Introduction:
A. Max Lucado tells a story about a man who visited Las Vegas and called the local preacher on Friday to inquire about the hours of the Sunday services.
1. The minister was very impressed, and complimented the caller, saying: “Most people don’t come to Las Vegas in order to go to church.”
2. The man replied, “Oh, I’m not coming for the church. I’m coming for the gambling and parties and wild women. If I have half as much fun as I intend to, I’ll need a church come Sunday morning.” (In the Grip of Grace, page 112)
B. That man’s attitude and understanding about God’s grace is nothing new.
1. Since the apostle Paul first introduced the gospel of God’s grace, some people have attempted to abuse and exploit that grace.
2. Some people consider God’s grace to be like an installment plan: sin now, pray later.
3. They think, “I’ll go right ahead and live it up now, and later on when I've made a mess of my life, I’ll let God clean it up, because God is a merciful and gracious God.”
4. In today’s section of Romans 6, we are going to see Paul address that faulty approach to God and His grace, Paul began chapter 6 with these words: “What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not!”
C. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
1. Let’s slow down and do a quick review as we take a running start into chapter 6.
2. We are in a sermon series on Paul’s letter to the Romans that we are calling: “Pursuing Righteousness From God.”
3. Paul introduced us to the theme of the letter in chapter 1, verses 16 and 17: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.
4. After that verse, Paul launched into a three chapter survey of the universal need for the gospel.
a. Paul clearly reveals how everyone is a sinner who is in need of the righteousness that comes from God.
b. Paul explains that Gentiles are sinners and Jews are sinners.
c. In chapter 3, Paul concludes that “For we have already charged that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin” (vs. 9), and “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (vs. 23).
5. From that low and dark place of the depravity of all people – the truly bad news – Paul then presented the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the righteousness that comes through faith in Jesus.
6. In chapter 4, Paul held up Abraham as an example of those who are justified through faith.
7. Then in chapter 5, Paul assured us that our new relationship with God through faith in Jesus, will result in salvation from God’s wrath and judgment.
a. This assurance comes because of God’s love that he demonstrated by having Christ die for us even while we were still sinners and God’s enemies.
8. Finally in our last sermon in the series, we explored the idea that death came through Adam, but life comes through Christ.
a. The final verses of chapter 5 become the bridge into the focus of chapter 6: But where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace will reign through righteousness, resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (5:20b-21)
D. Now as Paul has often done in this letter, he anticipated how his point about God’s grace might be misunderstood.
1. Our God is a God of grace, but does God’s grace encourage us to sin?
2. This was one of the challenging heresies faced in the first century.
3. Theologians call it “antinomianism,” from the Greek words anti, meaning “against”, and nomos, signifying “moral law.”
4. Basically this false doctrine teaches that it doesn’t really matter how you behave, because God’s grace is the moral equivalent of a “get out of jail free” card in Monopoly: it lets you off the hook no matter what.
5. Antinomianism is described quite accurately in the New Testament when Jude warned against “godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord” (Jude 4).
E. Such an attitude is absolutely contrary to the teachings of Christianity, but when you think about it, such a perversion was probably inevitable.
1. After all, in our study of Romans we have learned that the gospel was a radical message of salvation on an entirely new basis – not by works, but by the sacrificial death of Jesus on the Cross.
2. Salvation is not earned – it is freely offered by God, freely accepted by faith.
3. Now, human nature being what it is, you can understand how some in their audience might be tempted to respond by thinking: “This is great! If the Son of God has already paid the price for our sins, then why not sin with gusto, and let him pick up the tab?”
F. A gospel of grace is so astounding, so distinctly unlike any humanly-designed religion, that it is difficult for people to grasp how God can save sinners without encouraging sin!
1. In fact, some have argued that unless we are faced with this very same problem today, we are probably not preaching the same gospel as the apostles – the gospel of God’s grace!
2. Because this was such an easy and understandable misunderstanding, there are several places in the New Testament where this issue has been addressed, including in the text we are studying today.
G. As I have already pointed out, Paul ended chapter 5 with the truth: “where sin multiplied, grace multiplied even more” (5:20).
1. And this is certainly an encouraging and transforming truth: God’s grace is greater than our sin!
2. No wonder we call it “amazing grace”!
3. There is no sin that is beyond the scope of God’s grace, except for the unforgivable sin of rejecting God’s Holy Spirit (Luke 12:10).
4. As long as our hearts can still be touched by God’s gracious love, as long as our spirit is still sensitive to being convicted of our sin by God’s Holy Spirit, then grace ensures we can be forgiven, we can begin again.
H. The greatness of God’s grace is what gives us hope.
1. Two weeks ago, when we studied Chapter 5, we were so encouraged by the fact that even though Adam’s sin brought untold devastation, destruction, death, God has provided a way to undo what Adam’s sin did through the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ!
2. We, Christians, ought to be both the most realistic and the most optimistic people on earth, because we know two truths: sin is powerful, but grace is greater.
