Free to Bear Fruit
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
When Jesus was proclaiming his sermon on the mount, he warned his disciples about false prophets. He warned them not to listen to their words as much as watch their ways. They can certainly speak much truth; in fact, the ones that are especially skillful will mix falsehood with just enough truth so that the false notions seem correct. So then, how would one know who was and was not a false prophet? By their fruit, their actions.
But this doesn’t just work with false prophets, but with everyone. Examining fruit to see if it is good or bad can be done with both the false prophet or the regular old Joe off the street. In Matthew 7, Jesus just makes the statement without explanation as to where or how the fruit is produced. This morning, we will see that Paul gave us that explanation. Sanctified fruit (or holy fruit) can only come from one particular source. Shameful fruit (or sinful fruit) also comes from one source. What Paul was desperately seeking to tell his readers 2,000 years ago and what God desires us to know today is that personal holiness does not come by abiding in the law, but rather only by abiding in grace. And my prayer is that we will come to understand this as Paul reveals two outcomes the believer has since he is in Christ. In reality he contrasts the old life before Christ and the new life in Christ. But the emphasis is on the outcome of the being in Christ. But to fully understand it, we have to deal with who we were before Christ. For that reason, I have taken Paul’s two outcomes and made a preliminary point dealing with who we were before Christ. So the first point is the fruit we produced before Christ. From here we’ll see the freedom that we are given in Christ. Lastly, we return to our fruit, but with a different outcome; thus, we see the fruit we have in Christ.
Fruit before Christ
Freedom in Christ
Fruit in Christ
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
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.
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Fruit Before Christ
Fruit Before Christ
In order for us to understand the glorious outcome of being in Christ, we need to first understand our fruit before Christ. This fruit is the exact opposite of the fruit that we produce now that we are in Christ. It is different in its producer, in its product, and in its purpose.
For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
The first truth that we see about this fruit is its producer. Its producer is sin. Sin produces fruit. That’s why Jesus told his disciples to be on the lookout for the false prophets’ fruit. A sinner who is filled with sin produces a certain type of fruit. Just as grape vines produce grapes or apple trees produce apples, so sinners produce a certain type of fruit. The kind of fruit that is produced will be seen in a moment. But notice in verse 20 the point that Paul was making. We, as slaves of sin, are working to make sure that its fruit is produced. So long as sin is our master, we do as sin tells us to do, even (as Pastor Matt stated last week) when we don’t even realize we are doing it. While sin is producing the fruit, it is using us as slave labor to bring it to fruition. In regards to righteousness, Paul wrote that we were free from it. There was not a hint of righteousness in the product we were about making. As Isaiah wrote nearly 800 years prior:
We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Why? Because righteousness is in line with God. Remember what Paul already wrote about those who are not believers.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
Ungodliness (acting as if there is no God) and unrighteousness are synonomous terms. It’s what is called a hendiadys; it is where two words are used to express one meaning. We do this all the time. We’ll say something like “God is big and powerful,” or that “so and so is dead and gone.” We use two words to express one meaning. So to be free of righteousness is to be free of God.
Which leads us to the product. It is not simply sin that we are producing; Paul points out that it is shameful sin. He asked the question:
But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
As believers we can look back at our time when we were slaves to sin, working on behalf of our master to produce sin and see how shameful that fruit truly was. In the midst of it, while still slaves of sin, it was much more difficult to see the shamefulness of what we were producing. In fact, much of it was enjoyable fruit. It was alluring. It was fascinating. But as Christians we look and are ashamed of who we were. Paul never forgot his past; when he wrote to Timothy, he called himself the chief of sinners. But while recognizing his shameful acts, he also showed the desire not to be distracted by or oppressed by his former sins. As he would tell the Philippians
Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
But those who do not know Christ, those who are not in Christ, those who have never put their trust and hope and love in Christ, you cannot press ahead. You are still enslaved to your master Sin. You are still in the business of producing shameful fruit. And notice what Paul wrote was the purpose: death.
But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
The end of those things, the end of those fruits, is death. Sin will work you to produce as much shameful, sinful fruit as you can and it will work you to the point of death. You will die on sin’s plantation and in the sin fields. That’s the end, the goal, the purpose of the fruit: to work you to death. Paul repeats the point in verse 23.
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
For the wages of sin is death. . .
Rarely do we think about slaves receiving a wage. Many times they did, but it was not a livable wage. That’s not what Paul meant when he wrote that the wages of sin is death. Rather, he was repeating that the end, the goal of sin is to bring death to the sinner, its slave. Rather than being paid in money or food or housing, sin pays in death. Death is the wage that sin pays. It promises to pay you a good life. It promises happy life. It promises to pay you a fun life. But in reality, it strings you along in its sinful, shameful fields, until it delivers to you its actual wage: death. That’s the purpose of sin. Not simply physical death, but eternal death.
