March 7th, 2004, Sunday Morning

"Dead to Sin"
Man's interpretation/reaction to being freed from sin's power and penalty upon being saved
Guest Speaker: Dirk Russell, Minister of Education, Village Parkway Baptist Church


OPENING: Romans 6:1-7


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INTRODUCTION: The phrase "true freedom" has different meanings to different people:

• Some say it's how the United States of America compares to the rest of the world
• Some say it's a combination of the U.S. Constitution and its Bill of Rights--defining man's inalienable rights and freedoms
• Some say it's freedom from law (lawlessness)
  
  
• In a Biblical context, perhaps "true freedom" is being forever free from the bondage of (being dead to) sin after being saved
  
  
• Freedom is handled in one of two ways:
  
  
  • A legislature passes laws to solve problems and regulate life so as not to fall into anarchy
    
    
    • Just look how thick the "tax code book" is to measure property tax
      
      
    • TESTIMONY: Preacher Russell recently bought a house with a "no deed" clause, meaning he's not allowed to make changes or modifications to his privately-owned home with city approval
    
    
  • Or the demand for lawlessness
    
    
    • The proliferation of U.S. states conducting gay marriage regardless that state law forbids it

SITUATION: (Romans 6:1-7)

• To be lost (not saved) is to be a "slave to sin": you live and cannot escape a daily sinful lifestyle (i.e., live-in boyfriend-girlfriend relationship, homosexuality or not knowing Christ as your personal Saviour)
  
  
• To become saved is to forever break that bondage sin has over you (i.e., you're a new person, dead to your past sinful lifestyle; we all still sin but it will be "accidental" vs. intentional)
  
  
• ISSUE: This "true freedom" from sin has been interpreted in three different ways
  
  
  • "Monasticism": those who believe in following strict rules/guidelines to remain holy and pure--separated from the world
    
    
    • Isaiah 64:6: This belief system is dispelled because living by the letter of the law (never having broken it) does not justify you in God's eyes (only being saved through Jesus Christ does)
      
      
    • However, while man cannot live to the standard of perfection, God does expect us to live according to the Bible--to be as sinless as possible
    
    
  • "Legalism": Those who restrict this "true freedom" by fencing it in with additional laws God didn't enact (i.e., Catholics have to perform the "Seven Sacraments")
    
    
    • 2 Timothy 1:9: This belief is dispelled because the Bible says we are saved solely by believing and trusting in Jesus Christ -- not by our own works and doings
    
    
  • "Antinomianism": That this "true freedom" from sin after being saved now means the law doesn't apply and therefore one can continue to live and commit infinite sin because the Bible says "where sin abounded, grace did much more abound" (Romans 5:20)--A GREAT ERROR
    
    
    • DANGER: Man believes because he's free from sin's bondage forever, sin is "not really a problem" and "the law doesn't apply" and is therefore content with imperfection because no matter how immoral or illegal he acts, God's grace covers him; While true, this is AN ABUSE AND MISUSE OF GOD'S GRACE TO COVER YOUR SIN
      
      
      • Voltaire, the French skeptic, and W.H. Auden, the English poet, both lived in the mindset, "I like sin and God forgives--it's the best of both worlds"
      
      
    • Romans 6:1-2: And this is exactly why Paul has to emphasize that just because the final sin of our life is already paid for doesn't mean we can continue to sin--immorally capitalizing on God's blank check of grace
      
      
      • Paul is making a theological (fact)--not moral (suggestive)--statement that when you become saved, you're a "new person" (2 Corinthians 5:17) who has just "died to sin"; Therefore, if you're dead to sin then you cannot live in or serve sin, thus your old lifestyle of sin ends and you life thereafter as sinless as possible

Romans 6:2: Paul speaks in past tense when he says we're "dead to sin"; Once saved, the power of sin over you is broken forever--both sin's POWER and PENALTY

• The legalist will argue he died to only its power and thus creates laws to curb the penalty; He is wrong
  
  
• The antinomian will argue he died to only the penalty and thus continues to sin liberally; he is wrong
  
  
• The monastic is on the right track if he focuses the source of his discipline and rule-following from the Bible--not the laws of man

HOW TO LIVE--BEING "DEAD TO SIN":

• 1 John 2:1: John confirms Paul's words that once you become saved, you have an obligation to live a life as holy and sinless as humanly possible
  
  
• The believer (saved) will still struggle with sin until life's end but has the advantage of defeating sin and preventing being overcome by its temptation (whereas the lost person cannot fight it because they are "held captive by sin"--its daily, repetitive lifestyle which cannot be defeated because they are a slave to it)
  
  
• Romans 6:3-4,6: Being baptized does not save you; It's an outward (public) acknowledgement of your inner belief: that just as Christ was crucified, buried and resurrected anew, so is your slavery to sin crucified forever

THE EFFECTS OF YOUR BODY OF SIN BEING CRUCIFIED:

• Romans 6:6: We're no longer slaves to sin, therefore we should no longer serve sin (i.e., willingly live the daily, sinful lifestyle)
  
  
• Sin, itself, it still alive in the world--just not in the saved person; Therefore, when the saved person sins, he is only abandoning his freedom with and weakening his new relationship with God

CLOSER

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Take the Bible at face value and don't attempt to further legalize or scientifically define/understand that:

• When you're a lost person, you're a slave to sin, held captive by it, living in it daily--it cannot be overcome or defeated
  
  
• When you become saved, your old self is crucified; You become a "new person" whose bondage to sin is broken, having the ability to overcome sin itself and its temptation
  
  
  • And with this new freedom from sin's penalty and power, you should shed your old, sinful lifestyle for that of a holy, sinless life

Matthew 12:36: Why live sinless now that you're saved from sin's penalty? Because Jesus said, "every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment."