Sermon Tone Analysis
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If you’ve been with us lately then you know that we are studying the Book of Romans.
The book of Romans is a letter that the Apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome in a time of transition.
Hebrew and Gentile Christians were mixing together again into one church.
And Paul wants to remind them of the centrality of the gospel in all things.
Last week Paul proposed a question with an obvious answer.
Where sin is—for the believer—the grace of God is abounding.
And so, Paul asked last week.
Should we sin so that grace will abound?
And the answer is…
This week Paul asks another question with an obvious answer.
Last week we ended on verse 14.
Which says,
Romans 6:14 “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
And now in the first verse of our passage today Paul asks, Romans 6:15 “What then?
Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace?”
Since we are under grace does that then give us license to sin?
And the answer—should be—obvious.
The answer is...
And the argument Paul is answering is that the freedom obtained by the grace of God in Christ will undoubtedly lead to people sinning freely.
The logic goes: “If all sin is forgiven for those in Christ then they will freely sin because it is already forgiven.
Therefore, people need the law so that they won’t sin.
This was an argument of the Catholic Church during the reformation.
“We can’t tell people they are free in Christ!
They’ll all become horrible sinners!”
Paul’s rebuttal is that “freedom ‘from sin’ is not a freedom ‘to sin’.”
That actually being free in Christ with all sin forgiven is what breaks the power of sin in a persons life.
So Paul proposes this question in verse 15 and the rest of our passage is an explanation of this argument and it’s answer.
We’ll see...
The two broad strokes of our passage are I.
The Reality We Live In (15-19a) and II.
The Gift of Freedom (19b-23).
Let’s read our text and then we’ll unpack these two statements.
I.
The Reality We Live In (15-19a)
Anytime you are trying to understand a problem—you have to be able to see the problem for what It actually is.
There was a famous story in my family—when we were kids we were sleeping.
Me and my younger brothers and my Dad all in one room.
And my brother Stu, got up to go and get some water in the middle of the night.
And he screamed at the top of his lungs and burst back into the room waking everyone up.
He was shaking—and his eyes were wide—and my dad asked him what he had seen and Stu stammered out, “There’s…there’s…there’s a giant wat!!”
He was little and struggled with “R’s”.
My Dad thought there obviously wasn’t a giant rat in our house and that there was a person.
That Stu’s young brain was trying to make up something he could understand.
So my Dad grabbed his rifle—and proceeded to move through the house ready to scare off, fight some person who had broken into our house.
When he got to the kitchen—sitting on the sink—chewing on a chicken bone from the trash—was a huge possum.
Basically a giant rat.
My Dad entered into the problem not really understanding what he was dealing with.
He expected one thing and found another.
Friends, when it comes to the reality that we live in I believe it is the same thing.
The world considers itself free and considers those who are followers of Jesus to be hampered, shackled—not free.
But what Paul tells us in our passage this morning is that no one is really “free” as we like to use the word.
Look at verse 16.
Romans 6:16 “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?”
Paul says this idea of “human autonomy” is a lie.
The idea that we are “free” from outside influence—that we forge our own path in this universe without any influence is a fiction.
Who you obey, Paul says, is your master.
If you present yourself to anyone as obedient slaves then you are a slave to that which you are obedient to.
So there are two categories here.
There are two options.
Christians believe that the Bible, the Word of God is our final source of authority and what God is saying is there are two categories of people.
And it’s not those who are free and those who are enslaved.
Surprisingly, those are not the categories.
The categories are that all people are either slaves to sin or slaves to obedience.
Now let me pause here—because I have been using the word slave a lot and I know that is an uncomfortable word.
When 21st century people hear the word slavery we typically think about the horrendous history of the slave trade.
And in America we think about the American past where so many horrific things were perpetrated on people of color.
And so any mention of “slave” or “slavery” conjures up disgust in us.
Paul is using an analogy for his readers—that would have been extremely applicable, from the world around them.
This is what he says in verse 19.
Romans 6:19 “I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations.”
Paul is taking something everybody would have seen on a daily basis and used it to make a spiritual point.
And slavery is something that everyone would have been familiar with.
And just like today—there would be this idea that there are “free people” and “enslaved people”.
But what God, through Paul, is telling us, is...
The reality of humanity is that we are all slaves to something.
When we habitually present ourselves to something we become a slave to that something.
And in our world there are two main “somethings.”
Sin or obedience to God.
This is what Ephesians 2 says explicitly.
The first 3 verses of Ephesians 2 says the all people are dead in their sins and that they, day after day, follow the passions of their flesh and sin.
They are slaves to their sinful natures.
The reality that we live in—is that all people are slaves to something.
We are all born into death—thanks to the work of Adam on our behalf—and the result is that we are slaves to sin.
Why do people lie?
Why do they steal?
Why do hey hide things?
Do what they know is wrong?
Because they are slaves to their sin.
Sin is their master and they do what their master tells them to do.
But this is not the only option.
Look with me at verse 17
Romans 6:17 “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,”
Paul says, thank God, that you were once slaves of sin...
You were, but are no longer.
For every follower of Jesus who has been saved—a transformation has taken place.
They were dead in their sins and slaves to their sin—but then God did a work in them.
Ephesians 2:4-5 “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—”
For all those who are in Christ—they have been delivered from their slavery to sin.
A person can’t stay dead and be a follower of Jesus.
When you think about your own life in Jesus: How has your salvation changed you?
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