THE FREEDOM YOU’VE ALWAYS WANTED

HOW DEAD MEN SHOULD LIVE1

DEAD TO SIN

STAYING SOBER IN AN ADDICTIVE WORLD2

DOES GRACE PROMOTE SIN? 3

UNITED WITH CHRIST IN DEATH AND LIFE4

OUR DEATH WITH CHRIST, OUR FREEDOM FROM SIN5

DEAD TO SIN; ALIVE TO GOD6

THE OLD MAN NAILED7

READY AND UNASHAMED8 SANCTIFIED BY GOD’S GRACE

THE DAY I DIED9

THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE DO NOT LEAD TO SIN10

Outline

1 http://www.sermonnotebook.org/romans/Rom%206_1-4.htmHOW DEAD MEN SHOULD LIVE:1a THEY MUST ACCEPT THE REALITY OF THEIR PASSING2A THEY MUST ACCEPT THE REALITY OF THEIR POSITION 3-4A3A THEY MUST ACCEPT THE REALITY OF THEIR POTENTIAL 4B

2 http://www.donelsonav.org/pocket/pp-031116.html Robert j. Morgan 2003

3 http://www.southwoodsbc.org/sermons/romans_06.01-04.php South Woods Baptist Church

4 John Piper: http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper2k/9-24-00.htm

5 John Piper6 John MacArthur

7 http://media.calvaryvista.com/salvato-rob/studies-books/45-ROM-1997/45-ROM-006-001.htm Gil Rugh

8 http://www.calvarychapelofhope.org/index.php?option=com_biblestudy&view=studydetails&id=119 Claude Stauffer good. 28 pages sermon.

9 http://www.pbc.org/files/messages/4547/0013.html Ray C. Stedman 10 CHARLES SPURGEON: #1735 1883 AND http://www.spurgeongems.org/vols37-39/chs2197.pdf

Ro 6:3, 4Baptism—a Burial16271881617 Ro 6:4Christ's Resurrection and Our Newness of Life21971891181 Ro 6:6Old Man Crucified, The8821869409 Ro 6:8-11Death and Life in Christ5031863193 Ro 6:11, 12Dead, Yet Alive29331905205 Ro 6:14Believers Free From the Dominion of Sin14101878229 Ro 6:14Upper Hand, The9011869637 Ro 6:14, 15Doctrines of Grace Do Not Lead to Sin, The17351883445 Ro 6:18Our Change of Masters14821879373 Ro 6:23Death and Life; the Wage and the Gift18681885601

The Preposterous Possibility: Should a Saint Live in Sin? Vs 1-2

Our Union With Christ Requires a Break With Sin 3-11

Outline #2

We Died with Christ: Our Baptism being Witness; and are to Reckon Ourselves Dead unto Sin and Alive unto God in Christ Jesus. Verses 1-11.

Presenting Ourselves to God as Risen Ones, not under Law but under Grace, Sin loses Its Dominion over Us. Verses 12-14.

Grace Not to be Abused, for Sin Always Enslaves, and would End in Death; Obedience brings Freedom, with the End, Eternal Life,—God’s Free Gift in Christ Jesus Our Lord. Verses 15-23.

I came across an article this week called “The Fruit of the Word” that was unsettling and yet it resonated with me (www.breakpoint.org). Here are a few quotes: “The contemporary evangelical Church is the most Christian-educated generation of believers in all of Church history…Never before has a generation of believers had so many options and opportunities for studying and hearing the Word of God. Sermons, Sunday School classes, Bible study groups, TV and radio ministers, tapes and CDs, retreats, workshops and seminars abound week after week, month after month, year after year. [I would add that we also have a seemingly infinite number of resources available on the Internet as well]…You have a veritable monsoon of Christian teaching raining down on the evangelical community every day of the week…the field of the evangelical Church is sown and re-sown with the Word of God, and watered and re-watered with the rain of God’s truth.”11

The article then makes this rather stunning conclusion: “The world complains over and over about our shallowness and hypocrisy…What’s wrong? Why is the most Christian-educated generation in all of church history so devoid of the fruit we should reasonably expect to find?”

