Dead To Sin, Alive to God

We have died to the law through Christ. But won't that kind of thinking lead us to more and more sin? No, quite the opposite. To be dead to the law is to be wedded to Christ, and to be wedded to Christ is to bear fruit for God. How does all this work together? Paul tells us as Romans 7 begins. 

We are dead to sin! The good news of the gospel is that we have died with Christ and in dying with Christ we are dead to sin. But we have been raised with Christ as well! And in being raised, there are some beautiful things we are now alive to.  One of these things we are now alive to is righteousness. We are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. How do we know what we are truly slaves to? What characterizes someone who is now a slave to righteousness? What does slavery to righteousness lead to? These questions get answered as we finish Romans 6 together today. 

If we are in Christ, we are dead to sin. What does it look like to lay hold of this reality and live in light of it? This week, as we continue in Romans 6, we will look at the promise, the perspective, and the practical instruction to live in light of the reality that we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. 

Only two options can be true of our lives.  We are either still in Adam or we are now in Christ.  We are either still in sin or have been made righteous by Christ. We are either dead in that sin or have been made alive in Christ. In this section of Romans, Paul brings to bear the cancerous reality that in Adam sin has spread, infecting all of us, leaving all of us under its terminal death sentence. But a Greater Adam has come...and this Greater Adam has reversed the curse.  And once we are in Him we move from sin to righteousness, from bondage to grace, from death to life.  Are you still in Adam, in your sin, and subject to death-OR- are you in Christ, made righteous, enjoying his everlasting life?

Romans 5:6-11 leads us to rejoice for a number of reasons! God’s unconditional love has met us in the worst of our sin! God has initiated rescue for us when we were weak and could initiate ourselves. In rescuing us God saves us from the wrath to be poured out. He also saves us into eternal life with Himself where there are pleasures forevermore. All of this is made possible because of the blood Jesus spilled for us out of His love! Allow this passage to lead your heart into a place of rejoicing!

In the last section of the letter to the Romans, Paul has been hammering this reality that we are justified (or declared righteous) by faith. Chapter five starts with this really important word, "Therefore..." With this word, Paul now will begin to unpack the blessings that flow from the fact that we have been justified by faith. In Romans 5:1-5 we are going to see, understand, and worship over three blessings for those justified by faith. Last week we looked at the first two blessings, this week we look at the third blessing for those justified by faith.

In the last section of the letter to the Romans, Paul has been hammering this reality that we are justified (or declared righteous) by faith.  Chapter five starts with this really important word, "Therefore..." With this word, Paul now will begin to unpack the blessings that flow from the fact that we have been justified by faith.  In Romans 5:1-5 we are going to see, understand, and worship over three blessings for those justified by faith. 

The driving theme of this section of Paul's letter is that righteousness comes by faith. In Romans 4, Paul is leaning on Abraham's testimony to illustrate this truth to us. He has said, "Even Abraham was declared righteous by faith!" He reminds us it wasn't by his circumcision, and this week we are going to see him declare that Abraham's righteousness wasn't by law-keeping. It was by faith. This passage teaches us as well that righteousness is counted to us not by law-keeping but by faith. Our hearts will be freed into the joy and rest of this reality as Romans 4:13-25 comes to bear on our hearts.