For an audio copy of this message go to: www.LivingWatersWeb.com
I recently discovered that one of my teeth was cracked. The dentist wanted me to have the tooth out as quickly as possible, so I did. Sure enough there was a huge abscess under the tooth eating away at my jaw. The oral surgeon took it out, showing great skill and said that that area of my mouth would now heal.
Well, does that mean that I should crack my remaining teeth in order to show the great skill of the oral surgeon even more and promote more healing in my mouth? I don’t think so – but that’s the exact kind of logic we sometimes apply when it comes to sin and forgiveness.
Sometimes we use what’s called “false logic” with God. “Suffering is bad, I’m suffering, so therefore I must be bad and God doesn’t love me.” Or, “When I sin, God doesn’t punish me so it must be okay to sin.” These would be known as “faulty cause & effect.” We’ll get to these later.
Paul, in Romans chapter 5 just got done declaring how the law came about to show us how much we’ve missed the mark with sin – but that even though the existence of a standard makes us realize how much we don’t measure up to it – God’s grace, His unmerited favor, was even more powerful to provide forgiveness of our errors. So Paul then asks and answers what might seem like a silly question:
6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
When we deal with sin sometimes we act like my silly tooth analogy. God has shown His infinite skill in identifying then removing our sin – but does that mean then that we show more of His skill by sinning more so that He can heal us more? No. We don’t need more sin, we just need more of Him in us, and we don’t need to sin in order to get that. Paul introduces us to a life principal – “you’re dead.”
3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 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.
Now this doesn’t mean that the act of baptism itself saves us – it is an outward sign of an inward reality – that is, when you accept Jesus as Lord, you go to the cross with Him and into the grave – your old self dieing – then coming back with new life in Him.
What do you mean – my body is the same, my personality is the same – I don’t feel different at all. What’s different is that the Holy Spirit has come to live inside of you – changing your heart and giving you new life. After that it becomes a process of transformation.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
If you execute someone for a crime you can’t put them on trial again. Jesus was executed for your sins not just so they are forgiven, but that you might escape their hold as well – and that’s what this study in this chapter is all about.
Before we come to Christ we are slaves to sin – we can’t help it, but Jesus came to set us free by death.
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
So it’s a two part thing – die with Christ to sin, live with Christ to God. In the old sacrificial system there would need to be death often to cover sins – and in some ways that was great for us – we feel this need to see the process of sin, confession, penance, sacrifice, forgiveness – but in fact Jesus had to die only once for everything you have done or will do – amazing. Because of that:
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
The old flesh that we still live with in this “mortal” body will try to entice us back into doing things that are not in concert with God’s character. What Paul is telling us is that we have a choice. When temptation rears we can say “no.” And instead say “yes” to God. We don’t even really have the strength to make that choice – but we must cry out to the Holy Spirit to help us avoid wrong, and do right – remember, it’s God’s grace, His unmerited favor – you didn’t deserve it, but He’s done it all to free you.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
Another argument – grace means I can do whatever I want because no one’s counting things against me anymore, right?
By no means! 16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
Did you know that when you offer yourself to do what God has revealed is of the flesh rather than of the Spirit that you become a slave of that thing? Think of all the addictions we have in the world today – alcohol, gambling, pornography, money, eating, computer games – there are so many you can’t count them. We get fooled into thinking that we can handle it – but that’s deception. The enemy knows if you give in pretty soon he’ll have you as a slave – not that you’ll go to hell – but you will be ineffective for God’s kingdom, and that’s what Satan wants.
We used to have no choice but sin – now we do have a choice.
19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.
We think – “I’m the captain of my own destiny – I belong to no one.” That’s not true. Before you come to Christ you are a slave to sin – and the ship captained by your master, Satan, is goin’ down! But the freedom from sin bought by Jesus comes with a price - did you know that when you gave your heart to Jesus you became His slave? It’s not the type of slavery where God takes a whip to you – it’s that we become bonded to Him – and the more we submit to Him the more benefit we receive.
