Sermon Tone Analysis

Inscription: Writing God’s Words on Our Hearts & Minds

Part 70: Sanctification – Freedom from Sin

Romans 6:15-23

March 25, 2012

This week I had a root canal.

I knew it might be coming, but when the dentist said, “You need a root canal.

I have time now; do you want to do it?”

Everything in me wanted to say, “I’ll take care of it later.”

I stalled by asking, “Are they as bad as they say?”

He said, “Depends.

If the decay has gone too deep, we can’t numb the pain.”

So I knew putting it off would only make it worse, but I REALLY did not want to do it.

While I was having this internal argument, I heard my voice say, “Then let’s do it now...but I want laughing gas.”

Laughing gas is my friend.

~* As we go from Romans 5 to 6, Paul’s shifts from justification to sanctification, from being forgiven to becoming righteous.

Prayer

Scripture reading: Romans 6:12-14 (Leeann Kelley)

Free to sin?

Last week I gave an illustration that really bothered a lot of you.

I was trying to describe what grace looks like, and how if you are a Christian and have accepted God’s grace then you are forgiven and loved even in the midst of your sin.

So I said imagine a man having an affair, and dying in a car wreck on his way home, before he repents, before he even feels bad about his sin.

~* For some reason that illustration did not go over well!

Q I am saying that we can say a little prayer and then get away with doing whatever we want?

Q Does that mean that God is never angry at our sins?

Q Why should we even try to do what is right?

Q How on earth is that just?

Those are all very good questions, and reading Romans, you can see that Paul’s readers were asking the very same questions, because he asks it for them in the next section:

Romans 6:15a What then?

Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?

Paul, are you saying that since we are saved by grace and salvation doesn’t come by obeying the law sinning is ok?

In at my Christian high school, I remember being so excited to hear the “bad kid” got saved.

When I talked about with him about it, he said, “Yeah, and the best part is I don’t have to give up smoking, or drinking, or sleeping with my girlfriend.”

His statement left me stunned.

I knew that didn’t sound right, but I didn’t really know how to respond.

Q So was this kid right?

What does Paul say to that?

Romans 6:15b By no means!

The Greek behind “by no means” is pretty much the strongest way to say “no” in Greek.

Translations include, “Absolutely not!”, “God forbid!”, and “That’s unthinkable!”

Gotta serve somebody

Q And why is it unthinkable?

Romans 6:16 Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey-- whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Paul is saying that there is no middle ground; either you are a slave to sin or a slave to obedience.

It like that old Bob Dylan song, “You’ve Got to Serve Somebody.”

~* Either you are moving towards God and righteousness or towards sin and death – there is no third option.

sin’s end game

Q If we were to ask “do you want to be a slave to sin or to obedience?”

what do you think most people would answer?

Said that way, we think “slave to sin” sound more fun, but that is because we are too short term in our thinking.

Skipping a couple of verses:

Romans 6:20-21 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of?

Those things result in death!

~* Sitting there in the dentist chair, everything in me wanted to avoid the root canal, but I knew the result of that game plan.

Paul is saying, “Let’s think about this: All those times you knowingly did what we wrong, how much are still ‘enjoying’ it?”

All the lies you told and knowing that there are still people who don’t trust you.

All of the broken relationship because of your selfishness.

Being stuck in the same rut because of your laziness.

The expression translated “result in death” means “the end of.”

If you start on that path, that path ends up in death.

~* Sin is fun for a season, but it leads to death; it is like drugs – it’s a blast at the time but it ends up using you.

Sin is appealing when we ignore long term consequences: “Party like there is no tomorrow!”

But there is a tomorrow, and a tomorrow after that, and one after that.

BTW: Out of the frying pan, into the fire

You know what is so tragically ironic?

So often the reason we sin is to avoid suffering, but only end up with more suffering.

~* “The Devil has a shortcut through every problem.”

Larry Wersen

Are you lonely?

Here is a bad relationship.

Do you need money?

Cheat just a little on your taxes.

Are you depressed?

Polish off a bottle of whiskey, alone.

Disconnected from your wife?

Surf for porn.

Q How many of your sins have been the result of dealing with your suffering in ungodly ways?

Amazing Grace

Paul is saying is that sin brings death.

The more you understand sin, the less you see it as something you get away with.

~* God’s grace doesn’t just save us from the penalty of sin, it saves us from the sin itself.

The movie “Amazing Grace” tell the story of William Wilberforce as he works to abolish slavery in Great Britain.

He spends time with John Newton, who had been a slaver trader, was saved and later went onto write “Amazing Grace.”

In one powerful scene, Newton confronts the horrors of slave trading, all the human beings who suffered so miserably on the ships, who died along the way, and who suffered in slavery.

~* Newton did not look back and say, “Look what I got away with!” No, it was God’s grace that got him out of that sin.

Welcoming Hell

I hope you get that “death” doesn’t mean literally death, or Hell.

It is the destruction sin does to you along the way.

God’s goal in salvation is not simply to forgive us and restore us to relationship with him, it is to restore us, to save us from the sin that destroys us.

~* To put is crudely, salvation saves you from going to Hell, but it doesn’t save you from the bringing Hell to you.

It kills me that so many believers who are freed from Hell so willingly bring it back into them.

~* The purpose of the adultery illustration wasn’t to encourage affairs!

It was to help us grasp how generous God is in forgiveness and mercy.

If he can forgive the adulterer and murder, I can trust that he can forgive me.

Thinking back to my classmate, here is what I wished I had said to him: You are right, you don’t have to give those things up, instead, God is freeing you from them.

the sin of rebellion

Let add as a warning: As I said last week, if you continually and willingly rebel against God, you are doing profound damage to your soul.

We have always heard it said that “all sin is the same to God.”

That is partially true, but mostly false and false in some very damaging way.

~* It is true in that sin in general has separated us from God and that it is all equally forgiven through Christ.