It Doesn t Matter If I Sin Because God Will Always Forgive Me Rich Nathan May 22, 2011 Myths: Myths Christians Believe Series Romans 6

Transcription

1 It Doesn t Matter If I Sin Because God Will Always Forgive Me Rich Nathan May 22, 2011 Myths: Myths Christians Believe Series Romans 6 I want you to imagine three different people. First of all, there is Patrick. Patrick is a Christian and he is home alone on a Friday night. It has been a long week at work and Patrick is tired. His wife is at her mother s house with the kids and Patrick is bored. So he flips through the channels and there is nothing on TV. He is feeling restless and is not in the mood to read. He thinks, Maybe I will go online and check out some baseball scores. On the website that he goes to for the baseball scores are alluring photos of women in bikinis. He thinks to himself, I wonder what those photos look like and so he decides to click on the photos. Pretty soon Patrick is clicking on raunchier and raunchier sites. Patrick knows that what he s doing is wrong. But he says to himself, I m going to do it anyway. After all, Jesus died for my sins and so what I m doing is no big deal. I can always ask God to forgive me later. Then there is Felicia. Felicia is living with her boyfriend. She knows that it is probably not the best thing, but they don t have the money right now to have the wedding that she s always wanted. And she wants to go back to school, so the timing for getting married is bad. Plus, even though they ve talked about it some, there is no date set and her boyfriend hasn t been exactly pushing to set a date. Felicia is a church-goer and every week during communion she tells the Lord, I m sorry for living with my boyfriend. Thanks for forgiving me, even though I keep repeating this over and over again and have no plans to change. And finally, there s Jacob. Jacob accepted Christ six years ago at church, but he s hardly grown as a Christian. He tried a small group for a little while, but didn t really connect with the people there. Jacob got busy at work and he hasn t been able to fit a group into his life over the last 5 years. He finds himself angry a lot at work, especially angry at his boss, because there have been cut-backs at his company and his workload is ridiculous. He and a few friends one another jokes and funny cartoons about the boss and about stupid company policies. Jacob also occasionally lies to customers to keep them happy. And lots of weeks he goes out with some of the staff after work for Happy Hour. On several occasions he stepped over the line with a female coworker, even though he is 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 1

2 married and so is she. But Jacob says to himself, I know I m going to heaven because I accepted Jesus into my heart six years ago. So my future is taken care of. Besides, it really doesn t matter what I do now because God will always forgive me. Have you ever deliberately sinned, deliberately said or did something that you knew was wrong at the time, but you did it anyway, because you said, It doesn t really matter. God will always forgive me. Is it OK for you to just give full vent to your anger because you know that you can be forgiven? Is it OK to push ahead with a divorce because after all you re really unhappy and God will forgive you after the divorce goes through? Is it OK to borrow what s not yours, or look at porn online, or have sex with your boyfriend or girlfriend because after all, God is a forgiving God and you re planning to ask his forgiveness after you do it? I ve been doing a series that I ve titled Myths That Christians Believe. And I gave you a formula a few weeks back that I want to repeat: A sincere Christian + false beliefs = a derailed (or disillusioned) Christian The myth Now, the false belief that I want to challenge today is the belief that it doesn t matter if I sin because God will always forgive me. This is one of the myths that the enemy has used for 2000 years to derail Christians and to make Christians unhappy, ineffective, and absolutely unfruitful. I ve called today s talk, It Doesn t Matter If I Sin Because God Will Always Forgive Me. Romans 6: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 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. 5 If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin 7 because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 2

3 for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Now, to understand Romans 6 we have to set this chapter in the context of Romans chapters 3-5, and especially, Romans 5 where the Apostle Paul celebrates the wonder of God s grace. Look at the description, for example, of the people for whom Christ died. Romans 5: You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God s wrath through him! 10 For if, while we were God s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! Who are the people for whom Christ died? Not competent, God-fearing, obedient friends of God, but weak, ungodly, sinful enemies of God. And then in Romans 5: the Apostle Paul speaks about the triumph of grace over all that oppresses humanity sin, law and death. Romans 5: The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, if you want to understand the structure of the book of Romans, Paul deals with each of the forces which oppress humanity, in turn. In Romans 6 Paul deals with the triumph of grace over the oppressive power of sin. In Romans 7, the triumph of grace over the oppressive power of law. And in Romans 8, the triumph of grace over the oppressive power of death. And so in Romans 6, having spoken so much about how God s grace is given to the utterly undeserving, the Apostle Paul, who was a brilliant preacher anticipates his audience s objection Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 3

