Do We Have Religion or a Relationship?
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Introduction
Introduction
A brief summery of everything we have covered in Romans to this point:
Chapter 1 of Romans:
God has righteous wrath on the ungodly.
Chapter 2 of Romans:
The law cannot save anyone for it only serves to condemn people.
Chapter 3 of Romans:
God alone is righteous meaning there is no one righteous apart from God but is attained throughout the work of Jesus in those who have placed their trust in Christ.
Chapter 4 of Romans:
Grace is obtained only through saving faith in Jesus Christ; we cannot earn salvation through our own actions.
Chapter 5 verses 1-11 of Romans:
Saving faith causes us to rejoice in the things of God because we are now at peace with God.
Chapter 5 verses 12-21 of Romans:
Through Adam we suffer death but through Christ we celebrate eternal life.
Chapter 6 of Romans
God has bought us out of our slavery to sin so that we can be faithful servants of His.
Marriage to religion leads to death. (v. 5)
Marriage to religion leads to death. (v. 5)
5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
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In this passage, Paul is arguing against religiosity. As a result, he is advocating a relationship change within us. We do not need to attach ourselves to a list of dos and don’ts.
Look at what Paul writes in the first three verses of this chapter.
1 Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?
2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
When someone is an unbeliever, they will find themselves in a place under the authority of sin which means they are in bondage to the law. Why is this the case? Because the Law requires complete and total obedience in every aspect. In all honesty, it is an impossible task. It weighs heavy and ultimately has one outcome, death.
What is beautiful about this passage is how he compares it to a marriage. God’s design for marriage is for a husband and wife to be joined together for the life of the spouse. We see this reality in this passage. Paul tells us that if a married woman leaves her husband and marries another man while he lives she is in adulteress. But, if her husband dies she is free to marry another man.
Now I’ll say this, there is only a couple of reasons one would be free apart from death. One is if the other spouse commits adultery or is abusive. The second is if one spouse become a believer and the non-believer divorces them.
Here in this passage it is telling us, we cannot remain loyal to religion, legalism, works based salvation, our sin. Instead, we must die to those things. Literally, put our ways to death.
Which leads us to the second thing for us to examine tonight.
i. We must place our trust in Christ alone.
i. We must place our trust in Christ alone.
ii. We must live sacrificial lives to the will of Christ.
ii. We must live sacrificial lives to the will of Christ.
iii. We must reject our own desires.
iii. We must reject our own desires.
iv. We must place God’s will above our own.
iv. We must place God’s will above our own.
v. We must walk in a relationship with Jesus.
v. We must walk in a relationship with Jesus.
5. We must
We have covered the marriage to
Marriage to Christ leads to life. (v. 6)
Marriage to Christ leads to life. (v. 6)
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6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Upon repentance and trusting in Jesus Christ, we are released from the bondage of sin and religion. We move from a self-focused life to a selfless life. We go from religion, or a lack of religion, to a relationship.
When we repent, we are communicating to God that we no longer love who we are apart from, in fact, we communicate we hate our sinfulness. We are asking God to put our sin to death and to raise us up to live holy lives in communion with God.
How do we do this?
i. We must place our trust in Christ alone.
i. We must place our trust in Christ alone.
ii. We must live sacrificial lives to the will of Christ.
ii. We must live sacrificial lives to the will of Christ.
iii. We must reject our own desires.
iii. We must reject our own desires.
iv. We must place God’s will above our own.
iv. We must place God’s will above our own.
v. We must walk in a relationship with Jesus.
v. We must walk in a relationship with Jesus.