Romans #9
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Good evening, it is good to see everyone this evening. You know it was possible that the church that Paul is writing to which is one that he had not visited yet, had not at this point had much teaching on salvation, so Paul felt it was needed to write a letter to these people and just teach them on salvation, what is our salvation all about?
This is the essence of the Christmas narrative, this is the essence of the gospel. This is important to learn about. It’s an amazing letter I mean the book of Romans is just an awesome letter, we call it a book but it was a letter to the church, we gain so much understanding that goes beyond the surface of things.
I’m telling you it is needed in our day to move beyond the surface of things. We desperatly need to move post the surface because there is a world out there that is lost and dying, and they need the hope that is only found in Jesus Christ and they are looking for answers.
The Bible has those answers and they give us a way to respond to the questions from the world. The book of Romans is like this it is just filled with great truth and understand about who we are in Christ.
Now if you remember when we got into the 6th chapter of Romans Paul began talking about the fact that as a child of God your not only saved from the penalty of sin, but you are also saved from the power of sin.
He started that and chapter 7 is a continuation of that remember when you come to a chapter division in your Bible that doesn’t mean there is a new thought going on, these subsections weren’t put into place until about the 15th century.
So it was a long, long time between the writing and when those divisions were added. So be careful not to think just because we started a new chapter that we are on a brand new thought.
What he is basically saying is, you and i when we came to Jesus, we were resued from the power of sin to dictate our lives. He has been using several different examples to make that point. That we have been rescued from the power of sin, not just the penalty usually as Christians we just happy as can be to find pout that were rescued form the penalty of sin, and its like wow, I am gonna go be with the Lord when I die because the penalty of sin for me its been paid, praise God Jesus paid my penalty for me!
then we start getting into the word and we start to realize wow He saved me from way mroe than the penalty he saved me from the power of sin, the power of sin to rule my life.
To say to me do this and i had no choice but to do it. He saved me from that too!
Well now He is going to finish those thoughts and if your looking at your text right there in chapter 7 take note of the first 6 verses. The reason I want you to pa attention to those is because its in those 6 verses that Paul is going to finish His thoughts from chapter 6 and then beginning inverse 7 He is going to talk about something else, but something realted.
What He is dealing with here, He is going to finish his thoughts on the believers new relationship to sin again hestarted it last chapter, he is saying you and I once had a relationship with sin that was defined one way but now we have a relationship with sin that is defined a new way.
But as he gets towards the end of the chapter He is going to talk about our relationship to the law. What is the follower of Christs relationship to the law of moses, or the 10 commandments?
Thats changed too since you came to Jesus.
Romans 6
Let’s review what he has said:
BEFORE receiving Christ- our relationship to sin:
ENSLAVED(sin was our master)
We were enslaved in sin. Well, a slave has no rights.
A slave only does one thing, he or she obeys thats all they can do they have no option. So thats what Paul said was our relationship with sain prior to coming to Jesus. You were a slave and you obeyed your master think about a slave master standing over you with a whip, and just telling you what you were gonna do and oyu obeyed and so did I before we knew Jesus Christ now, everything has changed since you came to the Lord.
Now that you have recieved Jesus Christ as your saviro our current relationship to sin is that we have been set free, set free from whay? well we have been set free from our obligation and our slavery to sin.
How was that accomplished?
For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin’s dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died is freed from sin’s claims.
Romans 6:
So that last statement is an interesting one, what do you need to do in order to be freed from slavery?
YOu gotta die
Because you know your slave master can whip you all he wants once your dead your not gonna know either way.
But there is only one problem with dying now your not alive to enjoy your freedom the only thing that could free you from slavery is death.
So what does Jesus do He says ok you know heres the deal I am gonna let you enter into my death and you will be set free, and you will no longer be a slave because that old relationship ends but I am not going to leave you dead I am gonna raise you up, and now you will be able to enjoy and live out your freedom.
