Sermon Tone Analysis

Free to be slave:

What does it mean to live by faith?

Paul through out the book of Romans deals with living by Faith-

Faith is helplessness reaching out in total dependence upon God."

We know that because of Abraham’s faith it was credited to Him as righteousness- Romans 4:3,22, Gal 3:6

Simple Definition: A life of Faith is taking God at His word and staking your life on it

Pistis:

to believe to the extent of complete trust and reliance—‘to believe in, to have confidence in, to have faith in, to trust, faith, trust.’

It is important to remember that we can have faith in God because he is Faithful- it is His characteristic

Two Questions:

What does it look like to live by faith?

What is the outcome of living by faith?

Paul begins this section of scripture with a “What then?”

Paul is building on a thought that goes way back to the introduction statement in Chapter one

That thought is this “The ones who have been justified by the gospel of God- Roman 1:2-4

Which was spoken about not just in the New Testament but all through out the Old Testament through the prophets-

Even given by God Himself in Gen 3:15

Now live by faith, and are Justified not by their works or by the law but by the work of Christ.

We know it is not about what we do for God but rather what God has done for us.

We are benefactors of a Great God who loves us and we are called to believe in the Gospel

The righteousness of God

Martin Luther the great reformer wrote:

“For I hated that word ‘righteousness of God,’ which according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.

“I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, ‘As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening un with his righteous wrath![1 “There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous live by is a gift of God, namely by faith… the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which the merciful God justifies by faith… Here I felt that I was altogether born again and entered paradise through open gates.[1]”

righteousness is a by-product of Faith:

to cause someone to be in a proper or right relation with someone else—‘to put right with, to cause to be in a right relationship with

When live by faith we are set free from sin and death and receive righteousness:

To live by faith according to the book of Romans is to say

God apart from you I am nothing, and without the grace of your gospel I am stuck in sin.

Faith causes action

we follow in the ways of Abraham- We believe God and His word, we surrender to the gospel of God, and we are credited righteousness

“Gospel of God”- term used by Pul in Romans 1:1- It isn’t just a gospel written by men about God- but it is His- from Him and about Him- He promised it all through out The Old Testament

Paul says “we are slaves to righteousness”- verse 18

the act of doing what God requires—‘righteousness, doing what God requires, doing what is right.

Righteousness is imputed to us Because of Jesus christ

John Bunyan when struggling with righteousness wrote

I also saw, moreover, that it was not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness was Jesus Christ Himself, “The same yesterday today and forever (Heb 13:8)”

We become slaves to doing what God requires

Jerry Bridges: God wants us to walk in obedience not victory.

Obedience is oriented toward God; victory is oriented toward self...

This is not to say God doesn’t want us to experience victory, but rather to emphasize that victory is a byproduct of obedience

where there was once sin and death in the account- we were in debt- God said “paid in full!”

Because of this, sin no longer gets to dictate our actions, or our future!

We no longer have to obey that slave master

We all serve something (verse 16)

Sin- leading to death

Righteousness- leading to sanctification and the result eternal life

What we obey affects the way we live, and just like a slave master determines our outcome

Sin leading to death

Righteousness leading to eternal life

The life of Faith results in freedom form slavery to sin- leading to death

To live by faith effects everything about our Reality- Hebrews 11 “The faith Chapter”

Slaves to righteousness- verse 18

There is a play on the word slave that Paul uses.

Chapter 1:1 Paul say “Servant” better translated as a “slave”:

The term used here for servant is doulos, which means in the original Greek “one who is a slave in the sense of becoming the property of an owner (though in ancient times it was frequently possible for a slave to earn his freedom)—‘slave, bondservant.

“A doulos was a person who had been purchased, and once purchased he became his masters’ possession.[1]”

Paul when speaking of being a slave to Righteous plays with that same idea

The word slave Here means

to gain control over someone and thus make such an individual subservient to one’s own interests—‘to gain control over, to make a slave of, to cause someone to be subservient to, to cause to be like a slave.’

God has made us slaves to righteousness-

Righteousness now speaks to who and what we are.

We are subject righteousness - and it says we are:

We are justified

We are set free

We are bearing fruit that leads to eternal life

we are co-heirs with Christ

Adopted in

Once we were slaves to sin- Verse 20

Slaves to sin:

pertaining to a state of being completely controlled by someone or something—‘subservient to, controlled by

Verse 19 shows what that looks like:

When we were slaves to sin we surrendered our bodies to impurity and wickedness.

We were subject to the slave master

sin with leads to death

Verse 23: “The wages of Sin is death”

the end result from some activity, viewed as something which one receives in return—‘wages, result.’

τὰ γὰρ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁμαρτίας θάνατος ‘for the result of sin is death’ Ro 6:23.

The result of sin is death!

That is wages that must be paid-

Sin Demands Death.

God Paid our Debt- on the Cross

Jesus cried out “It is Finished”

The work of breaking the curse of Sin was complete-

we Benefit from a God so love He gave