The last verse is one of the single most important in Romans, and in the entire Bible.
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
If you are slave to Satan you will get wages for your service – but the payment is death – eternal separation from God, and misery and suffering in the bargain. God doesn’t owe us anything, but as a gift gave us eternal life if Jesus is our Lord.
I’d like to conclude by making four statements – to help us differentiate between freedom and slavery when it comes to sin.
1. Don’t confuse forgiveness with permission.
Sin is still sin – it’s just been forgiven. Just because you don’t have to bear the penalty doesn’t mean God doesn’t pay attention and doesn’t care what you do.
Hebrews 8:12 For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.
Remember: “God doesn’t punish me when I sin so sin must be all right?”
2. Don’t confuse freedom with anarchy
1 Corinthians 6:12 “Everything is permissible for me” -but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible for me”-but I will not be mastered by anything.
We are free – but it doesn’t mean freedom from something as much as it is freedom to something else. Acting right leads to life, acting in the flesh leads to death – so the point is that we need to not just think about whether we can do something, but whether what we do will lead to life or death.
3. Deny sin the attention it demands
Matthew 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Romans 8:13 If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live
How? Three ways:
• Filter Romans 16:19 Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I am full of joy over you; but I want you to be wise about what is good, and innocent about what is evil.
Jesus said in Matthew chapter 10 that we are to be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. It’s the same Greek word that means “unmixed.”
An alcoholic who watches an hours worth of ads for Budweiser is going to be more prone to fall. I’m not saying turn off your mind – but put a filter on what you allow in – especially in those areas where you are weak.
• Suffer – 1 Peter 4:1-2 Therefore, since Christ suffered in his body, arm yourselves also with the same attitude, because he who has suffered in his body is done with sin.
Suffering leaves scars. They are OK as a reminder – Jesus has them. Now I don’t mean to go out and hit your head against the wall – “boy am I free from sin now!” But what happens when we suffer is we get our back up and resist the suffering – I’m going to talk about resisting in a moment – but if we will focus on what God is doing in us through the suffering – that is freeing us from sin – we’ll get through it a lot better.
It becomes a matter of focus – Jesus knew suffering would come and that he had a job to do. He set His mind on the joy, and endured suffering.
Remember the false cause and effect? Suffering is bad, I suffer, therefore I must be bad. The trouble is, suffering isn’t bad – it just feels bad. Don’t confuse the reality of suffering with the reasons why it happens.
• Resist 1 Peter 5:9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings. Resist means: “to stand against”
I said before filter what comes in – you also need to resist the temptations that come from the enemy. This might seem obvious but sometimes I think the enemy catches us unawares.
When you are playing tennis and you see the other player throw the ball up in the air and bring their racket back you know that a screaming serve is coming your way – you tense you muscles up and get ready to hit it back. So too with temptation – be ready to resist the coming of the fiery darts and temptations.
Those are three negatives – but the fourth is a positive.
4. Focus instead on offering up your life to God
Hebrews 13:15 Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that confess his name.
Focus #1 is on worship. I know I say this a lot, but if you are focusing on worshiping God you are not focusing on sin or temptations around you.
Philippians 4:8
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.
Not only should we filter out the bad stuff, we need to find the good stuff and focus on that – good role models, good books and music, good relationships.
Titus 1:15
15 To the pure, all things are pure, but to those who are corrupted and do not believe, nothing is pure. In fact, both their minds and consciences are corrupted.
There is a way to live where you see things differently. You see a grape and you think about Jesus saying “I am the vine, you are the branches,” rather than seeing a grape and wondering what kind of a buzz the wine will give you.
Now I say all of this realizing this fact:
1 John 1:8-9 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
We will fall, but God will always be there to forgive and cleanse. Remember Paul’s words: “Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God.” It is an act of the will – and it is not a one time occurrence. We need to do this each and every day.