That is our new relationship to sin, were no longer slaves. Wouldn’t it be nice if that meant, now we dont sin!
wouldn’t it be nice to never have to struggle with anything but we learn something, about this reality and heres another note for ya
FREE FROM SIN DOES NOT MEAN WE ARE SIN-FREE
This is something that Paul has been saying to us, I wish it were the case that once were set free from our slavery to sin that now were sin free. we could just do a little happy dance through the rest of life and say I dont sin anymore because I have been set free from it.
But we learn very soon after coming to Jesus that that is in fact not the case.
But we dont HAVE TO
We dont HAVE TO
So why is it, that we do?
Well think of it this way, remember that picture of that slave master standing over you with a whip the one you used to have to obey, well guess what, he hasn’t gone away, you just are no longer under any obligation to do what he says.
But he is still there, he is still yellin and screaming inside of you, do this and do that, you now for the very first time in your life to look him in the eye and say NO
but sometimes we dont
There are a couple reasons for that, frankly sin is fun and it is enticing to the flesh. Sometimes we say yes because we want to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season.
The reason why its fun is because thats what we have done for our entire young lives But there are other times we believe the old slave master because we still believe the lie that were still under his control.
you are under no obligation any longer to obey sin, but sometimes we still do.
“Im still caught in slavery to this sin”
We still sin
1 John 1:
If we say, “We have no sin,” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say, “We don’t have any sin,” we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
We live here in this weird place if I took a coin out of my pocket but it was the coin of our new relationship to sin as believers. On one side of that coin it would say set free from bondage to sin, and then the other side would say just once wont hurt
We will never on this side of glory be totally sinless, we will always sin until Christ returns but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been set free from our bondage.
Paul is gonna use another illustration to show us that we have been set free froim the power of sin.
Since I am speaking to those who understand law, brothers, are you unaware that the law has authority over someone as long as he lives?
For example, a married woman is legally bound to her husband while he lives. But if her husband dies, she is released from the law regarding the husband.
So then, if she gives herself to another man while her husband is living, she will be called an adulteress. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law. Then, if she gives herself to another man, she is not an adulteress.
Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God.
This is pretty basic stuff Paul is simply making the point that marriage is for life and that when a married person is married and then their spouse dies they are rleaesed from the law
They are now free to remarry and Paul is making that connection for you and I as it relates to sin. Heres what it says in verse 4
Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God.
Now stop there do you see what Pauls doing he is making the connection here sing the illustration of marriage and he is basically saying this, before you knew Christ it was like you were married to sin, now he is not literally saying you were married to sin but he is using an illustration we can grab hold of.
Just as in any marriage relationship, there is children that are produced.
What is our offspring when were married to sin?
So what fruit was produced then from the things you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death.
He is gonna make that same point right now
For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death.
What a weird thought
So what does it take to get out of a marriage relationship?
death
you died so that marriage union is broken, the old marriage to sin and now your free to marry someone else Jesus
Now that you are married to Him once again this marriage will produce offspring, and these children will be life. not death. I used to be married to sin and it gave birth to death, but now I am married to Christ and it gave birth to life
It really is an amazing picture and it tells us alot about how we have been set free from the power of sin
But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.
There it is using the example of marriage Paul takes one more chance to teach us that the bondage from our old life has been broken and we have a new relationship to the Lord.
Now sin has no more power
Now that might end the conversation but you might have noticed that Paul made reference to the law meaning the law of moses
Therefore, my brothers, you also were put to death in relation to the law through the crucified body of the Messiah, so that you may belong to another—to Him who was raised from the dead—that we may bear fruit for God.
Romans
For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions operated through the law in every part of us and bore fruit for death.
But now we have been released from the law, since we have died to what held us, so that we may serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old letter of the law.
Now Paul wants to talk to us about our new relationship to the law, weve discussed our old relationship to sin and our new relationship to sin. Now let’s talk about our old relationship to the law, and our new relationship to the law.
Kinda sounds like je is dissin the law though doesnt it?
He kind of makes the law sound like its our big problem
What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.
