Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. Welcome to our program. Now today,
I'll be preaching from the book of Romans, chapter six. This is part of a series of messages
that I have entitled, The Power of God's Grace. And this is part
two of that series, The Power of God's Grace. And what I'm
trying to communicate to people is that God's grace is not only
a doctrine or a truth to be embraced through knowledge, mentally,
intellectually. Not to say that a person has
to be a high intellectual to be saved. No, that's not what
I'm saying at all. But I'm saying that the truth of God's grace,
the power of God's grace is not only in the doctrine that is
brought to a sinner's mind by the Holy Spirit in the new birth.
It's also the power of a life lived for the glory of God. The power of God's grace not
only brings a sinner to believe that salvation is all of grace,
not according to our works, and I want to explain that, but it's
also the power that God uses to bring about a changed life.
and the changed life has to do with several different things.
And we'll be talking about that as we go through Romans 6 in
this message and in coming messages. But think about this, the power
of God's grace, this is part two, Romans chapter six. The
reason I decided to preach on this subject is because so many
people today are under the deception of salvation. conditioned on
sinners. Now what I mean by that is that
so many people believe that salvation ultimately comes down to what
they do or what they think or what they say or what they confess
rather than being conditioned all upon the Lord Jesus Christ
and what He did on Calvary's cross to save His people from
their sins. What if I were to make this statement
to you, how would you react to this? Salvation. Salvation being all of grace. I would say that most of you,
if not all of you, would agree with that statement or claim
to agree with it. For by grace are you saved, through
faith, that not of yourselves. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. The works and the life of obedience
and service of a believer, a sinner saved by grace, the works and
life of obedience has nothing to do with attaining or maintaining
salvation. How do you react to that statement?
Let me repeat it. The works, the life of obedience,
the life of repentance, the life of love, The life of charity,
the life of worship, the life of faith has nothing to do with
attaining or maintaining salvation. Now, I don't want you to be unclear
about what I'm saying. What I'm saying in that statement
is basically that we cannot be saved by our works. our life of faith, our life of
love and grace and our life of obedience and service. I did
not say that salvation, that the life of a believer, the life
of obedience and service and faith is no part of salvation. I didn't say that. I said it
has no part in earning or deserving or attaining or maintaining salvation. That's the difference. Somebody
might tell me, say, well you're just splitting hairs there. No
I'm not. And I want you to understand this. You see, the life of faith,
the walk of faith, the victory of faith, the life of obedience,
the life of service for a sinner saved by grace is the fruit,
the product, the result of salvation already attained by the grace
of God and maintained by the grace of God based upon the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why we talk
about once saved, always saved. You know, people use that statement.
Many people who use that statement really don't understand what
it means or what it involves. But I made this statement the
last time that one of Satan's greatest deceptions in false
Christianity is that a sinner can be saved one day and then
lost the next, or lost at some other time because of sin. And
the common objection to people who believe that, who want to
object against the eternal security of the believer, the eternal
security of the saved, or once saved, always saved, is this,
well, that means I can go sin as much as I want to. Well, the
fact is a true believer who is secure in the grace of God based
upon the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ sins more than
he wants to. That's the reality. But that
same objection against eternal security by the grace of God
through the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed,
charged, accounted to a sinner That same objection, well, if
that's true, then I'll just go sin as much as I want to. Paul
raised that objection. He anticipated that objection
here in Romans chapter six. Now, in order to see this, go
back to verse 21 of chapter five. Romans 5, 21, he says, that as
sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through
righteousness Now the righteousness there is not my obedience, it's
not your obedience, it's righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. It's Christ's obedience unto
death. That's what righteousness is.
You see, I cannot attain or maintain righteousness by my works. The best obedience that I can
render the best prayer that I've ever prayed, the best act of
love and charity and self-sacrifice that I could muster up, cannot
make me righteous before God. Righteousness comes by God's
grace through Jesus Christ. Do you understand that? You see,
I stand before God based on a righteousness that I have no part in producing. You see, my efforts cannot equal
righteousness. I stand in Christ. That's what
it means to be washed in His blood. That means my sins are
forgiven. I'm clean, not by my works, but
by His work. By one offering, he hath perfected
them that are sanctified forever. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14.
By one offering, he hath perfected, completed, finished them that
are sanctified, those whom God set apart before the foundation
of the world forever. All who are truly saved are saved
because of the death of Christ. That's the ground of salvation.
When I made that statement that our works, our acts of obedience,
our service, cannot attain or maintain salvation, what I'm
saying is this. Our works make up no part of
the ground of our salvation. Our service, not even our faith.
We who believe, we who are truly believers, because God has given
us the gift of faith, our faith does not make us righteous. We
have faith in Christ. Who is our righteousness? So
when it comes to righteousness, when it comes to attaining, maintaining
salvation, exclude all the works of the best of all people. Now, here comes the objection. Verse one of chapter six. Now
listen to this. The objection says, what shall
we say then? Shall we continue in sin? that grace may abound? Now what
that objection comes from, look back up in verse 20 of chapter
five. He says in verse 20 of chapter
five, moreover the law entered. Now the law there is the law
of Moses. And the question is, if salvation is not by my works
under the law, then why did God give the law? Well, he says,
the law entered that the offense might abound. What's the offense? That's the sinfulness of man.
