Auto Generated Transcript
I’m going to invite you to Romans chapter six is where we’re at today. Romans chapter six. What we’re studying together. Just going we’re going through the book of Romans verse by verse. And Paul, at this point in the book of Romans, he’s discussing God’s grace with us. And he wants the church to thrive in God’s grace, to understand that really the purpose of God’s grace and it finds its position in really discovering our position in Christ because of of what God’s grace has done for us. God has pursued us with his life and has given his life for us. In fact, if you’ve studied along in the book of Romans, if I just gave you kind of a a crude quick synopsis of what Romans has been about, the first 18 verses of Romans is the thesis. So the first 17 verses of Romans, I should say, is the thesis where he tells us in the culmination of those first 17 verses in verse 17, that God’s gospel has been proclaimed to us and the righteousness of God has been revealed so that just can live by faith. So it’s this beautiful place of freedom in Christ, the gospel, the good news, the declaration of a of a king who has conquered and set his people free. And now we can live in that righteousness and the just walk by faith and that relationship with God. But then he reminds us in verse 18 of chapter one, all the way to to chapter three, verse 26, that all of us need this grace because we’re under the wrath of God.
It doesn’t matter who you are. And Paul, really, he categorized people under three. Three categories. He he described the the irreligious. He described the moral and he described the religious. He says it doesn’t matter who you are. Everyone needs God’s grace. And then in chapter three, verse verses 27 into into chapter five, verse 21, the end of Chapter five, he shows us how God has given his life for us, the grace of God. God has pursued us. God has rescued us from something. That’s what God’s grace is about. It’s about coming here to rescue us from something which is sin, Satan and death, and to rescue us for something that God made you for a purpose. It’s not just a get out of hell free card, but God desires something for your life, right? And in chapter six and seven and eight, then he’s going to talk about what that looks like, how we should respond as God has given his life for us, how we then in turn, should give our life for him. Grace is a gift and what you do with it matters. It matters for your life. It matters for your friends and family. It makes a difference. Look, the reality is God doesn’t need you. God does not need you. He’s completely sufficient within himself. That’s that’s really what when people say define God, that’s that’s typically the basis for which I begin with in defining God.
If you’ve ever tried to define God, you ever thought about that? How would I define God? Is there enough paper to write down this definition? But, but I like to say it very simplistic like this, at least in a basic understanding of God. God is the only being who finds the purpose for his existence within himself. Everything else finds the purpose of his existence outside of itself. Meaning you weren’t created for you. But God in himself is completely sustainable in His own nature. He doesn’t. He doesn’t have need. But thank God by his grace, he didn’t give up on us. He pursued us, gave his life for us. He didn’t have to do that. But grace is a gift. And what you do with it matters. And this this becomes the basis for what Paul is saying to us in Romans chapter six, verse 15 to 23. So we’re going to we’re going to look at this and and Paul’s going to frame the discussion in verse 15. He’s going to ask a question. It’s a very similar question to what he asked at the beginning of Chapter six. But he’s going to ask a question. And in fact, if you look at this section, verse 15 to 23, you can even look at this with your eyes real quick. But verse 15, he asks a question, verse 16. He asks a question, verse 21. He then asks another question.
This becomes sort of the the basis for the framework that Paul he’s going to ask these questions and he’s going to share with us these thoughts related to grace. In fact, we’re going to talk about two ideas as it relates to grace and to see how it applies to our life. Two thoughts to consider that, how we should respond in light of God’s grace in in our lives. And so this is how Paul frames the discussion in Romans chapter six, verse 15. He says, What then are we to sin? Because we are not under the law, but under grace? By no means. Paul asks this question very similarly in chapter six, verse one, Remember he said this kind of the same idea. He said, What shall we say then? Are we to continue to sin That grace may abound? By no means. The reason Paul is framing these two questions is sort of like Paul and in his minds coming up with the rebuttal of everything that that people might argue against the position he shared with us in Christ, the greatness of what God has done for us because of His grace. And He gave us this scandalous statement at the end of chapter five, verse 20, when he when he talked about God’s grace, which led him to to throw these two questions at us in verse 20, he said, Now the law came into to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more.
