Freed from Sin, 28 October 2018
Freed from Sin
D6 Series—Romans: Faith’s Foundations
Romans 6
Series Overview: Romans is packed with the gospel and truths about our spiritual condition.
Big Idea: We are no longer slaves to sin, but rather servants of the Most High God.
We live in a very divisive society. Have you noticed? Dan Rogers likes to say everything seems to be binary. You are either a Republican and hate Democrats or you’re a Democrats and hate Republicans. The same can be said for Wolverines and Buckeyes or any number of categories. Where’s the nuance?
The older I get, I see less black and white and more gray. There is a middle. Compromise is often a possibility. For that matter, my dad taught me to always root for the Big Ten so this Wolverine boy even cheers for that school to our south…except the Saturday after Thanksgiving, of course!
Life can be very gray—and I don’t mean scarlet and gray—but there are some realities which are mutually exclusive and either/or. Jesus famously said,
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. (Matthew 6:24a, Luke 16:13a)
While he was speaking of God and money, a similar statement can be made of God and sin. You can serve God or sin. God or the world. God or self. We must choose. Daily. Hourly. Moment by moment.
Today we continue our series Faith’s Foundations, a run through Romans. We’re looking at the sixth chapter of this incredible book written by Paul to some of the first Christians in Rome. To quote Joshua 24:15, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.”
Last week we looked at the binary choice we have to make for our sins—eternal punishment or accepting the grace of Jesus. He died for us. Our only hope is not in our pathetic good works, but in the saving faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. Praise God for His amazing grace, unmerited favor, gift of salvation. Hallelujah!
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2)
Paul faced two extremes which are still rampant today, legalism and license. Some were preaching the importance of good works as if they could ever save us from eternal separation from a holy and perfect God. Others were saying since we have grace, let’s just do what we want because Jesus paid the price for all of our sins. Rather than legalism or license, we are to experience liberty.
If we set aside Judgment Day and eternity for a moment, sin is never beneficial. Think about your most troublesome sin, your most annoying temptation. Maybe it’s worry or gossip. It could be porn or unbridled anger. Perhaps it’s envy or workaholism. Whatever it is, how has it brought peace, joy, and satisfaction to your life? Exactly! It hasn’t! Sin only brings temporary pleasure. Like eating chocolate-covered poop, what follows is never worth it! Sin leads to death—death of relationships, finances, and sometimes even physical death. We have a real enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy. He tempts, then accuses. He never plays fair!
Last Sunday we celebrated the joy of experience grace—forgiveness, peace, reconciliation with our Creator, hope…
Our response to God and the gift of the cross and empty tomb should never be the pursuit of sin, but rather the pursuit of God. You don’t say thank you for a gift by abusing it. You take care of it. You express your gratitude. You respond in love and kindness.
Jesus died for our sins. He set an example for us to follow—dying to sin. This doesn’t mean we accept Jesus and never sin. The battle continues, but our allegiance is no longer to satan and sin, but to our Savior and salvation. We have died to sin.
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)
The book of Ephesians is filled with a wonderful phrase—in Christ. It means that we are united with Christ. Everything that can be said about Jesus can be said about us. Water baptism brilliantly shows physically the spiritual reality of discipleship—dying to our self and sins and old nature in the water grave and emerging out of the water as new creations, resurrected and following Jesus Christ with our heart, soul, mind and strength.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:5-7)
Baptism is a symbol of dying and rising, but there’s another layer of meaning. For Paul, baptism is an exodus image, a Passover image. Coming through the waters is an image of slaves getting freed.
Do you want to be a slave to sin? That’s how most people live, addicted to sin. It may or may not be alcohol or drugs, but any sin can control us, rule us, enslave us.
But Jesus has conquered sin. Jesus has conquered death. Last week we looked at the doctrine of justification by faith which is a part of the powerful gospel through which we are transformed into renewed human beings. The Messiah died and rose as a representative of his people, creating a new reality for the rescued, forgiven, and freed who follow him.
I know it feels as though we are still dragged down by sin, but Paul says remember who you are in the Messiah. We already stand on resurrected ground. We are set free from sin. We are not free to sin! We are to know this. We are to fill our minds with this truth.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Romans 6:8-10)
This is such great news! Jesus has conquered death. Once for all. He died to sin. If we die with him, we will also live with him…for the glory of God. We were made by God, for God, and for God’s glory.
A.W. Tozer, in writing about “The Deeper Life,” said,
To enter upon such a life, seekers must be ready to accept without question the New Testament as the one final authority on spiritual matters. They must be willing to make Christ the one supreme Lord and ruler in their lives. They must surrender their whole being to the destructive power of the cross, to die not only to their sins but to their righteousness as well as to everything in which they formerly prided themselves.
