Cheap Or Costly Grace Part 2 Series

This sermon series we’re dealing with discipleship. As true believers, as those who are saved by grace (for it was not from anything we have done or earned), how are we to live? This is the whole point of discipleship, learning to follow Jesus, to walk in his steps, to be like the master.

Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren

We are to conform to the image of God’s only begotten Son, Jesus. So what does conforming to the image of Jesus looks like? Are we not all made in the image of God? Yes, we were made in God’s image, but sin had a devesting effect on us and we no long resemble our maker.

But considering what God has done for us, the death of Jesus, through which we have the forgiveness of sin, and his resurrection which gives us our hope, this ought to be the basis and stimulus for how we should live for Him.

Cheap grace is a misnomer. It is a contradiction in terms when we consider it in human terms. It was God’s grace freely given by which we are saved from sin. It was costly in life of Jesus. But for us the opportunity was given to be free from the penalties of sin and to live for Him. In the un-regenerated mind, it is costly to us because we have to give up the life of sin.

All of Chapter 6 of Romans deals with this. It is summed up in the last verse of this chapter:

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This verse forms the bases of the message today. We will be dealing with which master we will serve: in verse God. We will deal with the outcome of that service: death verses eternal life. And we will deal with how that outcome is reached: a “wage” earned versus a gift received. [1]

You see, it is all about who we serve. We, who have accepted the free gift from God through Jesus, no longer have that choice of whom we serve, we have been given over to God.

Romans 6:5–23

Many of you (aging hippies) may remember that Rock’n Roll classic singer, Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan wrote a song in 1979 that would appear on His “Slow Train A Coming” album. The song is aptly appropriate for the section of Romans we are examining today: “You Gotta Serve Somebody”. The lyrics begin with:

You may be an ambassador to England or France,

You may like to gamble, you might like to dance,

You may be the heavyweight champion of the world,

You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls,

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes,

Indeed you're gonna have to serve somebody,

Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord,

But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Now, I am not so sure if the Apostle Paul would have liked Dylan’s music, but I believe he certainly would have agreed with the lyrics of this song as he came write to Romans chapter 6. [2]

This morning, we are looking at the big picture of Romans chapter 6. The question is, for whom or what are we serving? Is it sin or righteousness? The Sunday School answer is, “Of course we are serving righteousness, we are serving God.” Let us be clear about righteousness. We are to live righteous lives, not in order to earn salvation, but because we are saved. We need to realize that we could do no righteous or good act in the eyes of God, apart from God’s Holy Spirit being righteous through us. The word tells us the our righteous acts are nothing more than filthy rags in his sight. All we are capable of in and of ourselves is unrighteousness, no matter how good it may appear to us.

Isaiah 64:6a For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;

And Jesus said:

Mark 10:18b No one is good except God alone.

Only when we have been saved, possessing the Holy Spirit, are we capable of any doing any good (in the eyes of God). That is the picture given to us in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

Romans 6:10–11 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.