Watch as Ray David opens Romans 6:15-7:6, and shows us the abounding grace of the Gospel.
No Longer Bound
Romans 6:15-19
If you think that you should keep sinning because grace abounds, then clearly you have an anemic view of sin and a weak view of salvation. God’s grace is more than a hall-pass – it is the breaking of the power of sin in your life.
As a Christian, God’s grace to you means that you are no longer bound by the besetting patterns of sin in your life that destroy your relationships, and offend God. You can change because of God’s work in you in Jesus Christ.
Now that you are a Christian, you have been set free from the slavery of sin. But what you are now is a slave of a different kind. You have been transferred from slavery to sin, which leads to death, to slavery to God, which leads to obedience and life.
The Horse and the Rider
The picture of this is what Martin Luther had in mind when he wrote,
“Man is like a horse. Does God leap into the saddle? The horse is obedient and accommodates itself to every movement of the rider and goes whither he wills it.” Martin Luther
Your life used to have sin and death in the saddle, but you are now under a new rider. Your life is free to change, because their is a new person who holds the reins, and He is a master of a different kind.
A New Master
Slaves will do the will of their master. Who is your master? Sinful masters in your life are those things that take from you – not give. They demand every ounce of your time, and energy. They are task-masters who over-promise and under-deliver. But now you are under a new master – a master who does not take, but gives. He still lays claim to everything you have, but he is a master who you can never out-give. When you give in service to this master, you receive back a hundred-fold.
He’s a good Master. He’s a master that gives so radically, that He gives himself on the cross. He withholds nothing from you. He gives His very best – He gives you himself. He has set you free from having to earn His favour. You now serve a Master who is well pleased with you – period, end of discussion. He is pleased with you, because he no longer needs your good works to satisfy Him. He has satisfied himself by doing the best work for you, in your place, by dying on the cross.
Out of Abundance
You no longer have to spend all of your time and energy trying to earn your master’s favour. You are left with a surplus of free time, energy and spirit. You can, out of the abundance, use these to joyfully serve your master. You serve your master and your neighbors out of abundance. You are set free to prefer others over yourself, because in your Master you have everything you’ll ever need. You don’t have to demand anything from your neighbours, friends, or spouse.
Presenting Yourself
Romans 6:19
We have the opportunity to present ourselves either to sin that leads to death, or obedience that leads to righteousness. How you do this, is by identifying the narrative or story that you are living out of. If you are faced with times of worry, turmoil or hopelessness in your life, than take a step back and ask yourself, ‘what am I believing about God and myself that is leading me to my turmoil?’ Identify this story at its core, because you have a good master. He doesn’t want you to live in fear and anxiety, so if you take a step back, you’ll see that you must be believing something that’s not true about yourself or your master. Then preach the Gospel to yourself. Remind yourself that you have a good master who loves and cares for you, and who holds the whole world in His hands. Displace the false-narratives in your life with the story of the Gospel – with the story of God’s love for you in Jesus Christ.
Displacing the False Story
We all too often live out of a false story of God – that somehow He is not strong enough, or that He doesn’t care enough, or that he isn’t aware of what is happening in our lives. When we displace it with the story of the Gospel, it brings peace to our lives. That’s what it looks like to present ourselves to our master.
Slaves Can’t Free Themselves
Romans 6:16-18
The process of moving from being a slave to sin to a slave to righteousness is not something that you did, it is something God has done for you and to you. Slaves can’t free themselves. They need someone else to do it for them. The good news of the Gospel is that God has done it for you.
Your old self was defined as being a slave to sin, but your new self is defined as being obedient from the heart. The change in life found in the Gospel is not just behavioral – it is a change of heart. It flows from brand new affections that God gives you.
True Conversion
One of the best ways of talking about conversion, is to talk about a change in affections. Conversion is not just a matter of accepting information; it’s a matter of falling in love with your master. You seek to do His will – not because you have to, but because you get to.
You are being driven by a new master – one who is leading you into good things. Your master is leading you into a life that is no longer marked by sin and death, but by righteousness.
Sanctification
Romans 6:22
Sanctification is a fancy, churchy word for growing in the Gospel. Now that you’ve been given a new life is Christ, sanctification is about how that new truth changes your life – day-by-day; moment-by-moment. Growing in the Gospel is the process of reminding yourself of the Gospel and presenting your members to God. Sanctification is the process of unlearning old patterns of behavior, and learning new ones. They need to be reinforced by discipline and by reminding ourselves of who we are and who God is. But it is a mistake to think that we are saved by grace and then sanctified by effort. It’s all grace. Sanctification is not possible apart from the grace of God in your life. God is working in and through you. The Christian life sometimes feels like hard work, but what you find in the end is that it was God working in you and through you all along.
Sanctification is progressive and incremental. But the promise of Gospel is that you will look more like Jesus today than you did 5 years ago.
Poisoned Fruit
Romans 7:5
If you look back to your life before coming to Christ, than you will find that true righteousness was not even a consideration for you back then. Your life was marked by regret and shame. The fruit of your life was poisoned.
But God gives you new desires. You still sometimes feel the draw back to the old things of your life, but then you look at it and are able to see that the fruit of that old life is only shame and destruction.
Let Go of Fairness
Romans 6:23
Most world religions say that you get what you deserve, but Christianity says that you have to let go of what is fair. What is fair for people like you and me is nothing but death. The wages of our sinful-lives is death. On the last day, death will be doled out to all of those who lived under the reign of sin.
But the free gift of God is eternal life. In the words of Martin Luther,
“The good news of Christianity is not do, but done.” Martin Luther
The Lord Jesus Christ has done everything that is ever needed so that you can stand before God righteous. Your righteousness is not earned by you – the only thing you could ever earn is death. If you want to feel the power to change, it begins with being honest with yourself.
Married to Christ
Romans 7:1-6
The picture of your life is that you used to be married to an old husband – sin. But in Christ, you have died to your old self and this has ended your previous marriage. You now belong to another – you have a new husband. You have died to the law, and you are married to Christ. You used to serve your old husband by the letter of the law, but now you are set free to live a different life, not out of law and demand, but out of love and spirit. It’s not that you have to serve the Lord and live a new life – it is that you get to.
If we are now under grace and not under the law, should we keep on sinning? No! Live your lives as obedient to a new master. You have been given a free gift of life in Christ, when all you deserved was death. You no longer belong to the law – you belong to Christ and you get to serve Him in spirit.