I remember the idea here was Paul was saying look and saying specifically to religious people, religious people, you think you think your religious law sets you free. Religious law does not set you free. Religious law shows you where you fail and it shows where your sin is increasing because you’re aware of what God’s holy standard is and you can’t measure up to it. You’re not comparing yourself to someone else. Your comparison is to the perfection of God. And when you look at God’s standard and you realize you can’t achieve God’s standard in and of yourself, there’s a problem. Your sin increases. You realize how broken you are. Religion does not set you free. That’s what Paul is saying. But then he gives us this great hope. He says, where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, saying to us, It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter how deep your sin goes, God’s grace goes deeper still. There is no one in this world so far gone that God’s grace can’t reach them. God’s grace is transforming. And that’s the reason Jesus gave his life for us. Because Jesus paid it all for you. And Jesus can is more than enough. And offering his life for you that you can find freedom in him. And so when Paul then thinks about the rebuttal, people may have to to God’s grace and how scandalous this statement might be. He then poses these two questions. And when he poses these two questions in Chapter six, I think Paul has in mind two types of people, or maybe we could argue three again.
But but Paul at least has two types of people. He has this idea of of the irreligious or maybe this moral group that just think, you know, as long as you’re good, that’s all that matters, right? I just we just kind of try or we just do what we want and God’s grace will cover it. Then he then he talks about in verse 15, he then asks the question from a religious framework, because the religious people would say to them, say to the apostle Paul, why are we living all these laws? Like, why are we trying to obey the the the Jewish Old Testament, the Tanakh? Why does this matter to us? And Paul then poses that question, What then are we to just go and sin and just forget about what God has written? It says by no means. It’s not about doing whatever you want because of God’s grace. It’s to recognize that God’s grace rescues us from something, and God’s grace rescues us for something. That God’s grace is a gift. And what you do with it matters. Grace does not give us an excuse to sin. But it does give us a purpose to live. And a reason to obey. God’s grace puts us in a beautiful position with him. And and Paul wants us to consider two aspects of God’s grace this morning.
Number one, in your notes that first blink is this Consider the freedom of grace. Paul wants us to consider the freedom of grace. And in verse 16, it reads like this. He says, Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you, your slaves are the one whom you obey. Either of sin which leads to death or of obedience which leads to righteousness. Now, hopefully you caught the irony of what I just said, because Paul, Paul’s going to actually going to use the word freedom in verse 18, which is where we get this idea, was Paul’s asking this, this question here in in verse 16, do you not know Paul is talking about here in light of God’s grace, do you not know what this this means for you and how you can live your life? He’s he’s posing this question. And so here we are. We’re going to talk now about freedom, but we’re talking about freedom through through the illustration of slavery. Isn’t that isn’t that ironic? Like, Paul wants us to know the freedom that God’s grace brings. And that’s going to be the theme that he harps on as we get further into these verses. But he is doing it through the idea of of slavery, which is a very sensitive subject, isn’t it, to to be able to talk about with you this morning. And and in fact, just just to remind you of of how sensitive this subject is, Paul, in this first line, I just want to break it down in two sections here for us.
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves here, Paul is talking about slavery and some translators when they come to this this phrase slavery. It’s interesting. Rather than choose to use the word slavery, which I think is what the Greek text says, it’s Doulos. It certainly means slave. Some translators choose to use the word servant. If you read from the King James, you’ll see that that word, that’s that’s the way they translate it in the King James. They translate this word servant. But it certainly is the word doulos, which means slave. Now. Now, why would they do that? Well, I think the intentions behind this debate as to whether or not you would translate Douglass as servant or slave, is seen in the kind of the idea that was would be created in your mind through through what Paul is saying. Let me just say this real quick. As I talk about slavery, slavery is wrong. And whatever fashion or form it’s coming in, we’re going to stand against slavery. Okay. But but it’s important for us to understand what is Paul saying in this text by talking about slavery? I mean, you think in terms of Rome, where Paul is writing this letter, some people estimate within the city of Rome, upwards of maybe 50% of the population could have been slaves.
