… God might heal you along the way… - That is not the purpose of your faith life.
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SLIDE 8
THE MAIN PURPOSE IS JESUS. HOW IS HE BEING FOLLOWED, HONORED AND EXALTED IN YOUR LIFE?
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I honestly believe… in much of the church at large… Jesus is taking a back seat to psychology.
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There is a place for psychology in Bible Study. Psychology is the study of the human mind, and of human behavior. THE BIBLE IS FILLED WITH THAT KIND OF STUFF. And we do cover it and make application....
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But.... the primary goal of Bible study, is not self help. It’s about God, and His work as it is played out in this world, in our lives, and throughout history. The Bible speaks about an amazing Savior. The Bible spans the depth of history to show us how incredible Jesus is. Jesus is our goal.
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So… if Jesus is our goal… We won’t avoid the law… No Way! we will want to go back to the law and the prophets. Jesus has fulfilled them, -HE HAS FILLED IN THE BLANKS AND GIVEN A NEW UNDERSTANDING… - so now, we can go back and read them in light of what Jesus has done.
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Jesus Himself said:
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You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,
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Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
lk 24
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The OT has great value for us, if indeed, we are a people who want to be excited about Jesus...
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The Law bears witness of Jesus.
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The Law and the Prophets… are full of things, which concern Jesus.
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So, if we say, “We are not under the law”… this does not mean, that we avoid the law.
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By no means… because of what Jesus has done… The law is now a treasure trove of information that declares the Gospel, and glorifies Jesus.
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Here in vs. 14 and 15… Paul uses the term, “under law”…
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There’s no definite article, so it’s declaring a general idea… - Our lives are not driven and dictated by a written rule or standard. - We will find guidance by a law… but the real power that governs us… is grace.
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In many other cases, Paul does include the definite article..
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In he declared that he would be all things to all men, in order to win them to Christ… to the Jew, he became a Jew… to those under the law… he became as one under the law...
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But then he went on the qualify.. “though not being myself under the law”
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In , he said, if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
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In , he bragged about how good he was as a zealot gaining righteousness under the law… but, for the sake of Christ, he counted that as loss.
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IN , he said, ‘before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed.’
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To summarize what these verses are saying… according to and … some are still under the law and it’s referred to as a captivity. And shows us, that those who are led by the Spirit are not under the law.. and shows us, that Paul gave up the law as a means of gaining righteousness.
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We are not under the law. That is… as a Christian, the law is not our master. It is not the thing that leads us, EXCEPT… that it leads us Jesus. It is not our means of gaining righteousness. Righteousness can only be given to us freely, through grace…
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So now… as a people who have received a great gift… we are under grace.
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We find, in grace, a new authority… a new motivation to lead us… and new means by which we are declared righteous.
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Grace compels obedience… not disobedience. Grace inspires us to glorify God, not shame Him. Grace liberates, not enslaves.
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And, when we are compelled by grace, to live obedient lives for Christ’s glory… then, there is freedom.
For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;
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Paul lays out his argument starting in vs. 16… on why sin does not lead to freedom.
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rom 6.
SLIDE 11
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? 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, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
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The Roman culture knew slavery. Approximately 1/3 of the people who lived there, were either slaves, or had been slaves. Many others, had owned slaves. Everyone, KNEW WHAT A SLAVE WAS.
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To those who would say, “because of grace, I can sin freely w/o guilt… Paul says… - BY DOING SO… -you, as a free person, are enslaving yourself… not to something that brings righteousness… but rather, so something which leads to death.
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consider this illustration… because of Adam’s sin, which became our sin, and because of the sins which we compounded on top of that… we earned the wages of sin… which is death… so, in a way.... sin is like the hang-man’s noose.
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But grace is that thing, that declares us innocent. We don’t have to drop through that fateful hole in the bottom of the gallows..
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So.. in this passage… Paul is telling those who have been set free in grace… - If they sin intentionally because of a false understanding of grace… - they are like free men, climbing back up onto those gallows… and willingly putting their heads, in that noose.
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In case they didn’t realize what grace was supposed to produce in their lives.... Paul tells them in vs. 17.
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-obedience, from the heart… to the standard of teaching to which you were committed.
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this standard… or pattern of teaching most likely refers to the summary of Christian ethics, based on the teachings of Christ…
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IN and , Paul calls it ‘the traditions’… - referring to the teachings of Christ that they, the believers, were to learn and follow.
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I like what it says here… “obedience from the heart”..
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If something is from the heart… it’s something that has become a part of us. It’s a belief which is wired into us… it’s a conviction… it’s something we do, because we are wholly aligned with it.
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This is different than doing something, because we have to.
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SLIDE 12
I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
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For some people… again, because of the context they bring to the topic… it might be a hard thing to grasp.. - HOW CAN FREEDOM TO SIN W/O GUILT, BE CONSIDERED SLAVERY?
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They might think there is more bondage in the teachings of Christianity. There’s bondage in crucifying the desires of the flesh. There’s bondage in sobriety. There’s bondage in fidelity. There’s bondage in the commitment to assemble with other believers. There’s bondage in generosity. There’s bondage in good works. There’s bondage in giving preference to others.
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They might think… there is freedom in doing what they want to do… in drunkeness… infidelity… selfishness… being non-committal… and so on.
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But, in a way… these are the masters… the slave drivers, that we have been set free from. These are the hang man’s noose that we no longer have to face because of our declared innocence.
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And if we go back to them, declaring in them… freedom… well, we will learn… that it’s not freedom that they lead to. In fact, there is great bondage in addiction… in broken marriages, and -in the isolation that selfishness creates…
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I’m sure many of us here can relate to vs. 19… we’ve seen how one act of lawlessness, leads to other acts of lawlessness.
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Once we cross one boundary, it becomes easier to cross the next one. Our broken nature is wired to compromise… it loves to compromise… It comes easy.
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SLIDE 13
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Rom 6:20-
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Here Paul leads the believers to look back at their old life… Before they were freely given, by grace, the gift of righteousness… - they were free, or independent, of the demands of righteousness.
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Believers… you are righteous. As Righteous beings, you will be compelled to walk in the ways of righteousness… you will produce a fruit of righteousness in your life, as a by-product of having the HS in your life.
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But, an unbeliever is not compelled in the same way that you are. They are a different kind of tree, and they will produce a different kind of fruit.
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So… where as, they may or may not do a righteous deed… the fruit of it is what really matters. -There is no fruit… no spiritual benefit. The end for them, is still death.
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Good deeds do not balance out or temper the curse of sin nor the wages of sin.
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But… for the one who has overcome sin and death through Jesus… there is fruit.. fruit that leads to sanctification, that is… we are made to be holy and purified before God… - and the end of all this, is not an end… it is rather: ETERNAL LIFE.
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This chapter ends with a very familiar verse… if you are familiar with the Roman’s Road… this is the verse that lets us know…
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THAT WE DESPERATELY NEED JESUS.
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Here is what a life of sin has earned you: death.
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But, for those who believe in Jesus, and accept His forgiveness by faith… there are no wages… you are not earning anything… you are receiving a gift that can only be received freely and apart from your own merit.
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The free gift of God, is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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As we close today, I want to give you the opportunity to respond to this truth. If you have never received the free gift that Jesus gives, and the HS has been speaking to your heart… and you’ve been wrestling with this… THEN I INVITE YOU TO COME UP DURING COMMUNION, AND PRAY WITH ONE OF US.
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band - pray.