Romans 6 - Slaves to Sin or to Righteousness
The Book of Romans • Sermon • Submitted
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· 16 viewsChrist has set us free from the slavery of sin. Now we can be slaves to righteousness.
Notes
Transcript
Recap of Rom 5
Recap of Rom 5
Christ died to set us free from sin.
v 20 “Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”
Paul draws an illogical conclusion he sees coming:
Grace is good. I want more.
More sin leads to more grace
I should sin more so I can receive more grace!
Chapter 6 is about refuting this idea
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
No!
English Standard Version Romans 6:1–4
What shall we say then? mAre we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can nwe who died to sin still live in it? 3 Do you not know that all of us owho have been baptized pinto Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were qburied therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as rChrist was raised from the dead by sthe glory of the Father, we too might walk in tnewness of life.
Versions:
ESV - By no means!
CSB - Absolutely not!
ASV - God forbid.
NASB - May it never be!
Emphatic denial of a stupid question
Catholic church’s objection to Martin Luther: “If we tell people they are saved by grace alone and not by works, they will take it as a license to sin.”
Being saved means you have been changed
Being saved means you have been changed
Paul makes it clear here in Ephesians that to be saved means you will do good works
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
More than that, it means you can do good works.
People in Romans 1 certainly could not
But there are only 2 works that count towards salvation
Man’s sin
Christ’s conquering of that sin through His death and resurrection
Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?
English Standard Version Chapter 2
26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.
The idea Paul is laying out here is not “belief in God will save a person regardless of anything else”, but “through God’s grace some of us have faith in God. This faith leads to a changed life, there will be works that flow from this faith that align with the fruit of the Spirit.
United with Christ
United with Christ
[Rom 6:5-11]
United with Christ: in death
United with Christ: in death
We died. We didn’t just wash off the dirty parts, we died. Christ died on the cross, and as believers, so did we.
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.
Christ died for our sin on the cross so that we could die to our sin.
He did NOT die on the cross so we could be saved while we sin.
United with Christ: in life
United with Christ: in life
This is what Paul is screaming out against! Jesus didn’t come to earth, suffer, die, and come back from the dead so we could be saved and continue to sin. Our sin put Him on that cross.
Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Christ conquered death, not just for Himself, but for all the saints.
And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.
Christ died and believers rose out of the grave to bear witness of His achievement.
English Standard Version Chapter 12
24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Whoever loves his life loses it, and whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.
A seed is not meant to stay a seed
A seed has to “die” It’s outer shell has to rot and from that death and decay new life springs forth.
We are like seeds. We are all made in the image of God.
God has to breathe life into us. We have to die with Christ and be raised to life to truly live and grow and bear fruit.
To be united with Christ in death we must be united to Him in life. And to be united to Him in life we must be united with him in death.
[Rom 6:12-14]
Sin has no power over you, stop trying to give it back
Sin has no power over you, stop trying to give it back
If sin is powerless over us, why do we sin?
Because we want to.
English Standard Version Chapter 10
13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
Where before we had no choice but to sin (check out Romans 1), now we have a choice.
We can honor God and serve Him
We can dishonor God and serve ourselves - sin
[Rom 6:15-19]
Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace?
Are we to sin because we are not under the Law but under grace?
Versions:
ESV - By no means!
CSB - Absolutely not!
ASV - God forbid.
NASB - May it never be!
Slaves of sin: impurity leading to lawlessness. Slaves of righteousness leading to sanctification.
Slaves of sin: impurity leading to lawlessness. Slaves of righteousness leading to sanctification.
At what point are we not slaves? At no point!
We were good slaves when we were slaves to unrighteousness
We’re bad slaves of righteousness
[Rom 6:20-23]
Fruits of Slavery
Fruits of Slavery
Is anyone proud of the fruit of their sin?
No!
This is NOT saying that no good can come from it
English Standard Version Chapter 50
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
English Standard Version Chapter 8
28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
God can bring good out of evil. How powerful is that?
English Standard Version Chapter 6
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
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.
Slavery to sin => freedom from righteousness
Slavery to God => freedom from unrighteousness
What is sin?
What is sin?
Gen 3 - Mankind disobeyed God’s command
Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
and blameless in your judgment.
David was immoral and did evil in the sight of the Lord.
David sinned against Uriah, Bathsheba, and all the Israelites as their king. But that all paled in comparison to the sin against God.
English Standard Version Chapter 5
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law.
Sin is this thing that sticks to us and permeates every human to the core.
Over 50 words for sin in Hebrew Bible
Struggled to define
Kept missing certain aspects and creating new words
Sin is breaking God’s commandments
Sin is breaking God’s commandments
What is the most important commandment?
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
Sin is failing to love God as we should
10 commandments: #1
“You shall have no other gods before me.
In the end, sin is what kills us
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I heard it put like this
Sin is looking for something only God can provide somewhere else
Maybe I need love. Rather than seeking and being satisfied in God’s love I look for it somewhere else.
That thing now comes before God
I have reserved part of my heart for that thing instead of God
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
When our desires are for the things of God, whom we are slaves to, we will be satisfied
God made everything. Any “good” that we think comes from something is just a piece of what God can give.
What is righteousness?
What is righteousness?
The state of being in the right
Righteousness before the Law
Righteousness before the Law
These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Noah was righteous because he walked with God
And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.
Abraham believed the Lord and it was counted to him as righteousness
How did they do that? How did they walk with and believe God before His Law was given?
How did they do that? How did they walk with and believe God before His Law was given?
They had no bible or sacred scripture.
But that didn’t stop God from choosing them and from walking with them
Righteousness with the Law
Righteousness with the Law
God gave His Law as a display of His righteousness
God told His people how to live and what to do if they failed to live up to it.
Righteousness under grace
Righteousness under grace
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
God is the only righteous being
He gives us His righteousness through faith in Jesus
This righteousness is permanent
How can we be slaves to righteousness?
How can we be slaves 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.
Formerly - Slaves to sin - Sin was our master and lord
Currently - Slaves to righteousness - God is our Master and Lord
Sin involves an exchange of slaveries - Stott, J. R. W. (2001). The message of Romans: God’s good news for the world (p. 184). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.
The big idea
The big idea
is NOT - Once we are saved we have to be righteous or we are not really saved
IS - Once we are saved, righteousness is bestowed on us and becomes something we can aspire to and work towards
Where before we:
Rom 1 - Exchanged the truth of God for a lie
Rom 2 - Were deserving of God’s judgement
Rom 3 - Because God alone is righteous
He gave us His righteousness through Christ
Rom 4 - Abraham was justified by his faith in God’s Word
Rom 5 - We have righteousness, peace with God, and life through faith in Jesus
Where we were dead in sin, God made us alive through Christ
Rom 6 - This is NOT something to take advantage of.
Grace is motivation to honor God and serve Him as Lord
It is NOT license to sin since grace is more powerful.
The Takeaway
The Takeaway
Meditate on God’s grace.
Think about how dead you were and that there was nothing you could do about it
Think about sending your child to die for something someone else did
Think about the love of God to send His Son to die in your place
Thank God for that grace
Let that thankfulness motivate you to be a good slave.