Sermon 15

Why We Cannot Live In Sin

Romans 6

The problem that many people have with the doctrine of eternal security is that they believe that it is an inherently dangerous doctrine opening the door to kinds of license and loose living. Romans 6 addresses that very issue.

We tell people to come to Christ "just as you are." "Come just as you are." "Just as I am, I come." But does the gospel allow people who come to Christ, to stay just as they are? Can you embrace Jesus Christ and then live like a heathen?

Romans 5 was about justification. Paul has explained that salvation is by grace through faith alone in Jesus Christ. In response to man's desperate and dire need, God reached down and offered him full pardon through the finished work of Jesus Christ. The work of Christ was so complete that the grace of God more than exceeds the worst of sin. The eternal security that we have is based on the fact that our salvation does not depend upon us; it is entirely God and His grace that saved us and keeps us saved. You didn't do anything to be saved. You do have to do anything to keep yourself saved. Marriage may be 50/50. Major medical may be 80/20. But eternal life is 100% God!

In Romans 6, Paul speaks to the matter of the believer's holiness. This is the doctrine of sanctification. Romans 6 deals with how we are to live after we are saved (sanctification). What Paul is going to say is that a saved man does not have to be controlled by external rules, he is controlled by the internal presence of the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, a truly saved person has been changed, transformed. Holiness in the present is as much a part of salvation as heaven in the future is. Christians, today, need to learn about sanctification, the present form of salvation.

Sanctification means "to be set apart". This building was sanctified. It was set apart to be used strictly for the Lord's work. It would be disgraceful to occasionally use this building as a pool hall. Those who are saved are also sanctified. They have be set apart for the Lord. The Greek word for sanctify is the same as the word for holiness. We have been made holy. The Bible does not teach that sanctification is a second blessing that comes sometime after salvation along with the gift of the Spirit. The Bible teaches that to be saved is to be sanctified. Theologians call this "positional sanctification". "Practical sanctification" is the living out what you have experienced. Romans 6 deals with both positional and practical sanctification.

Salvation comes to us in 3 tenses: past, present, and future. I have been saved - the past. I am being saved - the present. I will ultimately be saved - the future. Salvation in the past tense is justification (Romans 5). Salvation in the present tense is sanctification (Romans 6-7). Salvation in the future tense is glorification (Romans 8). So, as we begin Romans 6, keep in mind that we are looking at salvation in the present tense or sanctification.

Romans 6 is like an apple which can easily be divided into two equal halves. This chapter tells us 2 reasons why salvation is not a license to live in sin - habitual sin (1-14) or occasional sin (15-22).

Because We Are Dead To Sin Ad Alive Unto God, vs. 1-14.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Paul anticipates that question that he is going to face having expressed that salvation is by grace through faith alone and is secure. So he deals with the question before it is actually asked. He deals with it as a hypothetical question. "If the more I sin the more grace I receive, I'm going to sin like mad so God can receive more glory by giving me more grace."

The word for "continue" means to abide, to remain, to stay. In Acts 15:34 it is translated "abide" and has the idea of taking up residence or living. Having been an ungodly sinner who were saved by grace, shall we live in the house of sin?

Paul is posing a theological question. Is there any connection between justification and sanctification? Can a person be saved yet continue in the same pattern of sinfulness? Is it possible for Christ to come into our lives with there being any other change? Is salvation addition (adding Christ to our life of sin) or transformation? Can there be no fruit of holiness and a person still have been saved? (see Hebrews 12:14; II Corinthians 5:17). Does eternal security mean that we can keep on living in sin? Can their Biblically be homosexuals for Christ? Can someone living in adultery stay their after salvation?

"God forbid". This is a very emphatic statement, the strongest possible negative response in the Greek language. My Grandmother might have said, "Perish the thought!" My daughters would say, "No way!" "May it never be!" The very suggestion that a believer could continue in habitual sin is something which the apostle Paul abhors. It is not only impermissible, it is impossible! Why?

"How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" This statement in the form of a question, is the premise of the whole chapter. Paul's argument is that the reason why we cannot continue in sin is because when we were saved we died to sin and were made alive to Christ.

The explanation is given is vs. 3-10. Salvation by grace is not a license to sin. We cannot live in sin because we are dead to sin. Christ was crucified, he died, was buried, and rose again. As believers we are 1 with Christ (crucified, 6; dead, 8; raised, 4-5). Therefore, we must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive unto God through Christ, v.11.