That's my sins and your sins. The sins of all the children
of Israel who were under that old cup. Why did God give them
the law? To show them their sinfulness. It was like a mirror or you might
say this, it's like an x-ray machine that showed them not
only the sinfulness of their best efforts to keep the law,
but the sinfulness of their thoughts and their motives. Paul writes
about that over in Romans chapter 7. In verse 7 of Romans chapter
7, listen to this. He says, this is Romans 7 and
verse 7. What shall we say then? Is the
law sin? In other words, because I can't
keep the law and it shows me to be a sinner who cannot be
made righteous based on my works, Then is there something wrong
with the law? Is the law sin? He says, God
forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but
by the law, for I had not known lust. Now that word lust, and
we'll see that in verse eight, is the old word concupiscence. Concupiscence. What is that? That's an unlawful desire. And
what Paul's saying is this, by the law, not only Did I discover
the sinfulness of my actions, sinful actions, but I also saw
the sinfulness of my heart, my mind, my conscience. I have sinful
desires. You know, Christ taught that
in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five, beginning
in verse 21 and 22, when he talked about how it's not only sin to
commit the act of murder, but it's also sinful to think the
thought in anger. It's not only sin to commit the
act of adultery, but it's sin to think it, to lust. And that's
what he's saying here. For I had not known lust, except
the law had said, thou shalt not covet. Covetousness is not
a sin of action, it's a sin of thought. That means unlawful
desires. Now, unlawful desires many times
turn into sinful actions, but it's all sin. And he says in
verse eight of Romans 7, but sin taking occasion by the commandment
wrought or worked in me all manner of concupiscence, lust, for without
the law sin was dead. When he says without the law
sin was dead, what he's saying is a person who does not understand
the reality the extent, the spirituality of the law can oftentimes come
to view themselves as not being sinful. Have you ever run into
anybody who thinks they do not sin or cannot sin? Well, they
don't know the law because the law reaches the thoughts, the
hearts, the motives, the desires, the goals. I had a fellow years
ago who told me that he no longer committed sin. And I told him,
I said, I asked him, I said, well, if I could take a video,
a film of your thoughts, just your thoughts now, just for one
day. and show them at a church service
with people there watching, would you stay there without being
embarrassed? Well, he knows better. And he
said, well, that's not sin. He said, it's just a sin to commit
the act. Well, that's what Paul thought as a lost person. You
see, it's also sin to think the thought. So this is the issue. The law entered, go back to Romans
5 in verse 20 now. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound. When I look at the law, whether
it's the Ten Commandments or the whole revealed will of God,
I see my sinfulness, but it doesn't stop there for a believer. It
also shows that believer his or her need of God's grace in
Christ. You see, I am righteous Not because
of my works. My works always fall short. In
myself, I'm a sinner. But in Christ, based on His blood
and righteousness, I'm justified. And that has nothing to do with
my works. Well, does that mean I should stop trying to obey
God? Does that mean I can now, I'm
free to sin? Does that mean that I have the
freedom, the liberty to go out and commit all kinds of acts
of of sinfulness and lawlessness? Well, no, Paul says in verse
one, well, go back, let me read verse 20 again. He says, moreover,
the law entered that the offense might abound, but where sin abounded,
grace did much more abound. In other words, the picture there
is like sin overflows us like a flood. We're drowning in a
sea of sin, but God's grace, God's grace abounds more. How? Because you're such a good person,
or I'm such a good person, or because we made a decision for
Christ? No. Verse 21, that as sin hath
reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness
unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. So salvation in its
beginning, in its continuance, and in its ultimate fulfillment
in glory is all of grace undeserved, unearned, based on the righteousness,
the obedience unto death, the merits of his death, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ and not my works. So go back to the
objection that Paul anticipates here. Romans 6.1, what shall
we say then? Shall we continue in sin that
grace may abound? And he says in verse two, God
forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? If we're truly dead to sin, how
can we live in sin any longer? Now here's the crucial thought
here, the crucial issue. What does it mean to be dead
to sin? People are so confused about that. Paul explains it
as we go through Romans chapter six, he explains what it means
to be dead to sin. But let me start off by telling
you what it does not mean. To be dead to sin, now dead means
dead. Everything that dead can entail
here If you're in Christ, if you're a believer, if you're
a sinner saved by grace, you are dead to sin and therefore
you cannot live any longer therein. Now, what does that mean? Well,
it does not mean that I'm dead to sinning. In other words, that
doesn't mean that once God saves me, I can now stop sinning. Somebody says, well, now I used
to live an immoral life. And when God saved me, I stopped
living an immoral life and I became a moral person. Well, that's
all right, if that's what you went through. But that still
is not what he's talking about when he says dead to sin. Before
God saved me, I had already stopped, as far as the world is concerned,
living an immoral life, as far as the world judges immorality,
I became religious. I was in a seminary just as lost
in my religion as many people are in their immorality. But
I still had to be brought to faith in Christ and repentance
of dead works. So the change that came about
in me was not the same exactly, you might say, as a person who
was brought from drunkenness to soberness or from being an
addict to somebody who's clean, as far as that's concerned. You
see, you have to stop thinking of salvation as an issue of being
brought from what the world calls immorality to being a moral person. Outward reformations are things
that people should go through, but they are not necessarily
salvation. Think of Saul of Tarsus, the
man whom God used to write Romans, Paul the Apostle. His name before
conversion was Saul of Tarsus. According to the law of the Jewish
nation, according to the perceptions of men, he was not an immoral
person. He was a high religious, sincere,
dedicated Pharisee. And he was brought from dead
works, works aimed at salvation, works aimed at recommending himself
to God, works aimed at making himself righteous, to submit
to Christ and his righteousness. So when we talk about being dead
to sin, we're not saying necessarily that a person has been brought
from immorality to morality. That's a fine thing, but that's
not necessarily salvation. When we talk about being dead
to sin, that does not mean that we are no longer struggling with
sin. The believer, the true believer,
struggles with sin all the time. Now you may think about particular
sins or particular issues, but the believer, in fact, the scripture
describes it as a warfare. Against what? The flesh. Now
we can talk about the warfare against Satan, and there is a
warfare there. Christ has won that warfare,
but Satan has been allowed to attack and accuse the church
for a while, but Christ has won the victory. We can talk about
the warfare with the world. There's a warfare with the world.