If this should seem like a heavy sacrifice for anyone to make, let it be remembered that Christ is Lord and can make any demands upon us that He chooses, even to the point of requiring that we deny ourselves and bear the cross daily. The mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit that follows will restore to the soul infinitely more than has been taken away. It is a hard way, but a glorious one. Those who have known the sweetness of it will never complain about what they have lost. They will be too well pleased with what they have gained.
That’s radical! But doesn’t it make sense? We can serve sin or God? But not both.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)
Some translations say reckon yourselves dead to sin but alive to God. This is an accounting term. We must calculate ourselves, add it up. The Messiah has died and been raised. We’re in Christ so therefore we have died in him and are alive to God. This is our status. Reckon it. Count it. Deal with it!
Paul doesn’t say sin less. He does say manage your sin or try to avoid it. He says count yourselves dead to sin. But you can’t just eliminate something from your life. You must replace it with something else.
I’m told many alcoholics turn to smoking or even gum when they are trying to rid themselves of the bottle. If you want to stop eating donuts, keep some carrots handy. Die to sin…and come alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Romans 6:12-13)
We are to offer no part of ourselves to sin. This means our heart, soul, mind, and strength; our eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, thoughts, attitudes. God wants it all.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30)
Jesus says all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
I believe the problem in our world is not “those people” who don’t know Christ. It’s those of us who call ourselves Christians and yet act nothing like Jesus. We may look religious on Sunday morning, but return to our sin on Monday. We give our leftovers in the offering plate if there’s anything left over after our binge shopping on Amazon.
Let me put it this way: my wife wants me to be faithful to her. 24/7/365. Is that unreasonable? What if I told her I would be devoted to her on Sundays but acted differently during the week?
Perhaps Jesus’ half-brother, James, says it best.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. (James 3:9-12)
What will it be? Sin or grace?
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)
Paul wants us to know the truth so the truth can set us free.
He wants us to have orthodoxy—right thinking—so we can engage in orthopraxy, right living.
We are dead to sin and alive to God.
We are to refuse sin’s reign in our lives.
We are to offer ourselves to God…completely. 100%
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:15-18)
We can be slaves to sin or righteousness. It’s one or the other.
Obviously the word “slavery” has nothing but negative connotations in our culture. Tragically, there are more slaves on our planet today than at any time in history. A slave is subject to their master. Sin is a terrible, destructive master.
Becoming a servant of the Most High God, on the other hand, is a blessing, a privilege, a liberating, life-giving, satisfying experience.
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:19-22)
I love the contrast—death or eternal life. What do you choose?
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
This verse is often used to speak of non-Christians, but it was written to Christians.
When you serve a master, you can expect to be paid wages. Sin pays death. God pays holiness and eternal life.
The fruit of sin is shame.
The fruit of God is joy.
Death or the gift of God. What do you choose?
So What?
So much of what Paul seems to be addressing is the abuse of grace. If God forgives all of my sins, why not just eat, drink and be merry? In a word, death. Again, all sin leads to death of one kind or another. Words like holiness and righteousness have been abused to convey holier-than-thou and self-righteousness. That’s not at all what Paul’s talking about. He’s saying we need to choose—the world or God?
Later in Romans, Paul will write,
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)
The problem with living sacrifices, of course, is they can move! They can get off the altar! We are to surrender to God, yield, live for Him, not because He’s a control freak, but because He knows us, loves us, and is the source of all life, hope, freedom, and peace.
We are to know we have been crucified with Christ and are dead to sin.
We are to reckon this to be true in our lives.
We are to yield and surrender our bodies to be used for God’s glory.
Once again I want to give you an opportunity to respond. There’s not one of us in this room who has lived a perfect week. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Where have you failed? What part of your body have you not fully surrendered? Maybe it’s your negative tongue, lustful eyes, or gluttonous stomach. Perhaps it’s an anxious and fearful heart or envious attitudes. Your feet might be taking you to unhealthy places or your hands are holding tightly onto your agenda and will rather than trusting God with your future.
Don’t think you can do it alone. You need the Holy Spirit. You also need other people. Celebrate Recovery meets on Wednesday nights not only for addicts but anyone struggling with grief, loss, pain, or temptation. That’s all of us! We have small groups that meet throughout the week.
We no longer have to be slaves to sin, but rather we are invited to become servants of the Most High God.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.
D6 Series—Romans: Faith’s Foundations
Romans 6
Series Overview: Romans is packed with the gospel and truths about our spiritual condition.