Dead men don't sin. Show lewd pictures to a corpse and see if he lusts; start a slanderous story in a cemetery and see how far it goes.

That does not mean that we cannot sin, or that we cannot be touched by sin. Rather it means that we do not live in the realm of sin. The unsaved live in the realm that is dominated by sin, Romans 6:17, Ephesians 2:2; Colossians 1:13; Acts 26:18. At salvation we were joined with Christ. Christ moved us (Colossians 1:13) from the realm governed by sin, to the realm governed by God.

This is pictured by our baptism, vs. 3-5. These verses do not teach that we are saved by water baptism. That would contradict, everything which Paul has already said. Nor do they refer to some kind of spirit baptism. Paul simply uses water baptism as a picture of our union with Christ. Baptism is to salvation what a wedding band is to marriage. It is an outward identification of what we have done. It is a picture, a visible representation.

We got out of the realm of sin, but sin hasn't gotten completely our of us yet, Romans 7. Because we no longer live in the realm of sin, we cannot allow sin to dominate our lives.

The practical application comes in vs. 11-14. These things indicate my personal responsibility concerning holiness. Our position is dead to sin. Here, is practical sanctification. Vs. 11 - Reckon (consider) yourselves dead to sin and alive unto God through Christ. Vs.12 - Refuse to allow sin to dominate your life. Vs. 13-14 - Yield your body and its parts to God.

The development of vs. 15-23 closely parallels or mirrors the vs. 1-14. This section speaks more about occasional sin that habitual sin. It gives the second reason why eternal salvation is not an excuse to sin.

Because We Are Free From Sin And Have Become The Servants Of Righteousness, vs. 15-23.

As in verse 1, this is the anticipated question of those who say that we must obey in order to stay saved and those who say that eternal security is license to a life of sin. "Shall we sin, because we are not under the law but under grace?" Is eternal security a license to occasionally sin?

The answer is in v. 15b. As in verse 2, the answer is "God forbid!" The strongest possible negative response in the Greek language. May it never be!"

The phrase "Know ye not ..." indicates an axiom. An axiom is a general truth that is so self-evident it needs no proof. The illustration of a master and a servant is obvious... whatever you yield to becomes your master. Thus, by yielding to sin, we become the slave of sin which results in death. But if we yield ourselves to obedience, we become an obedient servant of God which results in righteousness.

Explaining The Two Slaveries, vs.17-22.

1. Our Position, 17-18.

Before you were saved you were a slave of sin. But, thanks to God, having obeyed from the heart the teaching which was committed unto you, you have been freed from sin and have become the servants of righteousness.

The lost person thinks that salvation enslaves one to rules (shoulds, oughts, musts) and that sin liberates. However, the opposite is what is really true. The prodigal son wanted freedom. He thought he could be free by leaving his father and controlling his own life. But his rebellion led him into slavery. He was the slave of wrong desires, of wrong deeds, eventually a slave to someone else, feeding his hogs and eating what they turned their nose up at. He wanted to find himself, but he lost himself. What he thought was freedom turned out to be the worst kind of slavery. At last he discovered that being a servant for his father was a better life than being in control of himself. That's an important discovery which we all need to make! Sin does not free us, it enslaves us. Salvation does not enslave us, it liberates us.

Sin = guest ® friend ® servant ® master ® tyrant ® destroyer.

2. Our Practice, v. 19.

This verse suggests that we ought to be as enthusiastic in yielding to the Lord as we were in yielding to sin. "I ought to be as good a saint as I was a sinner!" Our lives ought to correspond with our new nature. Our practice should line up with our position. Freedom from sin does not mean that we are not capable of sinning, but that we are no longer enslaved by sin. We are no longer the helpless subject of sin, we can resist, we can refuse, we can say no and we ought too!

3. Our Promise, vs. 20-22.

In the past, when we were the slaves of sin, we were not connected in any way to righteousness, v. 20. What benefit was a life of sin? Now that we are saved we are ashamed of the life we once lived, v. 21. But there is a benefit of having been made free from sin and having become a servant to God. It results in holiness and will everlasting life, v. 22. Do you see what that verse says? The fruit of salvation is not just heaven in the future, it is holiness now! If there is no holiness, then there was no salvation (Hebrews 12:14).

4. The Absolutes, v. 23.

This verse expresses two undeniable absolutes.

First, the wages is sin is death. Death is earned. It is the wages, the just and rightful compensation for a life of sin. The second absolute is that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Eternal life is not earned. It is a gift. It is a gift from God. It is a gift from God through our Jesus Christ our Lord.