THE POWER TO CHANGE
Romans
6:1-4,12-14,20-23
HABITS ARE HARD TO CHANGE
V:1-2. " What shall we say, then? Shall we go on
sinning so that grace may increase?
2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any
longer? "
A. An old life style is hard to change.
1. The Apostle
Paul is talking to Christian folk.
2. He is really
talking to us today.
3. We have been
redeemed by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
4. We have been
saved, justified, and sanctified by the blood of Jesus.
5, We have an
election, an adoption and are now sons and daughters
of the Father
in heaven.
B. Our position has changed, but we are still operating in
the flesh.
1. It is like
being trained and licensed to practice medicine but there
there is no
practice.
2. It is like
being trained and certified to fix cars but you are not
working on any
cars.
3. The Lord,
Himself said that harvest is plentiful but laborers are few.
C. We have the title of the Church, but there is little Church
service taking
place.
1. We have been saved from our sins by the
Grace of our Lord and Savior, but
we are still
operating in sin.
2. We have the knowledge of God's Word but
there is no practical application
in our lives.
D. We are struggling
with this position of Christianity, when we ought to be
growing in
Grace.
1. The sin we
practice blocks spiritual growth and development.
2. We first must
understand what is "sin".
3. Sin is
rebellion against God's commands.
4. Sin is
magnified among us, because we know God's Word, but refuse to
practice what
we know.
a. God's Word includes all of His
commands.
b. We neglect
His commands willfully or out of ignorance.
c. Willfully
means you know, Ignorance means you have
not studied His Word.
E. Our position has
changed (from the world to Christ) so our intentions must
change (from sin
to the righteousness of God).
1. Old habits die
hard. But old habits can be broken by the power of the Holy
Spirit that
indwells us.
2. We don't have
to stay the same, because we have been given the authority
and the
capacity to change by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
BAPTIZED INTO NEW LIFE
V:3-4. " Or don't you know that all of us who were
baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?
4 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. "
A. This is the operation that has taking place in us that
sets us apart from the world.
1. Upon our call
out of the world, we were emerged in the death of Jesus.
2. Baptism means
emerged or covered up with the blood of Jesus.
3. All sins, past
present and future have been covered or atoned for by the
blood of
Jesus.
B. We have a new life
because we have come spiritually alive in the resurrection
of Jesus.
1. We have been
gifted with the power to resist sin and to pursue the righteousness
of God.
2. It is as if God
has performed a heart operation in us.
3. We are still
recovering from that operation.
4. We are
recovering from the wounds of our sins.
5. We are in
a therapy section with God.
3. Healing from
our sins is an on going process.
FOR THE CHRISTIAN, SIN IS A CHOICE
V:12-13. " Therefore, do not let sin rule in your
mortal bodies, so that it makes you obey its desires; and do not offer any part of yourselves to
sin as an instrument for wickedness. On the contrary, offer yourselves to God
as people alive from the dead, and your various parts to God as instruments for
righteousness. "
A. Verse 12 tells that we have the power to wipe sin out of
our lives.
1. We have the
power to shut the door on Satan.
2. If you give
Satan an inch, He will take over your life.
3. Notice the
second part of verse 12.
a. The sin in
your life originates from the desires that are in your heart.
b. We have a tendency
to act on our desires without consulting the Word.
B. Verse 13 says we make a choice to sin.
1. We make the
choice to allow Satan to use us as instruments of sin.
2. Now that we are
in Christ, Satan is no longer in charge.
3. Jesus is in
charge.
4. We have to make
a decision to let Jesus use us as instruments of His righteousness.
5. It is our
decision not to operate according to the flesh, but according to
the spirit.
GOD IS IN CONTROL
V:14. " For sin will not have authority over you;
because you are not under legalism but
under grace."
A. Verse 14 states that God has given us authority over the temptation to sin.
1. It is by
God's Grace that we are who we are.
2. Ephesians 1:4
states , " For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to
be holy and
blameless in his sight. In love he
predestined us to be adopted as his
sons through
Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will."
3. From the start,
Satan never had authority over those God chose (that's us) to
be His sons and daughters.
4. God allowed
us to be born in this world in sin to redeem us from our sins.
5. The text says
it pleased God to work with us in this way.
B. We were not born
under the Law. We were born under Grace.
1. All the
requirements of the Law were fulfilled in the death of Jesus
on the cross.
2. The Law points
to the sin in our lives.
3. But Grace
points to the blood of Jesus that covers our sin.
,
SLAVES TO SIN
V:20-21. " For when you were slaves of sin, you were
free in relationship to righteousness;
21 But what benefit did you derive from the things of which
you are now ashamed? The
end result of
those things was death. "
A. Were born in sin and shaped in iniquity.
1. Were born in a
condemned state.
2. In that state,
the righteousness of God had no effect on us.
3. There is no
advantage of a sinful life.
4. The end result
is eternal death.
B. The unredeemed
state is a state of slavery.
1. In the
unredeemed state we were held captive by sin.
2. The unredeemed
state was under the influence of Satan.
C. There ought be spiritual growth in us.
1. We know that
there is spiritual growth when we reflect back on
our unredeemed
state and are ashamed of the things. we used to do.
2. Knowing the
righteousness of God, we know the magnitude of
our sins.
3. We know the
point when God turned us around and put us
on the right
path.
FREEDOM IN CHRIST
V:22. " However, now, freed from sin and enslaved to
God, you do get the benefit — it consists in being made holy, set apart for
God, and its end result is eternal life. "
A. We are out of one slave position and into another.
1. We are out of
slavery to sin and now in slavery to God's righteousness.
2. We are freed
from the penalty of sin, but enslaved to eternal salvation.
B. There are immediate benefits to our slavery to God.
1. We are made
holy in Jesus Christ.
a. Not that we ourselves are holy, but the
holiness of Jesus covers our sins.
2. We have been
set apart from the world for God's own use.
a. We have
been separated from the world.
b. We are now
an elect group of Christ's servants.
3. We have
inherited eternal life.
a. We have a
place in heaven
b. We are
employed in the glory of God.
c. Our
lifestyle ought to be one of a servant to God.
d. We are in
the business of lifting Jesus.
THE BENEFIT OF FOLLOWING JESUS
V:23. " For what one earns from sin is death; but
eternal life is what one receives as a
free gift from God,
in union with the Messiah Yeshua, our Lord.
A. Any person
separated from Christ is earning his/her way to hell.
1. The wages of sin is death.
2. At birth in
the flesh our final destination was the eternal hell.
3. We did not
earn hell in the womb, we inherited it from Adam
4. The good news
is our inheritance from Adam is not permanent.
B. The good news is
that before the foundation of the earth, God had
already decided
your eternal destination in Christ Jesus.
1. Any man in
Christ is a new creation.
2. God created a
new reality for us in Christ Jesus.
3. God gave us
the free gift of eternal life by joining us with Christ.
4. We cannot earn
our way into heaven. It is by His Grace only.
5. And for this
new position in Christ we ought to show our gratefulness
by honoring
God with our lives.
THANK GOD FOR HIS GRACE
Rev M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia
Baptist Church
For a complete list of my lessons, visit my blog
"goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com"
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