Big Idea: We are no longer slaves to sin, but rather servants of the Most High God.
We live in a very divisive society. Have you noticed? Dan Rogers likes to say everything seems to be binary. You are either a Republican and hate Democrats or you’re a Democrats and hate Republicans. The same can be said for Wolverines and Buckeyes or any number of categories. Where’s the nuance?
The older I get, I see less black and white and more gray. There is a middle. Compromise is often a possibility. For that matter, my dad taught me to always root for the Big Ten so this Wolverine boy even cheers for that school to our south…except the Saturday after Thanksgiving, of course!
Life can be very gray—and I don’t mean scarlet and gray—but there are some realities which are mutually exclusive and either/or. Jesus famously said,
“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. (Matthew 6:24a, Luke 16:13a)
While he was speaking of God and money, a similar statement can be made of God and sin. You can serve God or sin. God or the world. God or self. We must choose. Daily. Hourly. Moment by moment.
Today we continue our series Faith’s Foundations, a run through Romans. We’re looking at the sixth chapter of this incredible book written by Paul to some of the first Christians in Rome. To quote Joshua 24:15, “choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.”
Last week we looked at the binary choice we have to make for our sins—eternal punishment or accepting the grace of Jesus. He died for us. Our only hope is not in our pathetic good works, but in the saving faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. Praise God for His amazing grace, unmerited favor, gift of salvation. Hallelujah!
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? (Romans 6:1-2)
Paul faced two extremes which are still rampant today, legalism and license. Some were preaching the importance of good works as if they could ever save us from eternal separation from a holy and perfect God. Others were saying since we have grace, let’s just do what we want because Jesus paid the price for all of our sins. Rather than legalism or license, we are to experience liberty.
If we set aside Judgment Day and eternity for a moment, sin is never beneficial. Think about your most troublesome sin, your most annoying temptation. Maybe it’s worry or gossip. It could be porn or unbridled anger. Perhaps it’s envy or workaholism. Whatever it is, how has it brought peace, joy, and satisfaction to your life? Exactly! It hasn’t! Sin only brings temporary pleasure. Like eating chocolate-covered poop, what follows is never worth it! Sin leads to death—death of relationships, finances, and sometimes even physical death. We have a real enemy who wants to steal, kill and destroy. He tempts, then accuses. He never plays fair!
Last Sunday we celebrated the joy of experience grace—forgiveness, peace, reconciliation with our Creator, hope…
Our response to God and the gift of the cross and empty tomb should never be the pursuit of sin, but rather the pursuit of God. You don’t say thank you for a gift by abusing it. You take care of it. You express your gratitude. You respond in love and kindness.
Jesus died for our sins. He set an example for us to follow—dying to sin. This doesn’t mean we accept Jesus and never sin. The battle continues, but our allegiance is no longer to satan and sin, but to our Savior and salvation. We have died to sin.
Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. (Romans 6:3-4)
The book of Ephesians is filled with a wonderful phrase—in Christ. It means that we are united with Christ. Everything that can be said about Jesus can be said about us. Water baptism brilliantly shows physically the spiritual reality of discipleship—dying to our self and sins and old nature in the water grave and emerging out of the water as new creations, resurrected and following Jesus Christ with our heart, soul, mind and strength.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. (Romans 6:5-7)
Baptism is a symbol of dying and rising, but there’s another layer of meaning. For Paul, baptism is an exodus image, a Passover image. Coming through the waters is an image of slaves getting freed.
Do you want to be a slave to sin? That’s how most people live, addicted to sin. It may or may not be alcohol or drugs, but any sin can control us, rule us, enslave us.
But Jesus has conquered sin. Jesus has conquered death. Last week we looked at the doctrine of justification by faith which is a part of the powerful gospel through which we are transformed into renewed human beings. The Messiah died and rose as a representative of his people, creating a new reality for the rescued, forgiven, and freed who follow him.
I know it feels as though we are still dragged down by sin, but Paul says remember who you are in the Messiah. We already stand on resurrected ground. We are set free from sin. We are not free to sin! We are to know this. We are to fill our minds with this truth.
Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. (Romans 6:8-10)
This is such great news! Jesus has conquered death. Once for all. He died to sin. If we die with him, we will also live with him…for the glory of God. We were made by God, for God, and for God’s glory.
A.W. Tozer, in writing about “The Deeper Life,” said,
To enter upon such a life, seekers must be ready to accept without question the New Testament as the one final authority on spiritual matters. They must be willing to make Christ the one supreme Lord and ruler in their lives. They must surrender their whole being to the destructive power of the cross, to die not only to their sins but to their righteousness as well as to everything in which they formerly prided themselves.
