Romans: Session 9 – Set Free from Sin to Serve Righteousness

Notes:

Set Free From Sin To Serve Righteousness – Rom.6:13-23    See Session Slides Here

Summary: Romans Chapters 3-5 = Christ died for our sins. Rom.6:10 = Christ died to sin, i.e. the realm in which sin, the law and death reigned. We have been delivered from sin’s penalty and power.

 Two things that will bring us back into bondage to sin:

1) Choosing to (Rom. 6:15-23)

Rom. 6:12. “Let not sin reign in your mortal bodies.” He does not say “in you” but “in your mortal bodies”.

Rom. 6:13. How can sin still reign in our bodies? By presenting our bodily members unto sin for sin to use, as “instruments of unrighteousness.” See Rom. 6:16. We serve the one to whom we hand ourselves over.

2) Legalism (Rom. 7:1-25)

Rom. 6:14. When Paul says, “Sin shall not have dominion over you” this is not a command, it is a fact; it is promised! Why? Because you are not under law, but under grace.

What if I choose to live in sin? There are consequences for choosing to live in sin:

a) Sin Will Make You a Slave

  • Rom. 6:16. Freedom is not being free to do what we want to do. That’s bondage.
  • Humans will always serve one master or another. Either we will serve God or sin.
  • And we become slaves to the one we hand ourselves over to.
  • A slave is in the total grip of the master. Whenever a person chooses to sin he is no longer in control of what will take place. That’s the deceptive power of sin. It makes you think you are getting what you want. But you lose control the moment you give yourself over to its power.
  • Rom. 6:17. Believers are delivered over to a form of teaching in the Gospel of grace: they are forgiven all their sins; they died with Christ; their history in Adam is entirely ended before God; they now share the risen life of Christ, they are the righteousness of God in Him, they are dead to sin and alive to God, empowered by His grace. And all believers are included in these great truths, whether they understand them or not! It is the duty of every Bible teacher to teach these glorious truths as priority, i.e. foundational. This is the form of doctrine to which believers have been handed over by God.
  • Rom. 6:18-19. Real freedom does not exist outside of being one with Christ. It is like flying a kite. The kite’s freedom to fly is related to the string to which it is attached. If the string is cut the kite will crash to the earth. The string, which seems to bind it, gives it the ability to fly. Our freedom is in being held tightly in the grip of God’s grace.

b) Sin Will Lead To Shame

  • Rom. 6:21a. Each of us has shameful things in our past which, thankfully, God has forgiven and forgotten. Shame is replaced with glory.
  • 2 Pet.2:20. Why, then, like a dog returning to its vomit would we go back to these shameful things? Grace does not take us back to shame but forward to glory.

c) Sin Will End In Death

  • Rom. 6:21b&23a. Sin and death are inseparable. It is a law as certain as the law of gravity.
  • Sin kills joy, peace, dreams, relationships, etc.
  • What fruit did we have from sin? None.
  • In Rom. 6:21-22, “the end” of two paths is seen: one is death; the other, eternal life.
  • The purpose of our justification was not so that we might live in slavery to sin, shame and death; but to give us freedom, bring us to glory and so that we might experience life.



# Answers to this quiz are found in the notes above. Click on quiz to commence. Only correct spelling is recognised. A minimum 70%  correct is required to advance to the next session.