Romans 6:5–14Scripture
We continue this morning in Romans, and let's turn there together. We have made a turn, we are in chapter 6, and today we're looking at verses 5 through 11. I will probably go ahead and read all the way through 14. I know we're going to talk about that, mainly 12 through 14, next week, but I feel like it's fitting for us to throw those last three verses in, and then we can read them twice, right? I think that's not a bad thing. And so I'm going to read this real quick, and then I just want to visit with you this morning, maybe mention a few things for us to consider.
Point 1United with Christ in a death like his
Romans 6, verse 5: "For if we have been united with him in a death like his," this is key to the gospel, we're united with him, Christ Jesus, "in a death like his," let's talk about that for just a minute before we read the rest of this. Here's what his death was like: he died innocent. Okay, he died without sin, and he overcame sin, and he overcame the grave, and he overcame death, right? That's a death like his, a death without sin, a death without being in bondage to sin.
And we're united to that type of death. In other words, what's different about Christ's death and our death is that we all have sinned, but if we're united in Christ's death where he had no sin, then that means when we come back to life, we come back to life without sin reigning in our mortal bodies. Does that make sense? That's important. It is not just simply that he died, it is that he died without sin, so now our sin is dealt with if we're united with him in his death. So that's important for you. "We'd be united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 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." That's exciting.
I don't have to be in bondage to sin. "For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.
We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him." And because we're in him, guess what? Death no longer has dominion over us as well. "For the death he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives to God.
The same applies to you. You've died to sin, and the life you now live, you live to God, not to sin. That's the gospel.
Not that we died to sin partly and we live to Christ now as believers partly and to sin partly. It's not what it says.
"So you must also consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you." That's the promise. That's the promise this Easter.
That's a good promise. It's amazing today, on Easter, how many people don't believe that promise, and we celebrate him.
We wish upon a star, but we do not believe this promise, and yet Easter then is lost on us, because this is what Easter is about.
It's life-changing. It's life-giving. "For sin will no longer have dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace." Now,
Point 2Christianity is a journey, not an arrival
What is so challenging today in America, specifically, just America, I've been to different parts of the world, and let me tell you, different parts of the world don't think like American people think. We are a unique breed, and in some ways good, in some ways, Lord help us, right? We have issues. We have predisposed ways of thinking. Really, quite honestly, if I were to encapsulate the way that an American thinks, it is very much destinational. In other words, we are all about acquiring, or acquisition. It is, I have arrived somewhere. So everything in our language and our communication is about arrival.
The journey is a misery to us. It's simply, how do we get from point A to point B as quickly as possible? Matter of fact, it isn't even point A to point B, it's point A to point Z without having to take steps B, C, D, E, F, G. Just, I want "Beam me up, Scotty," or I want to take an elevator ride up to the top. Let's see if Z is at the top. I just want to, I don't even want to take the steps, I just want to go straight up by hitting a button to the top. There is no step, there is no journey, I simply want to acquire the destination. We do this in our jobs, we do this in athletics. Young people go into the workforce today, this is just a fact, sorry, it's not personal, it's just the way it is, but young people today, because of social media and the way that technology works and the way that media works, young people go to a job expecting to be the CEO in a month with no expectation to work from the ground up. Not every young person, but most of them, I would say. That this even affects middle-aged people today. People my age, 45 years old, they have an expectation of arrival. The moment they arrive, they want to be somewhere, be somebody, have a name, make a name for themselves, and they expect to do this without much work. This then comes into the life of us in the church, the way we think about Christ, the way we think about God, the way we think about our walk with him as we journey through life. We think in terms of Christianese, acquisitionally and arrival. So when I come in the church, I want to arrive and be somewhere completed, finished, 100% on all there.
But nowhere in the Bible does it speak of arrival in these terms. It is a journey. How many of you know that life is a journey, and although we sometimes are unsatisfied that we have not yet arrived, in the first century world, Christians did not call themselves Christians. We call ourselves Christians.