Freedom in Christ
Freedom in Christ
But this cradle to grave enslavement can be broken. That’s the first outcome Paul brings up. We first saw our fruit before Christ: shameful fruit leading to death. But freedom can be found. This is the first outcome of being in Christ. There is freedom in Christ.
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.
Once again, there is contrast here as far as producer, product, and purpose are concerned. The producer here is God. We are slaves of God and so God is our Master who puts us to work for him. Except whereas being enslaved to sin meant we were free from any hint of righteousness, being a slave to God means we are free from sin. Paul is not referring to sinless perfection here. He is referring to the master in our lives. Just as we were free from righteousness, free from God, we are now free from sin. Sin is not our master. God is. He is the producer.
But what is the product? If sin produces sinfulness, the God produces godliness but not just godliness but holiness. The godliness within leads to holiness without. As Paul told the Philippians
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
God works godliness in you, both to will and to work holiness for his good pleasure. I’m using the word holiness; the ESV uses the word sanctification. They mean the same thing. Sanctification is process of being made holy. It is important that we understand what Paul was saying here. The fruit is present within every believer. It is not “the fruit you will get some time in the future” but the “fruit you get.” It is a present reality. In the Greek, when we come across the present tense, time is not the main point; aspect is. By that, I mean that Paul was not writing about time as if to say, “On June 20, 2021 at 11:36 AM, you have fruit.” Instead, the emphasis is on aspect, meaning continuous or constant. “You are constantly getting fruit that leads to holiness/sanctification.” God is constantly at work in you to produce godliness leading to holiness.
The word “get” in this verse is the main verb in the sentence. The words “set free” and “have become” those are supporting participles. I bring this up because I want you to understand what is already yours: fruit leading to holiness/sanctification. Because you are free from sin and because you are slaves of God, you already and will always have the fruit that leads to holiness.
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
But what then is the purpose? The purpose is to bring us to eternal life.
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.
The writer of Hebrews said
Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.
We need to understand, as Christians, that our final salvation does not rest on justification alone. We must also be sanctified; we must also be holy. Without holiness we will not see the Lord. But God has put in us fruit of godliness leading to holiness so that (with the purpose that) we have eternal life. This is what freedom is! To be free from sin is to be free from shameful acts which is to be free from the wages of sin which is death. It is freedom to godliness, freedom to holiness, and freedom to eternal life! This is living under grace! This is the gospel of Jesus Christ! This is the God’s Radical Gospel. It changes everything!
It changes thieves into givers, deadbeat dads into loving fathers, adulterers into faithful spouses, disobedient children into children who honor mothers and fathers. In changes the selfish into the selfless, the racist into a brother or sister of all who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, it changes a cold, stony heart, into a heart of flesh that loves the Lord and his neighbor. It changes ungodliness into holiness.
This is what Paul meant when he wrote
Romans 6:23 (ESV)
The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The free gift, the grace of God, is eternal life that not only comes by way of justification but sanctification produced by the godly fruit he produces in us.
But this is not the only freedom we have. We are free from sin, free from its fruit, free from death, but we are also free from the law which strengthened the chains around our necks, hands, and feet.
I only want to use these few verses as an illustration, since that is what Paul did.
Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives?
For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage.
Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.
Those who were familiar with the law, in essence, the Pentateuch would be aware the marriage laws, and so Paul used one as an example. A married woman is married until her husband dies. She’s not lawfully allowed to get married or live or sleep with another man so long as her husband is alive. Once he is dead, she is free to marry someone else, but not before hand. Otherwise, she would legally be defined as an adulteress (and the same would go for men). This illustrates that we are free from the law because we died to the law. We are not legally obligated due to death.
Fruit in Christ
Fruit in Christ
And this leads us to Paul’s second outcome in when a person is in Christ. We first saw our fruit before Christ; it was produced by sin, producing shameful sin, for the purpose of killing us. Then we saw the first outcome of being in Christ. When we are in Christ, we are slaves to God who produces in us godliness resulting in holiness so that we can have eternal life. Now we go back to fruit. Except this time, we add to the idea that the fruit is not produced by the law (trying to do better by obedience to the law), but by grace in Christ. Paul was seeking to help his readers understand what it means to be set free from the law and why we must be set free from it.
