INTRODUCTION
• SLIDE #1
• How many gifts do you receive during the course of your lifetime? Do you remember all the gifts you have ever received or over time do the memories fade?
• Now let me ask you this, how many gifts have you received that changed your life?
• How many gifts have you received that changed the purpose and direction of your life and your eternal destiny. How many gifts have you received that changed who you are?
• Of all the things we can be thankful and can celebrate, today we are going to focus on a gift that has and can do those things; the Gift of God’s Son!
• This is one gift that we should all be celebrating and praising God for EVERYDAY!
• If God did not give us the gift of His Son, we would all be in serious trouble, not only in the realm of eternity but in the here and now.
• SLIDE #2
• Romans 3:23 reminds us…
• Romans 3:23 (ESV) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
• Romans 5-6 speak of a couple of patterns of life that we can follow, one leading to death, and one leading to life.
• SLIDE #3
• Romans 6:16 (ESV) 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?
• If it were not for Jesus we would have no choice to make concerning the path of our life, we would be all heading down the same road no matter what.
• Our life would be void of meaning and purpose. Think about this, if there is no God or heaven no hell, what purpose would life have, you live and you die.
• Even worse, what if there is a heaven and hell and you have no POSSIBLE CHANCE TO GO TO HEAVEN.
• Praise be to God that because of Jesus we do not have to face that possibility!
• God gives us free will, and with that free will if we exercise it in choosing to accept the gift of God’s Son, we can see some things in our life change, and change for the better.
• Let’s begin by looking at some things that the gift of God’s Son can change for us!
• SLIDE #4
• Romans 6:20,22 (ESV) 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
• SLIDE #5
SERMON
We can be thankful for the gift of God’s Son because through Him we can…
I. Experience a change of lords. V20,22
• Many people think they are independent, they are their own person, and no one owns them or controls them.
• That is so far from the truth.
• Before we accept the Gift of God’s Son, we are ALL slaves to sin!
• Verse 20 tells us that WHEN YOU WERE SLAVES to sin. Remember Romans 3:23 tells us that we ALL have sinned and fallen short.
• A person may THINK they are under no master, or lord, but the fact is, we ALL have a lord, it is either Lord Jesus or lord sin.
• Either Jesus owns you or sin does.
• Think about this, I do not like the concept of property taxes, here is why. Let us say you bought your home, paid the bank for 30 years, you have the title. Who owns the home? YOU? WRONG!
• What happens if you do not pay your property taxes? Who takes your home and sells it on the court house steps? Now, who really owns your home?
• In your life, you live it outside of God, you think you own yourself, but when life is over, who gets you?
• Remember what Romans 6:16 reminds us.
• SLIDE #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?
• Slaves cannot serve two masters, and Paul points this out in verse 20 where is reminds us, 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness
• In other words if you are following lord sin, you have no obligation to lord Jesus.
• The freedom that people experience when they are slaves to sin is the antithesis of genuine freedom. It is such a distortion of the meaning of liberty that it causes people to be glad that they are not constrained by the very things that would be very healthy and positive limits. (Life Application Commentary)
• In verse 22 we see that we do not have to belong to lord sin.
• 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
• Because of the gift of God’s Son and our decision to accept that gift, we are set free from the sin! It no longer has mastery over us!
• Through Jesus we can experience a change in Lords!
• SLIDE #7
• Romans 6:21–22 (ESV) 21 But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
• SLIDE #8
We can be thankful for the gift of God’s Son because through Him we can…
II. Experience a change of life. V21-22
• Verse 21 asks the question concerning the fruit of a life outside of Christ. When it is all said and done, what benefit do you receive from living a life rejecting Jesus?
• What benefit are we receiving from the fruits of things we are now ashamed of?
• The so-called freedom we had outside of Christ, how is that benefiting our life now?
• The acts and habits of impurity and lawlessness, which characterized a life of slavery to sin, are things of which we are now ashamed.
• Shame is not the same as the feeling of guilt or the sense of regret with respect to sin. It is more a feeling of inner pain and humiliation and disgrace that causes us to wonder how we could ever have done those things which seem so repulsive and hateful to us now.
• Such a feeling of shame with reference to our former sins is a necessary aspect of repentance and sanctification. To be without shame is to be under sin’s dominion.
• Why don’t riches, fame, and power make people who possess them happy? Because after a period of time folks start to realize what Solomon did, it is all vanity, life lived for the accumulation of things in the end is empty and void of meaning.
• What is the purpose of life outside of Jesus? Solomon in Ecclesiastes explored that question in reference to God.
• SLIDE #9
• Ecclesiastes 12:13 (ESV) The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
• Paul tells us that when we change lords, we also experience a change in life.
• SLIDE #10
• Galatians 2:20 (ESV) I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
• The life we now live has new purpose and meaning! It leads to something even greater.
• Let us look at verse 23 for our final thought.
• SLIDE #11
• Romans 6:23 (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• SLIDE #12
We can be thankful for the gift of God’s Son because through Him we can…
III. Experience a change of everlasting life. V23
• The word FOR explains why one path leads to death and one path leads to life.
• When we choose to follow lord sin, we get a payment! We get paid for what we do!
• We all like a paycheck! The wages of sin is death!
• Tell that isn’t a great deal! The wages that sin pays is death, eternal death.
• The word wages was a word that denoted that which was purchased to be eaten with bread such as fish, vegetables, etc…
• This is how people would pay Romans soldiers for their work, hence a wage.
• If the soldier did his job, then he EARNED his wage.
• When we live under the lord or slavery to sin, we receive the justly earned paycheck.
• SLIDE #13
• Revelation 20:14–15 (ESV) 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
• This paycheck is earned and it is what one receives when it is all said and done.
• It is a check we would all earn except for the gift of God’s Son!
• We are told in the last part of verse 23…
• but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
• This is something interesting about God’s gift. You can live a life of service to God, you can present yourself a living and holy sacrifice to God and you will NEVER be able to EARN the gift of eternal life!
• Eternal life is a gift given to those who are in Christ!
• SLIDE #14
• Galatians 3:27 (ESV) 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
• In Christ the slavery to sin is broken and we are called to life a different life.
• The life we live now is about pleasing God.
• Now when we use the terms slaves for Christ that does not sound good. In the first century Romans world there were three classes of people.
• Freemen, FREEDMEN, add slaves.
• Freemen were those who were not slaves, slaves well were slaves. Those who are slaves to sin would be akin to slaves.
• The term we would use for a Christian is the one of a FREED MAN.
• A FREED Man was one who was once a slave but by an act of mercy of another person was redeemed, or put another way their freedom was purchased.
• Ok, someone purchased your freedom. A FREED MAN would almost always attach themself to the one who redeemed them out of gratitude. They would live to serve the one who redeemed them.
• They did this by CHOICE. The FREED MAN KNEW what it was like to be enslaved and would never want to be in that position AGAIN!
• This is the argument that Paul is making to the readers and to us.
• Once our slavery to sin is broken and we have been redeemed by the blood of Christ, WHY would we want to EVEN go back to being enslaved to SIN?
• Our redemption in Christ gives us the gift of eternal life.
• WE CHOSE to live for Jesus was FREED MEN because we so appreciate what Jesus has done to redeem us from the curse of sin and death!
CONCLUSION
• What path will you chose?
• The path that leads to an eternity separate from God or the path of eternal life!
• We are called to live as FREED men in Christ. WE do not live for Him to receive a paycheck, but we serve because we love Him and are grateful for what He did for us!
• WE should be giving God praise every day for the gift of His Son!
