The Church of Eleven22 - S01 E76 - Holiness

Episode Date: September 2, 2020

A church family's Devo Time, Romans chapter 6. We've been talking about how we prepare ourselves for saturated next week. We've been praying and fasting for sure, but there are every time historically in church history when there was an incredible move of God, there were some ingredients that preceded that. The most important is the Spirit of God. Without the Spirit of God, nothing happens.

Secondly, it was repentance of sin. That's what we talked about yesterday. Third, there was always a pursuit of holiness that the Bible says, be holy because God is holy. And as believers, we are to pursue holy living. And one of the dangers, one of the dangers of being a part of a gospel-centered, grace-based preaching like you are here at 1122, is that we can begin to think that, well, if the gospel saves me of everything and the gospel that forgiveness, that, that forgiveness, is received, not achieved, well, then can I just do whatever I want? The answer is no.

In Romans chapter 6, Paul understands that that is the human psyche leads us to believe that, leads us to believe that the free gift of the gospel means we're free to do whatever we want. And he's like, no, no, no, the gospel does not free you to sin. The gospel frees you from sin. And so in Romans chapter 6, it says, what shall we say then? and the reason he's saying this is because of Romans chapter 5. The way Romans 5 ends is basically where sin increases, grace abounds. 520 says, now the law came to increase the trespass,

but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness, leading to eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. In other words, you can't out sin. God's grace. So the more you sin, the more grace is lavished upon you. And so Paul knows that the logical, sinful, outplaying of that idea is, well, then,

so it doesn't matter what I do. And so he goes, no, no, no, no. That's not what I'm saying. In fact, did you know that for the first hundred years or so of Harvard Law School, that every first year law student was required to read the book of Romans, not because of the content, not the theological content. But because as Paul was writing the book of Romans, then he knew the kind of objections

people would have. And before they were able to object, he would go ahead and answer the questions that they had rattled around in their mind. So he says, so what shall we say to it? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? And he answers by no means. That's no way. How can we, who died to sin, still live in it? Do you not know that all of us? And, you not know that all of of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. In other words, if you are dead to sin because you have surrendered to Christ, if you are dead to sin because you are alive in Christ, how in the world can you still live as though sin is your ruler? You can't. And then he's going to give the illustration of baptism. The way Eugene Peterson says it in his

paraphrase called the message, he says, if you have moved out of the kingdom of darkness, why do you still have a resonance there? And so then he says, he uses this illustration of baptism. He says, 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 a newness of life. By the way, if you've never been baptized as a believer, you need to be baptized as a believer so that you can declare to the world that Christ is your Lord, that you have been crucified, you, the old you is dead and buried, and that you have been resurrected with Christ.

In fact, that's why we baptized the way we baptized. First of all, the reason we immerse is because that's what the Bible says. Baptizo is the Greek word. It means to dip, dump, submerge. and so you walk out into you get in the tub or you walk out in the ocean and somebody says who is Jesus and you say Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and then we say upon your public profession of Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior I baptize you my Christian brother or sister in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit and then there is a picture of you dying to yourself and being buried in this watery grave that is the ocean or the water in the baptismal it is a picture of the Spirit of God by the blood of Jesus washing a your sin, and then just as Jesus was the prototoko or the prototype, the firstborn of the dead,

so too you are resurrected with him in a newness of life. This is what Paul is saying. Ultimately, he's saying, you don't have to do the stuff you used to do because you're not the person you used to be. The old you is dead. The new you is alive. So live like you're alive. 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. 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, he died to sin. Now, he also died for sin, but he also died to sin. In other words, that if we are in Christ, sin should be dead to us. Once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. So the reason we don't do the things that we used to do is because we're not the people we used to be.

My two favorite illustrations in the scriptures are one is when Jesus heals the man and he says, take up your mat and walk. Remember this? And the man picks up his mat and he walks. Now the religious people see the mat, not the miracle, and they miss the whole point. But how silly would it be if later that day, after this man for 38 years, has been laying on that nasty mat? and you walk back up to him and he's laying back down on the mat. He's been laying there as an invalid for 38 years. It's gross. You would say, brother, you can walk. Why would you lay on that mat when you don't have to lay on that mat anymore?

This is a picture of what it looks like for a believer to stay in their sinful lifestyle. It just doesn't make sense. It does not rule you or reign over you anymore. The other illustration that I think is my other favorite is John chapter 11 when Jesus goes to to bring Lazarus out of the grave. Remember this? Lazarus come forth. The Lazarus comes hopping out of the grave. And then the first commandment that he gives them is take off your grave clothes. Why? Because living people don't wear dead man's clothes. And so when we sin, it's essentially like a living person trying to slip on your old grave clothes. They don't fit you anymore.