4 The objection Romans 6:1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? Here is what the critics were saying about Paul s doctrine of grace? They said, Paul, you ve made salvation too easy. If people are saved by grace alone through faith alone, then what difference does it make if a person continues to sin? In fact, if you think about it, if grace is shown to be all the more gracious when God forgives particularly heinous and awful sins, then why don t we deliberately sin so that God may be really shown to be gracious? Let s just deliberately sin because God will forgive us anyway. That s what some people were saying in the church in Rome. And that s what people today say. It doesn t matter; I m going to go ahead and do this because I can always ask for forgiveness later. I know I m going to church tomorrow and during communion I will ask God to forgive me. This objection, you ve made things too easy, people in their corruption will abuse grace. Sinful people will throw God s grace back in his face. As many commentators have noted, the way you can tell if someone is preaching the gospel of grace alone without works, grace alone without any human contribution, is if this objection is raised. This is the test, Christian witness, of true gospel witness. This is the test, Christian preacher, of true gospel preaching. When people hear your gospel, do people say, This is too easy? This will lead to greater sinning? Now, notice that the Apostle Paul doesn t answer this objection by saying, You ve misunderstood me. Paul s response What it isn t Paul doesn t say, Oh, no, no I didn t really mean that God will accept you purely on the basis of the death of Christ by grace alone through faith alone; that your justification can be accomplished without your own contribution. Oh no, no you ve misunderstood. What I really meant was that you are accepted before God by grace, plus you need to contribute something by way of your own obedience and your own faithfulness. Your justification is a majority-based on the grace of God, but there is a percentage that is based upon your behavior. Paul doesn t correct his opponents that way because the opponents were quite right at least in terms of what they heard Paul saying. Paul was saying, Your entire acceptance before God, your entire salvation, is based purely on the death 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 4

5 of Christ for you the benefits of which are given to you by grace alone to be received through faith alone. So, notice Paul doesn t say, My doctrine of grace isn t nearly as radical as you think. Let me water it down a little bit. Let me mix together grace and your contribution, your good works. That s really what I meant. Paul doesn t respond that way. How does the Apostle Paul respond? What it is Romans 6:2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Now the Greek for the Today s New International Version s translation (TNIV) of by no means is really strong. The Greek original was me genoito When Paul really wants to reject a proposition, he uses this phrase, me genoito! The King James Version says, God forbid! It literally means, May it never ever ever be When we object we might say, That s absurd; that s stupid; that s ridiculous; I totally reject that line of thinking. And Paul is responding in this chapter to the person who says, Well, because salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, I might as well sin because my sin is covered by the grace of God. It really doesn t matter very much, because God will forgive me no matter what I do. We re not the first people to think this way. The New Testament book of Jude speaks about folks like this in Jude 1:4. Jude 1:4 For certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Way back, nearly 2000 years ago, there were people in the church who said, It doesn t matter if I lie, when telling the truth will really get me into trouble, because I can always ask God s forgiveness later. It doesn t matter what I do sexually because God will forgive me anyway. I can refuse to forgive someone who has 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 5