3. Nevertheless, this hope in God’s grace can be perverted, distorted, misunderstood!
I. And as we have already suggested, a main perversion of God’s grace is to believe that grace gives permission, license and encouragement to sin.
1. Therefore, Paul began chapter 6 saying: What should we say then? Should we continue in sin so that grace may multiply? Absolutely not! (6:1-2a) Some translations say, “God Forbid!”
2. Once we have experienced the grace of God in our life, once we have been set free from the slavery of sin, then it ought to create a sense of relief, not an urge to sin even more!
3. Philip Yancey illustrates such a perversion of grace with this analogy: If you are the kind of person who seizes upon God's grace just for the chance to push it to the limits, why, you probably haven’t understood that grace at all. If a bridegroom on his wedding night sat down to negotiate terms of infidelity – “Okay, you’ve guaranteed the future by promising to stick with me regardless. Just how far can I go with other women? Can I hug them? Kiss them? Go to bed with them? How often? How many?” – we would call such a husband a fraud, a very sick man. If he approaches marriage that way, he will never learn the meaning of true love. And if a Christian approaches forgiveness the same way – “Let’s see, God has promised forgiveness. What can I get away with? How far can I push it?” – that Christian will end up equally impoverished. Paul’s response says it all: “God forbid!” (Philip Yancey, "The Balaam Syndrome," Christianity Today, August 20, 1990, page 64).
4. If you are familiar with Russian history, then you likely have heard of Rasputin.
a. He was the mysterious monk who gained control of the ruling Romanov family in the final years before the Communist Revolution.
b. Rasputin may have been a monk, but he was an outrageously immoral monk!
c. He justified his misbehavior by an odd theology: Rasputin taught that salvation came through repeated experiences of sin and repentance.
d. He argued that because those who sin more require more forgiveness, those who sin with abandon will experience even greater joy; therefore it is the believer's duty to sin!
e. You and I may shake our heads in amazement at such a confused and self-serving philosophy, but do you realize that to a Christian who is caught up in some cherished sin the rationalizations of Rasputin might just begin to sound almost logical? (see R. Kent Hughes, Commentary on Romans, pages 121-122).
J. Paul addressed this misunderstanding of grace directly when he wrote to Titus, I like the way the old NIV renders it: “The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say ‘no’ to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, while we wait for the blessed hope – the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.” (Titus 2:11-14)
1. Grace doesn’t give us a green light to be ungodly: on the contrary, the fact that Jesus had to pay with his own blood for our salvation ought to teach us to say “no” to ever going back into our old life.
2. Salvation is not free – somebody had to pay the price for our sins – and that “somebody” was God’s Son and our Savior!
K. A principle like God’s amazing grace is difficult for naturally selfish human beings to comprehend.
1. So, how can we communicate such a divine concept to folks in a way they can understand?
2. Paul had a ready analogy: the perfect picture – an object lesson that every Christian in Rome would have been familiar with – their own baptism.
L. Paul continued his argument in Romans 6, saying: 3 Or are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection. (Romans 6:3-5)
1. We often use this passage to demonstrate the nature of baptism, and rightfully so.
a. You cannot grasp the significance of what Paul is saying unless you realize that Christian baptism is immersion; that it is an essential part of the gospel; that it unites us with the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior; and thus that it is for the forgiveness of sins.
b. All of those characteristics are inherent in Paul's argument, so indirectly this passage does provide a good text for understanding baptism.
2. But our passage for today is not really about baptism.
a. It is the evidence Paul uses to advance his argument, but his argument is really about grace!
b. You will notice that this section of Romans 6 begins with grace in verse 1 and ends with grace in verse 14.
3. In reality, our baptism is a funeral in which we die and are buried, and then is a resurrection, in which we experience rebirth and arise, clean and in a right relationship with God.
4. In Ephesians 2:3-4, Paul describes this process when he contrasts the old life of the Ephesian disciples with their new state: “All of us also lived among them (i.e., the disobedient) at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. But – because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved.”
5. To be baptized, is to be saved by God's grace, is to be transported from death to life.
6. Baptism is a picture of grace, in part, because it demonstrates the power of grace.
M. And the power of grace not only leads to a new birth and a right standing with God, it also leads to victory over sin.
1. Paul continues: 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin. (6:6-7)
2. So in these verses, we learn that grace is not permission to sin, but is the power to overcome sin.
3. Grace is not simply a doctrinal principle, but a dynamic power which gives us the ability to deal with our struggles against our sinful tendencies.
4. God's grace is a living and active force that strengthens us, helps us, and enables us to render the “body of sin” powerless.
5. The Hebrew writer has given us this wonderful and powerful promise: 14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)
6. Grace provides the power to resist sin, not a reason to wallow in it.
7. The knowledge that God welcomes us into His presence to receive the help we need is so comforting and confirming.
8. You see, there are two things that can keep us mired in the muddy ruts of sin.
a. The first, of course, is willfulness: some people won’t change because they have no intention of giving up their sin.
b. The second thing that can keep us trapped in sin is hopelessness: some people don’t change because they believe they can’t change.
c. After all, once we sin we’ve already failed, so we may just decide we are a failure, that we are worthless, that we can’t overcome our sin.