George Barna has pointed out, in study after study, that the way Christians behave is not appreciably different from the way non-Christians live their lives (www.barna.org). On a pastoral level, I’m often discouraged when I see Christ-followers falter and fail or when I see church members chuck it all. Sometimes I wonder if what I do makes any difference at all in the disciple-making process. Maybe my sermons are too shallow, too deep, or they just don’t matter at all. Maybe I’m not praying enough, which is certainly the case. On a more personal level, why don’t I practice everything I preach?

G.K. Chesterton once said: “Christianity has not been tried and found wanting; it has been found difficult and not tried.” Warren Wiersbe notes that “too many Christians are ‘betweeners,’ living between Egypt and Canaan, saved but never satisfied; or they live between Good Friday and Easter, believing in the Cross but not entering into the power and glory of the Resurrection.”

11 Brian Bill of Pontiac Bible Church. .org

Maybe that’s because we’re still living in bondage to sin.

One of the keys to communication is to know your audience. Let me just make sure I know who’s here today. Can I see the hands of everyone who is a sinner? That’s good. I feel at home with you. This is a church for sinners and we don’t really have anything to offer you today unless you’re a sinner.

Ray Pritchard writes: “There is a sharp right turn between Romans 5 and Romans 6. Romans 5 explains how God declares people righteous. Romans 6 explains how God makes people righteous. Justification is that act whereby God declares you righteous in his eyes. Sanctification is that act whereby God makes you righteous. But those things are not the same… Justification happens at the moment you trust Christ and is never repeated. Sanctification happens moment-by-moment as you surrender your life to the Lord. Justification is an event. Sanctification is a process. Justification happens once and only once. Sanctification is gradual and continuous. Justification cannot be repeated. Sanctification must be repeated. Justification is the work of a moment. Sanctification is the work of a lifetime. Justification gives you the merit of Christ. Sanctification gives you the character of Christ. Justification leads to sanctification. Those who are truly born again are led of the Spirit into a life of growing holiness…These two chapters are distinct yet joined by a natural progression of thought” (www.keepbelieving.com).

Please follow along in your copy of the Scriptures as I read Romans 6:1-7: “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin--because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.”

Crucifixion means taking the unpleasant road.  It means taking another road than the one that leads to temptation.

Illustration

The Five Chapter Book:

(Heard on Focus on the Family)

Chapter One:  A man was walking down the street.  He fell into a hole.  He groped his way in the darkness.  After a long time, he made his way out of the hole.

Chapter Two:  A man was walking down the same street.  He pretended not to see the hole.  He fell in.  After a long time, he made his way out of the hole.

Chapter Three:  A man was walking down the same street.  He sees the hole.  He falls in.  He says it's not his fault.  After a long time, he made his way out of the hole.

Chapter Four:  A man walks down the same street.  He sees the hole.  He knows it's there.  He tries to walk around it.  He falls in.  He knows it's his fault.  He quickly gets out.

Chapter Five:  A man takes another street.

In Romans 6:1–7:6, Paul establishes the basis for Christian behavior. He demonstrates why the Christian must no longer continue to live as he once did, in servitude to sin. Consider the imagery Paul’s uses to demonstrate this:

Romans 6:1-14 — Imagery of baptism - Our identification with Christ prohibits living in sin as a Christian

Romans 6:15-23 — Imagery of slavery - How foolish it is to serve sin Romans 7:1-6 — Imagery of marriage - We have been freed from the Law and thus from the

dominion of sin 12

(Romans 6:1-14)

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

With every correct doctrine of the Bible there is the potential for heresy and distortion.  We have undoubtedly all met people who proclaim that they have had a spiritual conversion yet seem to have no subsequent change in the way they live.  They call themselves “Christians” but they continue to live immoral lives, cheat people, and basically look no different than the rest of the world.13

Think about what has been set forth already. We have seen the doctrine of justification by faith stated in chapter 3 and then illustrated in chapter 4. Chapter 5 amplifies the effects of justification by faith: peace with God, exulting in hope of the glory of God, perseverance in tribulations, proven character, and hope by the love of God poured out by the Holy Spirit. All this happens to those who are “in Christ.” But what does it mean to