In the first century church, Christians would never have been audacious enough to speak in terms of arrival, because Christianity speaks to who we are, not who we're becoming. And so the words they would use to describe themselves in the first century church, in the first century, is "Christian,"
Which means we are followers of the way of Christ, or another way of saying it would be we are followers along the way of Christ, or we follow Christ on the way. They are on the way to get somewhere. They are on the way, they are in Christ on the way to being like Christ. They would speak in terms of the process. If you've lived any amount of time, you know that life is a process. When we come to Easter and we celebrate the goodness of God and what he's accomplished on the cross, and we think in terms of arrival, but ladies and gentlemen, we are in process still, and it's important to understand that. It's important. And any bit of us that looks like Christ is because we are united in his death and resurrection. It is not because of who we are and what we do in our own strength. Amen. We are only who we are and we only do what we do in the sense of righteousness because of our union with him, not because of our strength, not because of our goodness. How many of you know you're not so good? The words we use here, if you're a visitor today, is we talk in terms of how filthy rats we are, and how unfaithful the church tends to be, rats and prostitutes. But God saves rats, and he saves prostitutes, and he does it in spite of the way we treat him. That's the gospel.
It is not that we are good, but it is that he is good. It is not that we become good, it's that we're hidden in his goodness.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 10:30
Anything we are is because we are hidden in him and his death and his resurrection. Now, I want to do this real quick, and then I want to break this down, this section of Scripture, into maybe three points. We'll see how it goes, I might only get through it with one point, but here it is. The entire book of Romans, you need to know this before we go on today, this is important, it's a little teaching moment: the entire book of Romans is not meant to be broken down the way we're doing it and read in part each week.
It is meant to be read in its entirety before a group of people. So you're like, why don't we do that? It's a good question.
But because we're not doing that, and because we're reading through it each week in part, it is important that we keep the main thing the main thing. And here's what Romans is about, and you write this down, and you may think you already know this, but you'll find that you forget about this when you go to the next set of verses, because you start applying Scripture improperly. I hear it in conversations in small groups. It kind of freaks me out a little
Point 3Romans is about justification, not our effort
Bit, because I hear in conversations that we've lost the main point.
And here's the main point: the entire book of Romans is about justification.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 12:07
It's making you right in the sight of God. All right, it is making you right in his sight. That's the best way I could say it. It's making you, who are full of sin, united in Jesus' death, that sin might be dealt with in your life. And the reason why it's all about justification is that we might then be united in a right relationship with God again, because he can't be in relationship with people who have sinned. So we are justified through Christ, we are made right in his sight. That's what this is all about. And honestly, ladies and gentlemen, this is a work of God that no man can boast in.
This is not what you do. This is not what you do. This is not what you do. It's what he did.
If you miss that, you will begin, even in the Scripture we read today, begin to make it about you and techniques and processes and steps by which you can live a life that you could never live if it were not for Christ.
This is not about you. He did it, that no one could boast.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 13:38
So don't you dare, in your conversation, in a small group, start boasting about the things you're doing for God. Don't you dare, because you undermine the entire book of Romans. Let me break this down for you. Up till now, chapter 1, if I were to summarize that, it's all about justification, but chapter 1 is the Gentiles are in need of justification because they are sinful and they are without the law. That's what chapter 1 is about. Chapter 2, the Jews are in need of justification because they are sinful and they're under the law and they have the law. So people are sinful without the law, and people are sinful under the law. People are just sinful. And in case you don't get it from those two groups of people, then in chapter 3, all men are sinful and in need of justification. We also see that God, in chapter 3, we begin to see a picture of God making a way for all men to be justified in the person and work of Jesus Christ. It is the only way to salvation. Chapter 4, we see that justification is applied to us then by faith alone, not in works, that no man can boast, and it is a gift of God.
Faith is not something you do. It's not something you contrive. It's not a set of prayers. It's not a set of incantations. God gifts it, that you can't take credit for it.
He gifts it, he gifts it. We move on then to chapter 5 through 8. Chapter 5 through 8 is the application of justification. Here's dangerous, this is dangerous, because we can begin to now, in chapter 5 through 8, begin to think about how we apply that, what's been accomplished in us, which is justification. Listen, you, a dead man can't save himself. A dead man is made alive by something greater than a dead man, and it's God, and only God calls out dead things from the grave.
You were dead in sin and trespasses, you were dead, he raised you to life by the gift of faith, that no man can boast. And then he begins to talk about how then this justification is worked out in our lives, application. Now, if we're not careful, and honestly, in other words, that they use in the church is sanctification. It's justification, then sanctification, right? That's what he's talking about. And if we're not careful, we can forget that justification didn't happen by us and begin to think that sanctification doesn't happen, that happens by us and not God, and begin to try to work our way to be living sanctified lives.