It made sense for you when you were a dead man, but now you have been brought from death to life. So we're living people close. Verse 12. 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 law but under grace. You see, our works don't save us. Christ's work on the cross saves us, but when we are saved by his work, then we are to get to work for righteousness, not so that God would approve of us,

but because he already has. Verse 15, what then? Are we to sin? Because we are not under law, but under grace, by no means, do you not know that if you present yourself to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness. But thanks be to God, that you who are once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you are committed. And having been set free from sin have become slaves of righteousness that every single one of us worshiped something, every single one of us bows down to something, every single one of us is shackled to something, every single one of us is a slave to something. And he is saying, you are no longer slaves to sin.

You are no longer slaves to the things of this world, the passion of this world, that those things do not have control over you, that you are surrendered and that you are a servant of the Most High King, who is a perfect master who loves you, who provides for you, who cares for you. He says, I am speaking in human terms because of your natural limitations. I think that's just funny. Paul's writing the Bible and he said, I would take this deeper, but you're not smart enough to understand. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading the sanctification.

for you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness, but what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you were now ashamed? In other words, when you do what you want with who you want, when you want, when we pursue the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, where does that leave us? You've been down this road before. and it just brings shame. It does not lead to a place that you want to go. He says, for the end of those things is death.

That's just where it leads. But he's saying that you have been freed from the body of death. This phrase, the body of death here in Romans chapter 6, is actually a first century judicial term. Sometimes Romans were crazy, man. They had some sick laws on the book. especially in regards to penalties, that what would happen is if you killed somebody,

and especially if their prisons were too full and they didn't want to put you in prison, so as to be an example for everybody else, they would chain to you what they called the body of death. So if you killed somebody, they would take the dead guy that you killed, and they would chain him on your back. And you had to walk around town with a dead rotting corpse on your back.

and as that body decayed and stunk and everybody looked at you, it would be, this is where the path of murder leads. So nobody needs to do that. This is what he's talking about. You have been set free from the body of death. So why in the world are you still carrying around the chains of slavery to sin? For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regards to righteousness.

But what fruit were you getting at that time from the thing of which you were now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end eternal life. A very famous verse for the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. Now, just to be clear, this is the way he sums it up,

because any time we start talking about our activity as believers, Christians get confused, and we begin to believe that the gospel is achieved, that our salvation is achieved and not received. And so he says, for the wages of sin is death, that when we sin, we deserve to be paid with death. But the free gift of God, what do you do to deserve a gift? Nothing. Because if you do, if you do something to deserve it, it's a wage. It's not a gift. The free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. So you want revival? You want God to do a thing in your heart, put to death the sin that is trying to put you to death is what he says. How do you do that? You do the things that stir your affections for Jesus. But those two things, mortification and

vivification are just gospel tools in the hand of the believer. What you have to understand is your identity is in Christ and that Christ has set you free to be alive. There's this old story about St. Augustine. Before St. Augustine was a believer in Jesus, he was a bad guy. He was known for sleeping around with all kind of women. And he moves away, he meets Jesus. He becomes a pastor. He's a theologian. He's a brilliant guy. He loves Jesus like crazy. And one day he goes back to one of the towns that he was from and he bumps into one of his former mistresses. And history tells us that she approaches him and begins to talk to him and he looks at her and he just walks away.

and she begins to think, well, it has been a few years since I've seen him. Maybe he doesn't realize it is me. And so he says, Augustine, she says, Augustine, Augustine, it is I. And St. Augustine says, I know, ma'am, but it is no longer I. What he is saying is, I'm not going to walk down that road with you anymore and go back to your place anymore. I don't do the things I used to do because the old me is dead. and the new me has been resurrected to a newness of life in Christ Jesus.

So what does it take for revival to break out? It takes the spirit of God. It takes repentance of God's people. And it takes God's people pursuing holiness, not pursuing our own flesh, but pursuing the glory of God in the way we live, that we, our own lives, would be a living sacrifice to him. That when Jesus says, it is finished,

he put death to death and he put sin to death. Therefore, sin no longer is the master over you. Now, will we struggle? Yeah. The whole next chapter all Paul writes about is how hard it is to do everything that he just wrote in Romans chapter 6. Romans chapter 7, the whole thing is what is wrong with me? I'm trying to put sin to death,

and I don't do the things I want to do and the stuff I don't want to do, these things I keep on doing. What a wretched man am I? Who will save my soul? And then he says, praise God, Jesus will. Then you get to chapter 8. And the conclusion, therefore now, because of the life, death, the resurrection of Jesus,

therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Church of 1122, may we welcome the Holy Spirit into our lives. may we repent of our sin, fall at the feet of Jesus and weep and cry and repent of our sin and trust him for our salvation. And may we pursue lives of holiness to the glory of God. Let's pray. Father in heaven, Lord, I thank you that Jesus, you did not just come and set for us an example how we ought to live, but you set us free from sin and death and you live in us. to accomplish that life that you would have us live.

Lord, I pray that we would be set apart because you're set apart. I pray that we would influence our culture, not be influenced by it. I pray our lives would bring you glory because we are no longer slaves to fear and sin, but we are children of the most I king. We pray it in Jesus' name.

Amen.