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
Let’s go back a few verses. Even though this has been quite a number of weeks as we study Romans, it would have been read in one sitting to the entire church. Thus what seems disconnected to us because it has taken weeks to get this far, would only have been a few seconds to the Romans in their reading. So let’s go back to
And the free gift is not like the result of that one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification.
For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.
There are those words again: free gift. Just like in Romans 6:23. The free gift (grace) is not like the result of one man’s sin. So the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Sin brought death and condemnation; those are its wages: death and condemnation. But the free gift brings justification/acquittal. One man’s trespass—one man’s sin—allowed death to reign, but the free gift of righteousness, or we could say godliness and holiness comes through Jesus Christ and results in eternal life. How do we attain this free gift of righteousness that justifies us and sanctifies us? By dying in Christ. That’s what Paul wrote in
We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.
Thus, we are free from sin when we died in Christ. At the same time, we saw two weeks ago,
For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
Sin’s power comes from the law. But Paul wrote that it has no control over us because we are no longer under law, but under grace. How is it that we are not under law? Because, as we just read in
Romans 7:4 (ESV)
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ. . .
Paul wrote the same thing to the Galatians.
For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Dead to the law so that we may be alive to God in Christ. I am in Christ and Christ is in me. Paul wrote that he no longer lived by the law, but by faith. This goes back to Paul’s purpose for being an apostle that he mentioned
through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
It’s not about obedience of the law; it’s about obedience of faith. In other words, this is faith producing obedience in us. The law cannot produce obedience. At best the law can only expose disobedience. But as Paul pointed out, it does more than that.
For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.
The law aroused the passions within us, giving strength to sin so that we produced even more fruit leading to death. The more we are told not to do something, the more we want to do it and the more we are told we must do something, the more we fight against it. I love the way Rich Mullins put it in his song, Hold Me, Jesus, when he sang, “I’d rather fight you for something I don’t really want, than take what you give that I need.” The law strengthens sin within us so that we produce even more fruit leading to death. So then, how do we escape this horror?
By being in Jesus.
But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.
Notice the word “now.” This and the one in 6:22 are emphatic nows. Underline them. Now we are released from the law. Not in the future, but at this very moment. The law held us captive; it was the chains around our necks, feet, and hands. It gave more power to sin because it aroused the passions within us. But now we are released. There’s a new way, a newness of the Spirit. The Spirit moves us, leads us, guides us; not the written code of the law. In the Spirit there is newness of life. There is newness in actions, thoughts, and words. That’s who we are now. Again, Paul is not referring to perfectionism. He’s talking about living under grace and in the power of the Spirit. Whereas the law strengthened sin arousing sinful passions in us, the Spirit strengthens our spirits arousing godly passions in us.
So you may ask, how does that happen? And I would say that it goes back to what we saw two weeks ago. We present our bodies, our members to God as instruments of righteousness. In faith and under grace, we come before the throne of God and surrender all. I surrender my mind to you, Lord. My thoughts belong to you. When lies enter into my mind, may I think of that which is true and honorable and just. When I am tempted to look in lust at someone may my eyes be yours so that I will not look upon a virgin. May I look to the things that are above where Christ is. When I desire to be lazy, may my hands be yours, clean hands to produce work as unto the Lord. When bitterness and anger and malice try to settle into my heart, may I present it to you, Lord and be cleansed from all unrighteousness ready for you to search for any unclean way in it. When I see injustice being done, may I not sit on my rump, but run swiftly to speak for justice and may I bring the gospel so that my feet would be beautiful. Paul wrote to the Galatians something similar to what he has written to the Romans, but a bit more explicit.
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,
idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we conclude Romans 6:20-7:6, we have seen that personal holiness does not come by abiding in the law, but rather only by abiding in grace. And to prove that, I showed first what life was like before Christ. There was slavery to sin which produced the shameful fruit that led to death. However, we saw there was freedom in Christ. We were freed from sin and from the law so that we are able to produce godly fruit leading to holiness because we transferred owners, from sin being our master to God and Jesus being our masters. That holiness that comes not by law, but by obedience of faith and living under grace, led by the Holy Spirit, ensures eternal life.
If you have not put your faith in Jesus, understand you still live in your sin and have it as your master. He rules over you and will ensure your death, not just physical, but spiritual separation from God. But if you turn from your sin and turn to Jesus Christ, who died on account of your sins and rose in order to make you right with God, you will find yourself dead to sin and alive to God to walk in this newness of Spirit and life.
To you who have received Jesus, know and believe and rest in the fact that God is already producing in you that fruit which leads to holiness. He has planted it in your heart; it is there. Let the Spirit do his work in you so that you see the fruit that ripen. And present your members as instruments of righteousness.