That's not the way it works. There are, in a lot of different articles, there are two different ways, there's a way that people tend to look at the world. One is, and Romans talks about this, there's a phrase, and you can look this up, called federal headship. What is federal headship?
It is whatever happens to the leader of a country, to the leader of a nation, whatever decrees that leader of a nation decrees affects the whole nation. Are you with me? If someone goes to war against the federal headship, if someone declares war against a president, against a king in a monarchy, then the whole nation then is at war. It is not just the king that is at war, it is not just the president that is at war, it is everyone under the federal headship of that land. Some like to think in terms of this when they think of Adam and they think of Christ. It says of Adam that Adam sinned, therefore everyone in the land is born into sin.
Yet the good news of the gospel is because Jesus died without sin, and he is referred to as the second Adam, we have a new federal headship when we are, listen, and you know how we get into this thing with Adam, how we're born into sin, we're born into it, you're birthed into it. Guess how you're birthed into the new federal headship with Christ? Your new birth. Okay, and this is good news, because as the leader is, so are you.
So when we are united in Christ's death and in his resurrection, we have new federal headship. That means the things that happen in the land and the people that live in the land function different under this leader, because as the federal headship goes, so the nation goes. As that kingdom goes, as that king in the kingdom goes, so the whole kingdom goes. Are you with me today? And so if we functioned under Adam, slave to sin, then if we're born into Christ, we will function as if sin does not reign over our mortal bodies any longer. Are you with me? That's the way it works.
We are justified, we are made new, we have a new commander-in-chief. The Bible says Lord, the Bible says King, king of kings and Lord of lords. We then see in here in chapter 6 that justification grants the believer victory over sin. This is problematic for a lot of people as they wrestle theologically. We have victory over sin both, we talked about this earlier, a few months ago, eschatologically, that means in heaven, post-death, here on earth, one day when the Lord returns and he puts things right on the earth, when you die and you go to heaven, that's eschatologically. But also, this is very important, chapter 6 does not just speak eschatologically about sin, it also speaks about what sin can and can't do, how it will not rule over the life of a believer here and now. Both. Both.
Let me tell you why it's difficult for us, this section, because this goes to the heart of our understanding of the gospel, and we have warped, we have a warped understanding of the gospel. I believe today, I really do, I can speak confidently about this because I have had a warped understanding of the gospel for years.
But listen, you cannot be in God's Word any amount of time and not get a sense that this is God's work.
Point 4The gospel announces what Christ accomplished
Our culture, we do not understand what the gospel is, we do not understand what the gospel requires, we do not understand what the gospel produces in the life of a believer. We don't speak gospel language, and we have a hard time understanding sanctification because we don't understand justification. When you ask people what the gospel is, and I have done that this week, here are some of the answers you will receive, these are facts from my personal case study: most people will immediately give you a plan of salvation. For some of you here today, you're like, that sounds fitting, that is what the gospel is. They give you what is referred to in the church, if you've been in the church any amount of time, the Roman Road to salvation, or here's another plan that they will give you as they talk about the gospel, the ABCs of salvation: you accept, you believe, and you confess. Ladies and gentlemen, that is not the gospel.
The problem with the church today is we don't know the gospel.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 22:45
We don't understand it.
The gospel is an announcement of what Christ has accomplished. It is not an announcement of the steps you need to take to enter into that.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 23:13
Are you with me today? But the problem in the church today is we come to Easter, and I've done this in our church, the first years of our church, in ignorance, and I'm all about calling people to respond to the gospel. The problem is, if you're calling them to respond and you're not preaching the gospel, you're calling them to respond to a false gospel. Are you with me? We are obligated to call people to respond to the gospel, and the gospel is celebrating the redemptive work that Christ accomplished. It's what Christ accomplished.
I've known people who stood, and we would have Easter services and 22 people would stand and pray a prayer, give their life to Christ, two years later I was having dinner with one man, he didn't even know who Jesus was. How does that happen? Because we don't preach the gospel, we preach the ABCs.
We preach the Roman Road, we don't preach Jesus, and it's a shame. And so as we move into chapter 6, we begin to see the sanctification of a life of a believer. We can only understand that under our understanding of what justification is, and we can only understand justification if we know who Christ is and what he's accomplished. So sometimes we move on to sanctification before we even know the gospel, so we have a bunch of people, listen, who are living like Christians but are still traveling on a speedway to hell regardless of the way they live, because you're not saved by outer works, you're saved by what Christ accomplished and being united with him.
