The Believer Is Not To Continue In Sin (Part 3) Series

By: Mark Engler, Mt. Vernon Christian Church, Mt. Vernon, MO

Sermon done with help from The Preacher’s Outline & Sermon Bible

The Believer is Not to Continue in Sin (Part 3)

He Does Not Have License to Sin, 6:14-23

Intro: Just because we are under grace and not the law does not mean that we should sin. Sin is something that traps, entices, and can control you; it is very hard to break away from. We should not seek to abuse God’s grace, but to live under His grace day in and day out.

There are 6 things that we are to look at today in this passage of Scripture. 1. We learn something. 2. We know something. 3. We remember something. 4. We do something. 5. We question something. 6. We consider something.

1. We learn something; sin shall not dominate the genuine believer. (v. 14-15)

There is a strong reason that we do not let sin dominate us and that is because we are under grace and not under the law.

The person under law is always struggling to keep the law, yet he is constantly aware that he fails and comes short of the law. The law is ever before him. He struggles and strives, wrestles and grapples, works and labors to obey; but his experience is full of tension and pressure, disappointment and discouragement. The person under law never lives a victorious life, for he is constantly coming short of God’s glory and perfection.

ILLUS: I can remember when times and I suspect that others can to when we did everything we could possibly do to please our parents, but came up short. We try to live up to all our parents’ expectations, but we come away feeling like we let them down when we don’t accomplish everything they set for us to do. And that’s how we would feel if we had to live under the law and not under grace.

The person who is under God’s law, when he fails, he goes through periods of self-accusation, of reproaching and censoring himself for having failed. He accuses and downs himself, feeling unworthy and undeserving, wretched and vile before God. He is constantly feeling unacceptable to God, as though he no longer has the right to approach God; and he often does not approach God for long periods of time, living a defeated life, always bearing the burden of his sin and failure. The Scriptures talk about how people react or feel about their sins:

You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day, never sure of your life. In the morning you will say, "If only it were evening!" and in the evening, "If only it were morning! "- because of the terror that will fill your hearts and the sights that your eyes will see. (Deut. 28:66-67)

My guilt has overwhelmed me like a burden too heavy to bear. (Ps 38:4)

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. (Ps 51:3)

Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. (Ps 107:17)

Isn’t it good to know that we are under grace and not under the law? God is not a legal judge hovering over us to punish us every time we sin by breaking a particular law. We are not under such a frightening dominion: we are not under law, but under grace. What does this mean?

It means that we accept the grace of God demonstrated in Jesus Christ. That is, we accept the righteousness, the sinless perfection of Christ as our own righteousness. We identify our life with the life of Christ, and God takes our acceptance of Christ and counts our acceptance as righteousness.

Simply stated, God credits righteousness to the believer when the believer accepts the righteousness of Christ. We are placed into Christ and positioned in Christ once-for-all when we truly believe. Such is the righteous position of the believer.

However, what about the righteous life of the believer? Very practically, how do we keep from serving sin and keep from living under sin and keep from displeasing God? How can we honestly live under grace day by day? How can we live under God’s favor all of the time? How can we go about pleasing God and receiving His approval and acceptance?

Well, we must constantly keep before us the truth that we are under God’s grace. God is our Father, and when we truly believe, we become a true child of God. Therefore, we are favored and accepted by the Father. What we have to do is stay in that favor. When we sin, we need to go to the Father in all sincerity and ask forgiveness and repent of our sins.

If we keep an open relationship with the Father; always approaching Him and asking His forgiveness and repenting we will be forgiven. The slate is wiped clean and sin does not have dominion over us and there is nothing (no sin) between the Father and us. All has been discussed between us and the Father and all is forgiven. The offense is gone, resolved, put away forever. Therefore, sin does not dominate and rule over the true child of God.