When the Christian church began. Its movement was a grassroots movement and it was very popular among slave people. Women often would gravitate towards Christianity because they found worth and value in that Jesus. When women were treated as property, Jesus came in and he showed the worth and dignity and value of women. So you see a lot of women coming to Christ, you see a lot of slaves coming to Christ for the same purpose. So Paul is writing a letter like this knowing that his letter is going to be read by individuals who may find themselves as slaves, especially in the city of Rome. But but what’s interesting in this is the distinction of why some translators would choose to use the word servant rather than slave is because of the way that Paul expresses this, this form of slavery and this passage of Scripture in America. When we hear the term slave, we we often just assume one type of slavery that’s chattel slavery, which is taking a people group and forcing them against their will to be a slave. And you sell them as property, you don’t even treat them as a person. But what’s what’s interesting in this verse is that when Paul is referring to slavery here, one of the distinctions he gives us is that at the beginning of verse he says this You present yourselves. You present yourselves. What Paul is identifying here is this is a decision of your will. This is a willingness in your heart.
What you will surrender your life to. This idea of presenting Paul saying he’s saying to all of us, look, everyone in this room has a choice. Of what your life is going to be about. You can’t always control the cards you’re dealt. But you can decide how you’re going to play it. When Paul’s writing to perhaps a group of slaves in Rome. Paul wants them to recognize that they can still use their lives for the glory of God because of the grace of God. Sometimes we like to make excuses for things. But Paul is saying, how about rather we make a change in things? What’s your life going to be about? When things are all said and done, how will people describe you? What will define you? Who will people say you are? You know, in life, when people pass away, we often don’t describe the kinds of things a person did in their job. But rather what they meant to us by how we experienced them in relationship. And Paul is coming. This this place of asking that question is what is your heart really surrendered to? How have you presented your life? I think maybe for for us today in our culture and time, one of the best ways that we could perhaps illustrate this, this type of servitude or or even slavery that Paul is describing here would be someone who might give give of their service to the military.
And you. You intentionally surrender yourself to an authority. And in return you get the opportunity to defend and fight for freedom. And there are certain things that are provided for you. And I think this is the the idea that Paul is is casting in our minds. And I’ll talk a little bit more about slavery in the verses I had, especially as you get to verse 19, because he tells us why he’s he’s illustrating this or using this as an illustration for us. But Paul wants to awaken our hearts to understand something that something in life will be master over you. And you ask the question, why? Why would someone want to be a servant like this? Why would someone want to completely dedicate their life like this? And his response is saying to us like, something will be master over you. It’s impossible not to. The reason it’s impossible is because you’re a worship being. God made you to worship. And you will you will look for things in this world to give you worth and value and meaning. And when we do that, we often find ourselves in worship of whatever it is that we hope helps us feel important. Are we? We might put it in our performance to make us feel like we matter or a person that makes us feel like we matter or a position or a power or a place. But just please help me feel significant, right? And being a worship being we look for something to just attribute to us identity.
Now value. It’s impossible. Not to serve something. And some may argue, well, I’m the slave of anything. I’m my own master. Right. And and I would say to you this morning, we’ll prove it. This week. Do me a favor. If you think you’re just the master of everything. Nothing has any authority over. You. Go this week and try not to sin. See how successful you can be. Right? Just perfection. Live a week of perfection and really see how much of a master you really are over all things. And you and I know it’s not possible. Your heart will be given over to something. And if you want to know what’s the master over you, it’s. It’s easy to find. Just look. Look where you spend your time, your money, your resources. It starts to identify for you where you receive significance. And this is what Paul is identifying in this passage. And he says in the second half of this verse, you are slaves of the one whom you obey either of sin, which leads to death or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. It’s interesting for for all of us in this room when we come to words like obedience, how we respond to that. Some of you, as soon as you hear the word obedience, it doesn’t matter what what might be the next thing out of my mouth. You hear the word obedience and you just instantly say, I’m taking the opposite of that.