If we get the gospel wrong, if we get justification wrong, then we're certainly going to get sanctification wrong. If you ask most people how they come to be in a right relationship with God, you will hear phrases like these. How did you come to be in a right relationship with God? They will say, "I made a decision for Christ." They will say, "I invited Jesus into my heart." P.S., he don't live there.
He sat down at the right hand of the Father, and he don't live in your heart. It's cool, it's cute, it's fun to say to kids, but it ain't biblical.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 26:10
Are you with me today? Happy Easter. Why is this important? This is important because, let me tell you how people are saved. They're not saved by cute phrases you develop that make people feel good inside. People are saved by the preaching of the gospel, and if you're not preaching the gospel, people aren't getting saved. They might stand, and they might pray a prayer and ask Jesus into their heart, but that ain't the gospel.
Are you with me? Matter of fact, what happens is you receive the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and you're actually hidden in Christ. It is you that is in Christ, not Christ well, not Jesus that is in you. Christ, the anointing, Christ was in Jesus' last name, it was the fact that he was chosen and anointed, and now we have the anointing because we're, but anyway, that's too theological. But you, Jesus sat down on the right hand of the Father, he's finished his work, and now we are indwelt with God's Spirit, and we're hidden in Christ. It is us that is hidden in him. Lastly, people, how did you come into a right relationship with God? You'll hear things like, "I have decided to follow Jesus," "I gave my life to Christ."
It's like what I would refer to as Frank Sinatra salvation: I did it my way.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 27:41
I invited, I gave, I surrendered, I serve, I did this, I sacrificed, I died, I die daily.
I. This is not the gospel. The gospel is him. He. Christ died. God gave.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 28:09
Jesus committed himself to righteousness.
God gives faith. God justifies those that are united in Christ.
God, Christ, Spirit, he, him, they. That's the gospel. That's the gospel.
In case you didn't know, the "I" is hidden in him. The "I" is hidden in him. In other words, justification is achieved by doing something to get in right relationship with God. To many people today, it's what is referred to as Arminian understanding. And listen, we have people here today that are Arminian and people that are Calvinists. We have people that are Reformed and we have people that are charismatic. We have people from all branches and all walks of life. But I will challenge, although I grew up Arminian, I will challenge one thing in regards to this position, is that sometimes Arminian people, and I grew from this is steeped in me, I have been blessed by this tradition, Arminians have a way of making it about them and their service and forgetting about Christ. I remember sitting in classes where they said the Nazarene church has a corner on holiness. I thought Jesus did. Are you with me today? And whatever tradition you're a part of, whatever theological position you hold, whatever theological perspective you lean to, understand this morning: it is not about you.
The gospel is about Christ. P.S., Easter is not about you.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 30:39
Easter is not a photo op so you can see your cute family, although that's a big part of what Easter has become. We asked for the photos, we've played the photos, and I know that sounds weird, but I think it's important for us to understand, some of us are so concerned about our outfit that we forget about Jesus.
It's not a photo op, it's not a time for you get candy, it's not about you, it's about him. It's about him.
He is the miracle. When we pray about miracles, I know we shout because we say he's a miracle-working God, and we're thinking about the things he's going to do for me, ladies and gentlemen,
He is a miracle. He is the miracle. He is everything you need, plus some.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 31:41
And so if you're mine, when we talk about the miraculous, goes to what you're going to get in the temporal, know that if you have Christ, you have everything you need in the temporal. But the reason why even our worship on Easter is affected by us is because many of us don't really come to celebrate Jesus on Easter, we come to celebrate us. It's synergism.
In other words, there are some people who believe that really it's two forces working together. It wasn't God who accomplished this on Calvary's cross, it wasn't God who gifted it wasn't Christ who died, it was us who worked together with God to make salvation happen. Listen, ladies and gentlemen, you were dead and he raised you from the dead and he set you free from the thing that made you dead, which was sin, and he did all of that because he chose to, because he's good, because he's God, that no man can boast. And it is amazing we can take that and then begin to try to say, "Well, it wasn't for me being dead and choosing you, you wouldn't have the benefit of me in your kingdom." It's not about you, it's about him. I love this.