9. God’s grace cannot overcome our “won’t – we have to decide that we are willing to accept it – but grace can sure take care of our “can’t” – because a gospel of grace eradicates the guilt and the worthlessness that can keep us trapped in our ruts.
N. Rubel Shelly tells of attending a lecture in which the executive of a highly successful company was explaining how he had built a small business into a large, prosperous corporation.
1. The executive mentioned several things you would expect to hear: customer service, full value, and meeting market demands.
2. But one item of his company policy was especially intriguing, and relevant to our passage.
3. As the executive described his management philosophy he said, “I lavish grace on the people who work for me. That is, I give them space for failure as we seek to improve things in the company. Experience has taught me that removing a paralyzing fear of failure from them unleashes incredible creativity and productivity.”
4. This was the experience and testimony of Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:9-10, he wrote: “9 For I am the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.”
5. God’s grace is so powerful, it works for us, it works in us, and it works through us!
6. In fact, that is the ultimate purpose of God’s grace – it enables us to live for God!
O. As we move to the last section of our passage for today, we notice that Paul follows his common pattern – he uses what God has done for us as the basis and stimulus for what we need to do for God.
1. By constantly looking at ourselves as people who really have died to sin and been made alive in Christ will we be able to live out the new status that God has given us.
2. Let’s look at the rest of our section for today: 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over him. 10 For the death he died, he died to sin once for all time; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 So, you too consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desires. 13 And do not offer any parts of it to sin as weapons for unrighteousness. But as those who are alive from the dead, offer yourselves to God, and all the parts of yourselves to God as weapons for righteousness. 14 For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under the law but under grace. (Rom. 6:8-14)
3. The victory over sin that God has won for us in Christ is a victory that must be appropriated.
4. Putting away those sins that plague us will be no automatic process, and will not happen without our cooperation.
5. Paul insists that a determination of our own will is called for to turn what is available in principle into an actuality.
6. Verse 13 makes the same point in a different way.
a. With the words “weapons” and “parts of your body,” Paul brings before us a picture of all our varied capacities and abilities, which we are to withdraw from the use of our old master, sin, and place at the disposal of our new master, God.
7. Progress in the Christian life will come as we learn to live out the new relationship God has put us in.
a. We belong to a new regime, dominated by Christ and not by Adam.
b. That new relationship provides for all of us, in principle, the power we need to stop sinning and to live in God’s glory.
c. In dying to sin, we have a new position with respect to sin – it no longer rules over us nor dictates our conduct.
P. Martin Lloyd-Jones gives us an analogy to help us understand how this works in real life.
1. Lloyd-Jones asks us to consider a typical British country scene with two fields separated by a rock wall.
2. Every person ends up in the field ruled over by Satan and sin.
3. We have no chance of scaling the walls and escaping the field on our own.
4. But God, in His grace, reaches down and takes us out of that Satan-dominated field and sets us down in the adjacent field – the field ruled by Christ and His righteousness.
5. A decisive change in our position has taken place – we are in a whole new relationship to sin.
6. But Lloyd-Jones points out that we can still hear Satan calling across the wall from that old field where we used to live.
7. Out of long habit, we sometimes still obey Satan’s voice, even though we don’t have to.
8. This well captures the combination of decisive change in status along with the continuing openness to sin that marks Paul’s teaching in Romans 6 and even into chapter 7.
9. And if we may extend the illustration beyond where Lloyd-Jones took it, we overcome sin by moving further and further away from the wall dividing the fields so that the voice of Satan grows fainter.
Q. Back in 1935 a gospel preacher named T.O. Chisolm took the words of this passage and reworked them into a hymn called “A New Creature” (#619 in our songbooks), which expresses the change that takes place when we are saved by grace and live in grace.
Buried with Christ, my blessed Redeemer,
Dead to the old life of folly and sin;
Satan may call, the world may entreat me,
There is no voice that answers within.
Dead unto sin, alive through the Spirit,
Risen with Him from the gloom of the grave,
All things are new, and I am rejoicing
In His great love, his power to save.
Sin hath no more its cruel dominion,
Walking in “newness of life” I am free-
Glorious life of Christ, my Redeemer,
Which he so richly shareth with me.
Dead to the world, to voices that call me,
Living anew, obedient but free;
Dead to the joys that once did enthrall me-
Yet ‘tis not I, Christ liveth in me.
R. Let’s end with a few personal questions:
1. Have you died to sin and been buried with Christ in baptism?
2. And if you have, then you were resurrected to walk in newness of life. Have you continued in that life? Have you become a weapon for righteousness?
3. Are you obeying your new master, the God of grace, or your old master of sin?
4. Lord willing, next week we will dig deeper into what it means to be a slave of righteousness.
Resources:
Romans, The NIV Application Commentary, by Douglas Moo
“Don’t Go Back Into That Tomb” Sermon by Dan Williams
“The Purpose of Grace” Sermon by Dan Williams
