Tag: Romans 6
Set free!
Scripture reading for June 20: Romans 6
“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 yourselves 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 were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and , having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” Romans 6:15-18
Paul was ministering and teaching in the Roman culture where human slavery was part. Paul used the example of slavery to teach about the transformation of our souls from slavery to sin in our fallen state to slavery to righteousness when we repent and believe in Jesus Christ. Paul reasoned that we are slaves to the one we obey. If we are under ‘sin’ as our master, we choose to obey our appetites and partake of whatever they demand. The ‘wages’ of sin is death and eternal separation from God and His mercy. But if we repent of this slavery to sin, and choose to cast ourselves on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ, we are given grace and forgiveness of those sins. The reward of repentance and obedience to Jesus is eternal life. (Romans 6:23)
Some were saying, that since grace was freely available, those who obtained grace should be free to go on sinning so that God could offer more grace. (Romans 6:1-2) “By no means” was Paul’s reply to these who were justifying their disobedience because of grace. When we have been set free from sin, we ‘die’ to our old slave nature and we now choose to become “slaves of righteousness” and live by the power of the Spirit in obedience to God’s Word. Whom the Son sets free, is free indeed to live in righteousness!
Have you ever realized that you were in slavery to sin in some aspect of your life? What form did this slavery take? Have you been set free from the slavery to sin? How did this freedom affect your daily life and world view?
Prayer: Father God, thank You for the Good News of Jesus Christ and the freedom from slavery to sin found in Him. I joyfully choose to give myself fully to love and serve Jesus and obey His Spirit leading me to obedience of God’s Word. I pray daily to be used to share this message of freedom with others. Amen.
Alive to God under grace!
Scripture reading for June 21st: Romans 6
Key Scriptures for over-comers: Romans 6:11-14 “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.”
As believers in Jesus Christ, we must count ourselves dead to sin through Christ’s death on the cross. We then recon ourselves alive to God through Christ’s resurrection from death after He paid the penalty for our sins. Faith in Christ’s sacrifice alone is the grace gift from God that brings us God’s eternal life. But after receiving the gift of eternal life by faith, we must then purposely present our body and its members to God to be used as instruments of righteousness. Sin is no longer our master, but Jesus Christ is our Lord! We are not under the Law, which can only reveal sin, but we are under grace which has dealt permanently with our sin!
Observations for over-comers: We over-come evil desires of the flesh through faith in the death of our Lord Jesus on the cross. We recon our mortal body as dead to sin through identification with Christ. We thank God for Christ’s resurrection to eternal life, for He is our new life through the Spirit! “So He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 4:6)
Grace delivers from sin!
Scripture reading for June 22nd: Romans 6
Someone has said that ‘sin takes you further than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and extracts a price higher than you want to pay.’ Sin is pleasurable for a season, but it always leads to bondage, darkness, and ultimately death–both physical and eternal! When the Gospel of God’s grace was preached, some falsely claimed that we should sin all the more so that God could receive pleasure in forgiving the sinner!
Paul explained that the true message of the Gospel of grace was not freedom to sin, but freedom to ‘sin not’! “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin, how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were therefore buried with Him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Romans 6:1-4) This new life was in Christ Jesus, the One who never sinned and was now alive forever!
Our baptism is a drama that we personally and intentionally testify of our faith in Christ’s death and resurrection. As we are immersed in the water, we are saying that in Christ’s death, our old nature of sin was put to death through Christ’s sacrifice of His body and blood. We are buried with Him in baptism, signifying death! We are then raised from the water, signifying our identification with His resurrection to a new life! The old nature of sin has been buried and a new man has emerged, free from the power and penalty of sin!