Loraine Boettner, it's a guy, Loraine Boettner, B-O-E-T-T-N-E-R, wrote a book about the doctrine of predestination. I love this. He says, and I quote, "The two great springs by which men are moved are, on the one hand, conviction and idea, and on the other, emotion and sentiment. As these control, so the moral character shall be shaped." If we believe that we are saved by you deciding, by you committing, by you giving, by you opening, by you sacrificing, by you surrendering, then what are we to believe when we move in Romans from justification to sanctification? We must then believe sanctification is accomplished by you deciding, by you committing, by you giving, by you opening, by you sacrificing, by you continuing to die, for it is your death who gains victory after all, right?
If you get justification wrong, you get it all wrong. If you get the gospel wrong, what are we doing on Sundays?
Pastor Shawn Gray · 34:53
On the other hand, believing that salvation is a monergistic work changes the way we evangelize the world. Then doesn't it?
Because when we no longer have to manipulate a man into making a choice, we then, according to his Word, do what the Word says: we evangelize through clear preaching of the gospel, because that's what God uses, not your plans, not your agendas, not your lights, not your worship, not your excitement, not the goosebumps that can be contrived by men. Every goosebump you feel is not the Holy Spirit wafting by.
I have seen carnal men move godly men to goosebumps. That cannot be the standard by which we determine if God is in the room.
God is always in the room, and you live and you move and you have your being in him. Where can you go to escape the eyes of God?
That's the gospel. It also affects how you help people deal with sin. If you have an angry person and you think it's you plus God who saves, you plus Christ that saves and sanctifies, then how do you stop being angry? You give counsel and you tell somebody, buy a punching bag so you'll stop using your wife as one, and you encourage them to punch the punching bag instead of their wife. It's a step, it's a way to deal with and cope with that which the gospel says should not reign in you any longer. What in the world?
We're preaching another gospel. Preaching another gospel.
Romans 6:5-14. As we read this, every time you see "death" or "dead," I'm reading out of the ESV, so you're going to be able to participate in this maybe a little bit more than the NIV or the other ones. We're not insulting your translation, it is what it is, and they choose different words, but if you see it, participate. ESV will be more vocal than the rest. Romans 6:5-15, every time you see "death"
Or "dead," would you say it aloud with me? All right. "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!
How can we who died to sin still live in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. 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. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under the law but under grace." Listen, it's black and white. It's facts, and it's the way it is. It's truth. Truth. If you're in him, you've died to sin.
That's what the gospel says.
But if you think your salvation is about you, then you're going to try to relive what you read here in your strength, and you will live a miserable life, because you can't.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 40:36
You can't. Only he does this kind of work in the life of an individual. Only God can do this. That's the gospel.
That's the gospel. If you were to read it again, maybe you do this in your own pastime, because I'm running out of time, is this: read that again, but the next time you read it, also read it with an understanding and thinking about "in him," and say that out loud, and "in Christ," and "life," and "living," "in him," "in Christ," and "life." Read that out loud every time you read the word "death." It's shocking. It's shocking.
Point 5Victory over sin is impossible apart from Christ
Real quick, three minutes. What is he saying in this? We, victory over sin is impossible for those in Adam. It's impossible. It's not likely, it's not possibly likely, it's not maybe they can, it's impossible.
They are dead. They are incapable of living a life without being in bondage to sin. It is impossible.
Death had dominion over us because we were enslaved to sin. We were born into Adam. Death and sin are co-regents. This is the lot of life for everyone born into this world that is not in Christ. They are in bondage to sin, and sin has dominion and reigns and rules and keeps people dead. It is impossible to please God apart from new birth.
I thought about this because I was watching a dinosaur movie the other day. There are other herbivores in the world today, but I think in terms, when I hear "herbivore," I think dinosaurs immediately. A cow is a herbivore. Let's bring this to our land, shall we? Let's talk about cows. Can a herbivore, a cow, eat meat? Yes. Will a herbivore, a cow, eat meat? No. Why?
Because it is contrary to its nature. Do you hear what is being said here?
You were made new, you are given a new nature. When we're united to one who has a completely different nature, you now, in his death, are like him. You are, in essence, it is as big of a difference from being carnivorous, to being carnal, to being focused on fleshly things, to now being a herbivore.
It is not now that you can't eat meat, it is that you simply won't, because you're not the same.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 44:23
It's against your nature.
That's what the gospel is. He makes you new. "Well, what about free will?" A cow can eat meat, but a cow won't eat meat because it's against his nature. It has the freedom to eat meat, it just doesn't want it. Are you with me today? That's the gospel. I know it makes people uncomfortable, and it doesn't make for a great and fun and exciting Easter service, but we should celebrate this, and this is what we should be shouting about: he made us new.