If this should seem like a heavy sacrifice for anyone to make, let it be remembered that Christ is Lord and can make any demands upon us that He chooses, even to the point of requiring that we deny ourselves and bear the cross daily. The mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit that follows will restore to the soul infinitely more than has been taken away. It is a hard way, but a glorious one. Those who have known the sweetness of it will never complain about what they have lost. They will be too well pleased with what they have gained.
That’s radical! But doesn’t it make sense? We can serve sin or God? But not both.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)
Some translations say reckon yourselves dead to sin but alive to God. This is an accounting term. We must calculate ourselves, add it up. The Messiah has died and been raised. We’re in Christ so therefore we have died in him and are alive to God. This is our status. Reckon it. Count it. Deal with it!
Paul doesn’t say sin less. He does say manage your sin or try to avoid it. He says count yourselves dead to sin. But you can’t just eliminate something from your life. You must replace it with something else.
I’m told many alcoholics turn to smoking or even gum when they are trying to rid themselves of the bottle. If you want to stop eating donuts, keep some carrots handy. Die to sin…and come alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. (Romans 6:12-13)
We are to offer no part of ourselves to sin. This means our heart, soul, mind, and strength; our eyes, ears, mouth, hands, feet, thoughts, attitudes. God wants it all.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ (Mark 12:30)
Jesus says all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.
I believe the problem in our world is not “those people” who don’t know Christ. It’s those of us who call ourselves Christians and yet act nothing like Jesus. We may look religious on Sunday morning, but return to our sin on Monday. We give our leftovers in the offering plate if there’s anything left over after our binge shopping on Amazon.
Let me put it this way: my wife wants me to be faithful to her. 24/7/365. Is that unreasonable? What if I told her I would be devoted to her on Sundays but acted differently during the week?
Perhaps Jesus’ half-brother, James, says it best.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water. (James 3:9-12)
What will it be? Sin or grace?
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. (Romans 6:14)
Paul wants us to know the truth so the truth can set us free.
He wants us to have orthodoxy—right thinking—so we can engage in orthopraxy, right living.
We are dead to sin and alive to God.
We are to refuse sin’s reign in our lives.
We are to offer ourselves to God…completely. 100%
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. (Romans 6:15-18)
We can be slaves to sin or righteousness. It’s one or the other.
Obviously the word “slavery” has nothing but negative connotations in our culture. Tragically, there are more slaves on our planet today than at any time in history. A slave is subject to their master. Sin is a terrible, destructive master.
Becoming a servant of the Most High God, on the other hand, is a blessing, a privilege, a liberating, life-giving, satisfying experience.
I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. (Romans 6:19-22)
I love the contrast—death or eternal life. What do you choose?
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)
This verse is often used to speak of non-Christians, but it was written to Christians.
When you serve a master, you can expect to be paid wages. Sin pays death. God pays holiness and eternal life.
The fruit of sin is shame.
The fruit of God is joy.
Death or the gift of God. What do you choose?
So What?
So much of what Paul seems to be addressing is the abuse of grace. If God forgives all of my sins, why not just eat, drink and be merry? In a word, death. Again, all sin leads to death of one kind or another. Words like holiness and righteousness have been abused to convey holier-than-thou and self-righteousness. That’s not at all what Paul’s talking about. He’s saying we need to choose—the world or God?
Later in Romans, Paul will write,
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. (Romans 12:1)
The problem with living sacrifices, of course, is they can move! They can get off the altar! We are to surrender to God, yield, live for Him, not because He’s a control freak, but because He knows us, loves us, and is the source of all life, hope, freedom, and peace.
We are to know we have been crucified with Christ and are dead to sin.
We are to reckon this to be true in our lives.
We are to yield and surrender our bodies to be used for God’s glory.
Once again I want to give you an opportunity to respond. There’s not one of us in this room who has lived a perfect week. We all sin and fall short of God’s glory. Where have you failed? What part of your body have you not fully surrendered? Maybe it’s your negative tongue, lustful eyes, or gluttonous stomach. Perhaps it’s an anxious and fearful heart or envious attitudes. Your feet might be taking you to unhealthy places or your hands are holding tightly onto your agenda and will rather than trusting God with your future.
Don’t think you can do it alone. You need the Holy Spirit. You also need other people. Celebrate Recovery meets on Wednesday nights not only for addicts but anyone struggling with grief, loss, pain, or temptation. That’s all of us! We have small groups that meet throughout the week.
We no longer have to be slaves to sin, but rather we are invited to become servants of the Most High God.
You can listen to this message and others at the First Alliance Church podcast here.