Right. And you’ve maybe been like that since. Since a child. Oppositional defiance, right? Your parents probably referred to you. At least mine. Mine did. You’re stubborn, right? You’re going to be a great lawyer one day. You can argue a lot. My mom. And being that kind of kid finds a lot of humor in the fact that sometimes she looks at my kids and she says, they’re just like you. You know, like it’s like her prayer was answered. Lord, humble him. Let him have a kid one day just like him. But. But we get rebellious. One way to respond. The other way you get religious. You see the word obedience and you’re going to prove how great you are by the things you do. And so we we perform. It’s about us. But do you know the interesting thing and and whether you’re a person that tends to hear the word of beatings and get rebellious or hear the word obedience and you get religious, the focus of both of those paths are you. It’s you. If you’re rebellious, it’s all about you. If you’re religious, it’s all about your performance. And in the end, what drives both of those is pride. You know, there’s also a third option. And I think the idea of what Paul’s communicating here plays out beautifully in the prodigal son. If you know the story, this is Rembrandt’s version of the prodigal son he painted in the 17th century.
But but Rembrandt, when he painted the prodigal son, he certainly illustrates the idea of the rebellious and the religious. You see there the father holding the prodigal son who’s returned. If you know how the story goes in Luke 15, there were the the father had two sons, right? We refer to the story as the prodigal son. But the point isn’t really the son. It’s about the father. It’s the prodigal father, really, the son. One son becomes rebellious. He knows what the father wants. He doesn’t care what the father wants. He wants what he wants because no one’s master over him. He thinks he’s in charge. And he goes into the world and he finds out he’s really the master of nothing. And he squanders everything. And then the other part of the story is about the religious son. Right? And when the prodigal son returns, the religious son just folds his arm. You see, it illustrated in this picture. He just looks down at his brother. He has no idea what Grace is. You have the religious performance, then you have the the rebellious performance. But then. But then the prodigal son finds grace. How does he find Grace? He returns to the father. And what does he discover? The father had been waiting for him to return. And when he does, he throws a great celebration. The point isn’t about religion or hating religion. The point is it is about rebellion or hating rebellion. The point is about a relationship.
And that’s God’s heart for us. This idea of obedience that leads to righteousness is not just it’s not about performance. It’s about a heart driven to want to be close to God. I don’t wake up every morning and say, Man, how can I be more religious? Our heart’s desire when we wake up in this morning, in the morning should be, How can I get near to God? How can I walk with Jesus? How can I enjoy his presence? That’s what Grace is delivered to us. Because grace is a gift. In fact, in verse 17, that’s where Paul goes. But thanks be to God. That you who were once slaves of sin. Have become. Look at this. Obedient from the heart. To the standard of teaching to which you were committed. I tell you, that important phrase in this section is that idea of from the heart. From the heart. That’s not primarily interested in your obedience. God is primarily interested in your heart. Because God knows if he gets your heart, he’ll change your life. It’s not obedience. For the sake of obedience, you can obey your rules all day long and not have a relationship. What God wants is your life. And this grace becomes that that gift of freedom for us too, to be able to experience that which which is then what he says in verse 18, having been set free from sin. You have become slaves of righteousness. And what Paul is painting is like, there’s really you’re going to have a master.
It doesn’t matter in life. You’re going to have a master because you’re a worshiping. But it’s more of a question of what is master over you because one leads to death and the other leads to life. And in Christ, Christ has come to deliver you. And he is a he is a good master that cares over over your life. And he has set you free from the sin that destroys your soul. Some people, when they they hear the word freedom, they assume freedom means free to do whatever you want. And that is not freedom. That’s anarchy. Freedom doesn’t mean free. Free to do whatever you want. You’re not free until you’re truly able to to live for the purpose for which you were created. The idea of freedom is walking that path for which you were designed. Every created thing has a purpose and you aren’t truly free until you live in that purpose. It’s like a car on a road. It’s free, but a car in a ditch. It is not a boat in the water. It is free, but a boat on an icy lake. That is not freedom. A fish in the water is free. A fish on land. That is not freedom. You were created for the Lord. Living any other life than in pursuit of relationship with God is not freedom. It’s death. Freedom is only free when you live for the purpose for which you were designed and you were made as a worship being to connect to God both now and for all of eternity.