You know I had a real problem when I first got my drivers license because I liked to go fast but theres this problem that comes up and its called a speed limit sign.
While this is not a point of pride it is a point of shame to me but I honestly before I was 18 had so many moving violations that I had to go to court and I almost lost my license.
What Paul is kind of saying here is that if your driving down a road and theres no speed limit sign, you might get the impression that you can go as fast as you want, but then you drive along long enough and you find that speed limit sign, and what does it do. ‘
Suddenly it gives you information, it reveals to you just how fast you should be going, what the limit is for how fast you should be going it also communicates to you how you are exceeding that limit.
Now, the sign didn’t make you speed iot just told you how bad you were speeding.
Thats what the law does it shows us how much we sin, it informs usabout what were doing.
You cant blame the law just like you cant blame the speed limit sign
What should we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin if it were not for the law. For example, I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, Do not covet.
He s
And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.
Now he is not just saying that the law tells us what were donig wrong now he is actually saying the law stirs up feelings of rebellion in me to actually do wrong and what Paul is actually admitting is something that everyone of us knows.
That is that when we see a rule we think it is there to be broken
dont we have a saying rules were meant to be broken?
Thats a saying, what does that saying tell you about human hearts
It tells you that it is hard wired in our DNA we are rebllious people the best way to get a kid to go into a room is to tell him DONT GO IN THAT ROOM
The best way to get him to put his hand on a hot plate is say dont touch that its hot
You dont train your kids to do that, they just do it’
Its in us we want to rebel, so Paul makes the point here that when I see a rule I think to myself I’ll just do it anyway
What do we do with the speed limit sign?
we always wanna see how fast we can go over the limit and not get caught
(5 miles over )
Were just trying to break the law its in me its in you
Have you ever been driving down a road and say “the speed limit should be 65 here”
Grace likes to ask me from the backseat if I am obeying the speed limit....
Paul is saying when I saw in the law thou shalt not covet it actually stirred up desires for coveting in my heart.
You know growing up i never wanted to experiment with illegal drugs but when they showed the video in health class abot why we shouldnt I thought I gotta get me some of that
IT IS IN ME
But its in you as well with other things
but we cant say its the fault of the movie, speed limit sign, or the law
And sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind. For apart from the law sin is dead.
apart from the law sin is dead
What Paul is saying apart from the law sin isn’t even considered
Once I was alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life
and I died. The commandment that was meant for life resulted in death for me.
Romans
When I became aware of Gods law sin came alive
He means 2 things
1. I became aware that what I was doing was wrong
2. Something in my heart was awakened to say NO IM NOT GOING TO
That rebellious attitude that says no I am not gonna slwo down
Then Paul gives the result.... I DIED
The law says dont do this and my flesh says your not gonna tell me what to do and that produces death in me.
So the very promise that God gave me to bring about life do this and you will live actually produced death why? because I couldnt do it
Keep My statutes and ordinances; a person will live if he does them. I am Yahweh.
What does the word of god say to you and to me fail at one part and you fail at it all.
There is no second chances your a law breaker
For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me.
Sin decieved me and killed me
So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and just and good.
Therefore, did what is good cause my death? Absolutely not! On the contrary, sin, in order to be recognized as sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that through the commandment, sin might become sinful beyond measure.
The law cannot help you stop sinning because we have a heart problem, the only way you can become free from sin is to accept Jesus Christ
When you realize this you will understand that the law just cant do it for ya, we cant keep rules, but boy has the church tried to impose rules on people throughout the years or what?
women can only wear this, your hari can only be this long, men have to wear this, we have to meet here, there are just rules upon rules upon rules
I wanna end tonight by showing you something that Paul wrote in Galatians
Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that was able to give life, then righteousness would certainly be by the law. But the Scripture has imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian,
So the next time someone comes up to you and says do you keep the Sabbath why arent you wearing those special clothes why arent you keeping those rules
I am no longer under the guardianship of the law
WHAT ARE YOU UNDER ANYWAY?
The guardianship of the Spirit