Be not conformed to the world. Christ told his disciples, he
said, in the world, you'll have trouble. Marvel not if the world
hates you. He said, be of good cheer. I
have overcome the world. But the Bible also talks about,
for example, in Romans 7 and in Galatians 5, a warfare of
the flesh and the spirit within a believer. A struggle. Now, if I'm dead to sin, to any
desire of sin, or any thought of sin, why do I struggle so
much? Why is there a warfare? You see,
I'm not dead to sin in the sense that sin no longer influences
me, or sin no longer tempts me, or sin no longer corrupts me
in certain ways. You see, if you're a believer,
you're in a struggle with sin. So what does it mean to be dead
to sin? Now I'm gonna go into this next
week more in more detail. Let me just read these scriptures
now. First of all, Paul says, Verse 2 of Romans 6, God forbid,
how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein? Now he's going to explain what
it means to be dead to sin. But let me say this, you know
what a person, when you raise that objection to the preaching
of God's free grace, salvation by grace, based on the righteousness
of Christ. And you say, well, if salvation
is not attained or maintained by my works, then why work? When you say that, here's what
you're in reality saying. You're saying now you have no
motive for obedience. In other words, you're saying,
you're telling me that I've removed your motive for obedience. You
see, your motive is twofold, your natural motive. If this
is your objection, your motive is twofold. Number one, it is
legalism, fear of punishment. You're saying, I have to have
that motive of fear, legal fear, in order to get me to obey and
fight sin. And the second motive is mercenary
promise of earned reward. And that's legalism too. I just
distinguished it. In other words, well, if I'm
not going to earn my rewards, or earn my salvation, or earn
my blessings, then why do this? Why obey? You see, those are
evil motives. What is the right motive for
a believer's obedience? Grace, love, and gratitude. There's the right motives. You
see, if we're dead to sin by the grace of God through the
blood of Christ, we love him and serve him and obey him, not
because we're afraid he's going to kill us or cast us into hell,
and not because we're trying to earn his favor, but because
we are saved by grace, unearned, undeserved, and given freely
all spiritual blessings in Christ. And that's why Paul said in 2
Corinthians 5, I believe it's verse 14, the love of Christ
constrains me. His love for me in Christ. So look back at Romans six and
verse three. You see, if I've removed your
legal motive for obedience, then you ought to thank God. I can't,
well, I cannot remove that legal motive. Only God, the Holy Spirit
can do that. But when God, the Holy Spirit
removes the legal motive, he replaces it with the motive of
grace, the motive of love, the motive of gratitude. So he says
in verse two, Romans six, God forbid, how shall we that are
dead to sin live any longer therein? Now, what does he mean by dead
to sin? Let me just read a few verses and then next week I'll
go into more detail on this. He says, know you not that so
many of us as were or are baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized
into his death. Now his death to sin is the key. And Paul's going to describe
that. But when he talks about baptized into Jesus Christ, and
this is where you have to use the proper rules of scriptural
interpretation. We have a book that we're offering
called Rightly Dividing the Word. And in that book, I've listed
what I consider to be the eight common rules of scriptural interpretation. And this is where you have to
use that. Because our minds have to be directed and of course
we know it's all by revelation of the Holy Spirit. That word
baptized is not referring to the ordinance, the New Testament
church ordinance of water baptism. Now there are other scriptures
that refer to that. That's referring to The New Testament
ordinance is an ordinance of confession where a believer is
immersed in water, identifying with Christ and publicly confessing
Christ. But this baptism means union
with Christ. Now I'll deal with that more,
I'll deal with this more next week on this in Romans chapter
6. I hope you'll join us for another
message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.