And the only reason you’re able to experience that freedom has nothing to do with rebellion or religion, but rather relationship in Christ. And Paul is saying, Do you not see the gift of grace? Why go on sinning? When what God has given you is so precious. You think all the religions in this world are people trying to pursue to just avail to God to show that they’re worthy enough? But in Christianity, especially this time of season, what we’re reminded of is God became vulnerable. As a baby. To a very young mother in a position of poverty under a king who wanted to kill him. Having to run away to Egypt. Why? To set you free. God became vulnerable for us so that we could become vulnerable to him. And he is a good master. Caring for. For our soul. And then in verse 19, he says this. I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. He’s saying, This is why I choose this example when I talk about slavery. That’s a that’s a shocking term to use. But sometimes our soul becomes so dead that we need words like that to to awaken us to what God calls us to. For for just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to the lawless lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification.
Ironic to talk about freedom and slavery in the same terms or in the same verses, Right? But but when you start to to study scripture, you see that the idea of slavery and being redeemed from slavery, it’s the Bible is full of those motifs representing spiritual death and spiritual life. In fact, I would argue that that’s how the Bible starts. In the Book of Genesis is written to a group of slaves. They were in slavery in Egypt. And do you know the kind of things that can happen to someone being treated that way? Chattel slavery, just property treated like a tool and just abused and used until you’re done and then find someone else. And then when you read the book of Genesis, God does something incredible. He refers to all human beings as being created in the image of God. Which is very unique because in in Israel’s day, there are only a few people that were referenced as being in the image of God, and that would be people like Pharaoh. They were considered almost like deity in the flesh. They bore the image of God. But to refer to just the common people and especially slaves. As being made in the image of God. With the understanding that the purpose of that is to connect to your creator, your king, your savior. That’s an incredible position to have. That God would elevate us uniquely as his creatures.
Creatures made for. For his purpose. To know him and and to walk with him. And. And Jesus even used that similar language when he looked at our lives spiritually. And he said that he came to ransom us, which is a term used to buy a slave out of a slave market. And Jesus gave his life and on the cross and said, paid in full, it is sufficient or it is enough that Jesus Jesus accomplished what he needed to accomplish in order to set us free. That we could have that relationship and and live in light of that for all of eternity. And Paul, knowing those motifs then reflects on that because he recognizes in Romans he’s he’s writing to a group of Christians that may find themselves physically as slaves. But he also says it to our heart and recognizing. Their lives can be mastered by something else and it will destroy our soul lest we find a new life in Christ. And walk in that glory. And he says to us that righteousness leading to that sanctification, that being set apart by by the Lord for, for his purposes and his glory and, and he reminds us of, of the response or the opposite of that. When he, when he says this in this verse, he says lawlessness leading to more lawlessness. So rebellious people, sometimes they think they’re in charge of their lives. Because they think. Are the authority of life. They forget that they are under authority and they start living like they are the authority and they define the point of life about making them happy and whatever it is they want because they set the rules, they’re in charge.
And Paul saying that kind of life of lawlessness, not recognizing that you’re under authority, but you think that you’re really in authority. All it leads to is not goodness on the back end. It’s not an improvement. But rather it’s more lawlessness. Maybe the sobering thought to this would be to say this about our own country. Unless our country has a revival. And hearts turn back to Jesus. The path that we are on is not better. Lawlessness leads to more lawlessness because we stop recognizing who was really in charge and we started to believe it was ourselves. So then Paul says this. Point number two in your notes and this is a little faster here. Consider the fruit of grace. Consider the fruit of grace. And and he asks another question in verse 21 here, but he really in verse 20 and 21, he’s going to talk about this idea of rebellion to the idea of walking with Christ in verses 22 and 23. You’ll see these two positions here, but verse, verse 20, he goes on, he says, For when you were slaves of sin. You were free in regards to righteousness. Meaning slaves to sin. You belong to sin. You didn’t have you weren’t having to follow Jesus.