That's what we celebrate today, yet instead of preaching the gospel, we preach a permissive word that allows people to stay in bondage to sin regardless of their new nature, and we call that Easter service,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 45:12
and that's a problem. That's a problem. He made you new. Romans 8:5-8. Thank you, J.R., because I might never get off here, but thank you, I appreciate you doing that. Romans 8:5-8: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit." Black and white. "For to set the mind on the flesh is death," you're no longer dead because of sin if you're in Christ, "but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
This is the danger of preaching moralism. It is easy to preach a gospel that makes people feel better about themselves on their way to hell, but that doesn't save.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 46:37
If you've not been born again, it is impossible to please God. This is a gift of God that no man can boast in. Two: victory over sin is inevitable for those in Christ. It is inevitable. Matter of fact, you can take it to the bank and count on it. Victory over sin, not only in this life, but being delivered from the presence of sin eschatologically when we get to heaven. Both now and then, we will experience victory over sin.
Read it in Romans again, I don't have time. Here's another one, Romans 6:1-2: "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" How can this even be possible for those who are dead in sin? How can they still live in it? I'll tell you how: they can't.
First John 3:4-9: "Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God." Does that mean that we won't sin? Oh, you'll probably sin, but you won't make a practice of it. Or you'll probably sin, but you won't continue in it without consent, concern, or care. Oh, you might get a little worm in a lot of your grass, but it doesn't mean you were going for the worm.
Matter of fact,
I would say if you're made new, you spit the worm out and you keep eating the other stuff, because you're made new and you desire new things,
Pastor Shawn Gray · 49:13
and that which used to satisfy now is putrefying to you, and you spit it out as soon as it hits your tongue, because you're not the same.
This makes us uncomfortable because we have to wrestle with the idea that we cannot do this in our own strength.
We have to be made new. Ladies and gentlemen, the concern about you not being able to do this is what makes you turn to the only one who can help you have victory in it. Yeah, we talk people out of concern to make them comfortable, instead of letting people be concerned so that they can become holy, and we call it church, and ladies and gentlemen, it is not church. It is a cult. It is not the gospel. It is a false gospel. I love Philippians 1:6: "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."
Guess what? God starts the work, and he brings it to completion. Notice you weren't in that paragraph.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 50:23
It is God's work, ladies and gentlemen, and we can argue all day long, but I have a lot of resources in the Bible that will disagree. Do not so quickly forget your source of righteousness. Listen, and last thing: victory over sin is guaranteed by the work of Christ for believers today.
Here's the three hopes we have, and I don't have time, I'm going to say them quick, you're gonna have to go look it up. We have forensic hope, in other words, God declares us as righteous. We have eschatological hope, there means there is a time coming where I will be free from the very presence of sin. We do not hold an over-realized eschatology. I want to speak to this just for a second. What is an over-realized eschatology?
Where we as believers try to bring into today what is only meant for eternity. Poor theology tries to preach things that are meant for eternity and tell people that if they do this and this, they can move what is meant for eternity into their present. There are some things that are only meant for eternity and not for your present. One of them is your body ain't new.
Does God heal people when our body gets cancer? Does he do that? Yes. Does he do that as a gift, or does he do it because you touched your nose, stood on your head, and tapped your foot three times a certain way, and you prayed a right prayer, and so he granted it to you, so you, by your faithfulness, by your passion, by your prayer, moved healing from eternity down to earth because of you? No, it is a gift, and we don't know why God gives what he gives and holds back what he holds back.
Just know if you have Christ, you have all you need.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 52:48
And thirdly, temporal hope, and this is what I believe people lack the most today. We do not have hope that today we can have victory over sin here and now. But the same principle that gives you hope of resurrection gives you hope of righteousness in this text: "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. For one who has died has been set free from sin." Who died? Christ. Where were you when he died? In Christ.
"For the one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live in newness of life with him." When this said "newness of life," new creature, new nature. You used to be carnal, and now you're not.
You used to crave fleshly things, and now you don't, because he's made you new. That's the gospel. That's the promise.
Pastor Shawn Gray · 54:34
Don't dare, don't you dare this Easter, create a gospel that does not set you free, that you can be free indeed, because it is a false gospel, and it is nothing worth celebrating.
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