2017-08-15

The New Life Order Under Grace - Freedom from Enslavement to Sin - Romans 6

Our sin tries to find loopholes in the Grace offer of new life and perpetuates its existence. It says let sin more that grace may abound. It also says let sin freely then since there is no law under grace! Paul gave the answers in Romans 6 and explain what grace is all about and our responsibilities.
Romans 6 mind-map:



The Content:
  • Shall we sin under grace?

    • Rom 6:1 Excuse#1 Sin to Glorify Grace!
      • What shall we say then?
      • Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?The expected answer is No.
      • Grace is given to overcome sin (see chapter 5), to save us from sin so we should not and need not sin to show grace power. Not sinning reveals grace power.
      • Similar Excuse is given in Rom 3:5,7 - My sin highlights God's righteousness, so I shouldn't be punished for my sin.

    • Rom 6:15 Excuse#2 Not Under Law, so free to sin.
      • What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.The answer is No. We shall not sin though we are no longer under the law.
        • Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.We are to use our freedom for good and not for evil. We are saved from evil and so we don't and shouldn't return back to evil again.
        • 1Pe 2:16 As free, and not using your liberty for a cloke of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
        • Jud 1:4 ... ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
        • Rom 7:7 -What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. 
        • Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
      • We have moved from the old order of the Law to the new order of Life under grace that we no longer are under sin enslavement to sin but under grace to live rightly and freely of from sinning. Rom 6:2-5 shows the how.

  • Death to Sin
    • Rom 6:2 God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
    • Rom 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
    • Rom 6:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death:
      • that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
      • even so we also should walk in newness of life.
    • The new life under grace comes first from death and then a rebirth of resurrection.
    • Ravi Zacharias. “Jesus Christ did not come to make bad people good, but to make dead people alive.”

  • New Life in ChristDeath to Life
    • Rom 6:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
      • we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
    • Rom 6:6 Knowing this,
        • that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
    • Rom 6:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
    • Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
    • Rom 6:9 Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.
    • Rom 6:10 For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.

  • We do the reckoning
    • Rom 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves
        • to be dead indeed unto sin,
        • but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
    • Rom 6:12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

  • We do the yield Not
    • Rom 6:13 Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

  • Before: Slavery to Sin
    • Rom 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.
    • Rom 6:15 What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
    • Rom 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?
    • Rom 6:17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
    • Rom 6:18 Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

  • Now: Servant of Righteousness
    • Rom 6:19 I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.
    • Rom 6:20 For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.
    • Rom 6:21 What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.
    • Rom 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

  • Grace is
    • Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

  • Summary
    • The Gospel of Grace is not about making bad man good but making dead people alive.
    • The old Order of Law reveals man sin and man inability to follow the law. The Law condemns sinful man to death.
    • The new Order of Life under grace is about dead of the old man to sin and resurrection of the man freed from sin to live under righteousness and freedom from any bondage.
    • We don't need to sin to glorify grace because grace is meant to overcome sin. Sinning not reveals grace.
    • We don't sin because we are not under law because grace empowers us to live rightly above the demands of the Law.
    • It is our responsibility to live out the new life. Consider ourselves as dead to sins, let us not let sin reigns in our body, but yield our body to God as His instruments for righteousness.
            Lim Liat (c) 15 Aug 2017

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