You didn’t have that kind of life. But he says this verse 21, But what fruit were you getting at the time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. What Paul is really saying to us, maybe in a very more concise way. I could say this How is life without Christ really working out for you? It’s working out well. What’s life without Christ really bringing you? Do you feel like you really have ultimate purpose? Are you really satisfied with where things are going without Jesus? And he reminds us in this, in this passage that when your master is sin. You get the master’s wages, whatever you serve, whatever the master promises to pay you, the master will deliver that. And in this passage, what the master promises to pay is death through sin. But then he reminds us in verse 22, he says, 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. And look at this verse 23 for the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Notice the way he describes this gift. Not religion, not performance. But rather it’s free. It’s free. Jesus didn’t give this to you because of who you are. Jesus gave this to you because of who he is. Here’s a good master.
Desiring to free your soul for the purpose of living for its divine design, which is to know Him and and to live for his glory to the blessing of others. If you look in verse 23, he he very well contrasts these two positions. Again, he he talks about the two masters sending God. He talks about the two methods, wages or free gift. He talks about the aftermath, death or eternal life. And the purpose of it all. Is to provoke our heart. To live for the purpose of his grace. Understand that the gift of grace isn’t just to free us from something, but to free us for something and to compel our hearts to surrender. What defines you? What kind of person would people say you are? What do you live for? I think some people look at this passage and they say, I heard it last week in a commentary that what Paul really wants to encourage us from is to stop Jesus flirting. Unless we look at Jesus, we say, you know, he’s kind of good and we sort of just dip our toe in the water, but we don’t really give her heart. I’ll share something with you, too. To close here, a couple of illustrations, but you look at these numbers and for most of you, you don’t know what this represents, and this really won’t matter to you at the end of the day. And I don’t encourage you to look this up because you’ll find it goes to a weird place.
But these are coordinates and these coordinates are to the middle of nowhere, Kentucky. But for me, these these points are important. Because this is the place of my life. Or I finally died to myself and I said to Jesus, Lord, it’s your life. Whatever you want, wherever you want to take it. I am just all in. For me, this is a place that I often reflect on. God, this is where I gave it all to you, never to take it away again. This is yours. Now, I know this is special to me. Maybe one day. I’ve always thought I don’t know what tattoo I might get one day, but if I ever get one, maybe it would be this. I don’t know. That’d be kind of cool. I walk around and I tell people they’ll look at that. They’d be like, Why have you got weird numbers? And I can tell them about Jesus, but. But these coordinates. These coordinates represent this room. And this could be a place. Where your heart finally says, I quit. I quit on my rebellion. I quit on religion. I just want Jesus. I want to give my life to him and to see where it goes. He is a good master. I mean, that’s what his grace says. His grace is the indication for us of just how far this king is willing to go, that we could experience the goodness of life in him.
When I think about the idea of that surrender, I think for for many people that have given their lives to Christ. They often have no idea where that would go. But they’re willing to go with Jesus because they know in the end it’s not about a place, it’s not about a destination. It’s about a person. And if you walk with Jesus, you’re where you need to be. And think about the the thoughts of a famous missionary like Amy Carmichael in the top left, Amy Carmichael. She originally tried to go to Japan. Before she ended up being that famous missionary in India, or Adoniram Judson. He he tried to go to India before God eventually led him to Burma, where he saw incredible work there. Or David Livingstone, the top right there. Mr. Samuel Clemens. He he is David Livingstone, not Samuel Clemens, but the top right. He he wanted to go to China, but because of a war, he ended up going to Africa and lives throughout the continent were transformed by the work that he did there. You can’t always control the cards you’re dealt. But you can’t control how you respond. And David Livingston even said this. He said, I will go anywhere provided it be forward. And can I tell you, if you walk in grace, that direction will always be forward. Jesus. Is this enough? His grace is a gift and we have the privilege to surrender to him and finally live in that freedom.