The Road to Romans!
It was all
fun and games until Sanctification comes along!
Romans 6:1–14 (NLT)
1Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can
show us more and more of his wonderful grace?
2Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we
continue to live in it?
3Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with
Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death?
4For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism.
And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the
Father, now we also may live new lives.
5Since we have been united with him in his death, we
will also be raised to life as he was.
6We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with
Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves
to sin.
7For when we died with Christ we were set free from the
power of sin.
8And since we died with Christ, we know we will also
live with him.
9We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the
dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.
10When he died, he died once to break the power of sin.
But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God.
11So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to
the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.
12Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give
in to sinful desires.
13Do not let any part of your body become an instrument
of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were
dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do
what is right for the glory of God.
14Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live
under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s
grace.
The Church is really good at teaching two theological principles of the
bible and horrible at one!
The Good!
1) Glorification
·
We die
·
We meet Jesus
·
We Sin no more
·
We live in
Glory
·
We can all look
forward to that, Right!
2) Justification (Romans 1-5)
·
Its easy
·
You do nothing
·
God through
Jesus does it all
·
You just have
to have faith
·
Grace abounds
·
No
accountability
·
We just believe
and God forgives
·
How easy is
that
·
And
unfortunately this is where most of us live
·
We don’t
understand that there is more for us to do once we get saved
·
We don’t
understand that God wants so much more for us
o But it takes work
o There is no magic list
o It takes time
o Some suffering
o And so relationship building to get there
o And this process takes a lifetime and we never
finish!
The Bad
1) Sanctification! (Romans 6-11)
·
It requires
something for us
·
We have to work
daily at it
·
We have to
understand that you died (your sin nature) when we were saved
·
We have to
learn to not let sin rule our lives
·
There is no
magic list to follow
·
And it will
take until the day we die and we will never fully achieve it!
Why does everyone think that every Christian is a
hypocrite?
·
That is the
real question!
·
If we are saved
why do we keep on sinning?
·
If we are saved
(died to our old nature) why aren’t we miraculously transformed?
·
Can you answer
that question?
·
As Christians
we really aren’t taught the process that Paul calls sanctification!
·
And in the next
3 chapters he really tries to address that question
·
The process is
a life long process and we will always because we live in a fallen world slip
to our old ways
·
But we have to
understand first is
o When we were still in the world sin controlled us
o And now sin has no control over us
o We have a new nature, but the old one is still
lurking in the background
So how does this process start??
VS 1 Well then, should we keep on sinning so
that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace?
VS 2 Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?
“Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” the saying
goes.
·
Unfortunately,
looking back on past sins, I know this to be true in my own life.
·
I tend to forget
the consequences and remember the appeal.
·
Have you quit
drinking for a while and then go out and tie one on, and in the morning think, “I
don’t remember this part?”
·
Or move away
from home and remember the good old days then go back and think, “This is not
what I remembered?”
·
Or and old
flame maybe??
·
God gives us a
new heart and we cant for get that we no longer need or want sin in our lives
The folks took the concept of grace and took it as a
get out of jail free card and here is where Paul says no!
·
We should start
to get new desires
·
Start looking
through Jesus eyes and see the world for what it really is
·
And have a new
desire to start to change
Vs 3 – 10 builds
his case for why we have died to our old nature!
3Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his
death?
4For we died and
were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the
dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.
5Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he
was.
6We know that our old
sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that
sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.
7For when we died with Christ we were set
free from the power of sin.
8And since we died with Christ, we know we will also
live with him.
9We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the
dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.
10When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he
lives, he lives for the glory of God.
Baptism
·
The symbol of
the Death, Burial, and Resurrection of the new you
·
We show the
world that we are dead to our sin
·
That we are no
longer living for it, but living for Jesus
·
We joined him
at the cross, when he died a part of all believers died with him!
We were crucified with
HIM!
·
Sin lost its
power over us
o It used to control us
o We have to lean on the spirit that lives with in us
o And not let sin keep on controlling us
Think of it this way
o Its like finally getting out of a bad relationship
o Its hard at first
o We like the security of it, even though its bad
o But every day we are out of it, it gets better
o None of us like change, but when we see some light
at the end of the tunnel it gets better!
You have been set free
from the power of sin, we are no longer slaves to it!
·
Its just like
old smiley, when I put here in the truck
·
She was scared,
it was a lot of change all at once
·
But see saw the
light at the end, started to change and never looked back, never wanted to go
back to the cage that held her!
So lets start to change, and walk away from that old
cage that used to hold you!
VS 12 Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to sinful desires.
13Do not let any part of your body become an instrument
of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were
dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do
what is right for the glory of God.
14Sin is no longer your master, for you no
longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the
freedom of God’s grace.
·
Weather we know
it or not we are all slaves to something
·
Either we are
controlled by the power of this world and all of its ugliness
·
Or we serve a
master that shows us grace
·
If you’re a
believer you have a choice!
·
God wants you
to change, and the process is sometimes not pleasant
We have to lean on Jesus; we have to continue to
change!
Real hope is not rooted in
my performance, my maturity, my theological knowledge, or my personal
perfection. It is not rooted in the quality of my character, my reputation, or
my success in ministry. My hope is Christ! He is in my life forever, looking on
me with tenderness and compassion. He will progressively transform me until the
job is complete. That is the hope that helps us to persevere with the Thorns in
our lives.
The Christian life is a
war. We cannot live with a peacetime mentality, pursuing rest, retreat, and
spiritual relaxation. None of us has reached our destination yet, so with hope
in Christ, we follow, fight, watch, and pray, believing that we can be better
tomorrow than we are today.
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