12 http://bible.org/seriespage/end-reign-death-romans-61-14

13 ttp://www.unionchurch.com/archive/080804.html Bruce Goettsche

be “in Christ” and no longer “in Adam”? That’s what Paul explains in 5:12-21. To be in Adam means sin, death, condemnation, and the reign of sin and death; but to be in Christ means grace, righteousness, justification of life, and the reign of grace. Two distinct lives are pictured for us; two different effects result from these two lives and what they did. One sinned and brought condemnation; the Other’s one act of righteousness resulted in justification of life to all that receive of His grace and gift of righteousness. Works play no part in this righteousness and justification of life. The total work falls wholly upon Jesus Christ and His righteousness.14

WE COME NOW TO THE SECOND PART OF CHRIST WORK FOR US – OUR JUSTIFICATION PART ONE AND PART TWO OUR IDENTIFICATION WITH HIS DEATH.15

It is a false Christianity that rejects holiness and godliness and ongoing sanctification in favor of a loose practice of sin. Antinomianism is not Christian! It is a clear rejection of what Jesus Christ came to do: “to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds” (Titus 2:14). Antinomianism leaves no good news, no salt and light, no “peculiar people,” no clear picture of Christ through His church. It is a heresy that must be exposed and rejected; it is an insidious temptation from the adversary that must be recognized and resisted. Any view of Christianity that does not make you more like Christ in character and practice is not biblical Christianity.16======================

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Pragmatists and Puritans

We Americans are pragmatists to the max. We want results. And we want them yesterday. We want them simply. We want them without too much pondering and too much pain. And in the church, we have developed all kinds of Christ-coated remedies that are shallow and short-lived. We are not, by and large, the deeply grounded saints that some of our forefathers were.

J. I. Packer compares the old English Puritans who lived and suffered from 1550 to 1700 with the Redwoods of California. They were giants whose roots were incredibly deep in the Bible, and whose branches reached to the heavens, and whose trunks were so strong and durable they could endure forest fires that scar them but don't kill them. But then Packer looks out over the pragmatic American landscape of our quick fixes for life's problems and our impatience with depth and complexity and

14 http://www.southwoodsbc.org/sermons/romans_06.01-04.php Phil Newell

15 There are five parts ttp://www.ccel.org/ccel/newell/romans.vii.html

There are five parts to our salvation:    1. Christ’s propitiatory work toward God through His blood: bearing the guilt and condemnation of our sins.    2. Christ’s identification with us as connected with Adam, “becoming sin for us,” releasing us from Adam,

our federal head: “our old man” being crucified with Christ.    3. The Holy Spirit’s whole work in us, as “the Spirit of grace,” involving conviction, regeneration, baptism

into Christ’s Body; being in us as a “law of life” against indwelling sin, the Witness of our sonship; our Helper, Intercessor, and, finally, the mighty Agent in the Rapture.

   4. Christ’s present work in Heaven; leading our worship and praise as our Great High Priest; and protecting us should we sin, as our Advocate with the Father (as against our accuser).

   5. Christ’s second coming to redeem our bodies, and receive us to Himself in glory: The Rapture.16 HCG Moule (#7)

pain, and says, "Affluence seems for the past generation to have been making dwarfs and deadheads of us all.1 17

Here's the difference between the pragmatists and the Puritans: pragmatists do not have the patience to sink the roots of hospitality and brotherly kindness and authentic love in the deep rock of Romans 6-8. We want to jump straight from justification to the practical application of chapter 12. Just give us a list. Tell us what to do. Fix the problem at the immediate surface level, so it goes away. But the Puritans were different. They looked at the book of Romans and saw that life is built another way. Being a sage, being a Redwood, being unshakable in storm and useful in times of indescribable suffering – that does not come quickly or easily. Romans is not two chapters long. It is 16 chapters long. It does not skip from chapter 5 to 12. It leads us down deep into the roots of godliness, so that when we come up, we are not people with lists, but people with unshakable life and strength and holiness and wisdom and love.

17 http://www.soundofgrace.com/piper2k/9-24-00.htm. J. I. Packer, Quest for Godliness (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1990), p. 11-12.