6 hurt me; I can stay angry and bitter and not respond to their overtures for a renewed relationship because, after all, God s grace covers it. Is that what grace is? Is grace just a rug under which we sweep all of our sins? Is grace just a ticket that we get punched that admits us to heaven and then we re free to do as we please? Think about this with me. Imagine Jesus story of the Prodigal Son with a twist. You know, there is this boy who takes his father s money and heads out to enjoy the world. He spends all of his money on alcohol and women and partying. He ends up with no friends, no support system, no one to help him. He is homeless and hungry. And this young man decides the only hope for him is to go back to his father not as a son, but as a slave, a servant. So he goes back to his father. When his father sees him, he runs out to him, hugs his son, smothers him with kisses, gives him an expensive ring and a beautiful robe and throws a party for the son. The father celebrates saying, My son was dead, but now he is alive. He was lost, but now he is found. Do you think that Jesus story of the father s welcome to his son could just as easily have ended this way? Well, the boy stayed home with his father for a month, but then he got bored again because his father s house wasn t that exciting. And so the boy went back to his father and said, Hey, father, give me some more money. And his father said, Gladly, because I didn t expect that my gifts, the party and your welcome would change you at all. I will keep giving you money and you can keep going out doing what you re doing. And then each time you come back, I will throw you another party. Do you think that that ending would be consistent with Jesus story of the Prodigal? I didn t think that my grace would change you. The point of grace is to just keep giving you gifts that you can spend down as you choose. The Apostle Paul says, Me genoito! May it never ever, ever be! God forbid that you have that view of grace. The point is not to just keep giving gifts that you can spend as you choose. Paul responds to this Christian myth that it doesn t matter if I sin because God will always forgive me by answering this myth in four steps. Let me give you the four steps. 1. We must know something 2. We must remember something 3. We must offer something 4. We must consider something 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 6

7 We must know something; remember something; offer something; and consider something. Let s begin with step #1: Step #1 - You must know something: God s grace changes you Romans 6:2-4 2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 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. The Apostle Paul in Romans 6:2 says that we have died to sin. Romans 6:2 By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? What does it mean that if you are a Christian joined to Christ through faith, a joining union which is portrayed, which is exhibited in Christian baptism Christian baptism is an expression of your prior faith. As you go under the water of baptism, you are vividly portraying the fact that you have joined yourself to the death of Christ. What does the Apostle Paul mean that we who are Christians have placed who have placed our faith in Christ to save us have died to sin? This is a really puzzling phrase for many Christians. Lots of people struggle with this text. The great Bible expositor, John Stott, said that when he was a young Christian, he was taught that what it meant to die to sin was to be rendered absolutely insensitive to sin. Stott says that the illustration that he was taught was that if you were walking down the street and saw a dog lying in the road, and you didn t know if the dog was asleep or if it was dead, you could kick it. If the dog didn t respond at all, you would know that it was dead. So it is with a Christian. We don t respond to sin. We re insensitive to it. It has no allure any more, no draw. Now, there is a basic problem with that interpretation that to have died to sin means to be rendered utterly insensitive to sin. The first problem with that interpretation is that it doesn t comport with the experience of any Christian who has ever lived! I have never met a Christian, and neither have you, who would say, I don t feel the tug of sin in my life any longer. I don t feel the pull. I don t feel the draw. I still have within me a fallen nature which is attracted to sin, which finds sin alluring, which finds sin temporarily satisfying. My fallen nature hasn t died Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 7

8 What does the Apostle Paul mean that you Christians have died to sin? It doesn t mean your fallen nature has died. It doesn t mean you Christians will never sin again. He doesn t mean you Christians are totally insensitive to the draw and allure of sin. What the Apostle Paul is talking about is dying to sin is dying to the reign and rule of sin over our lives. He spoke about that in Romans 5: Romans 5: The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Paul is portraying sin as a kind of lord, a kind of master, exercising authority over a realm. And he is saying to Christians, You used to live under the reign, under the authority, under the mastery, under the lordship of this power called sin. That s where you used to live. You used to live in the country that was dominated by a king named sin. But you know something? Jesus, the Messiah, the Conquering King, came into this world as a Savior. And he entered that country that was ruled by this lord named sin and this evil king put Jesus the Savior to death. That was the ultimate power that the king named sin had the power of death. But Jesus was too holy and too powerful for this weapon of death. Jesus rose from the dead. He defeated that king. And he entered a new kingdom, a new realm, the kingdom of God. And now, friends, Paul says, here s what happened to you. When you place your faith in Christ, you are not just getting your ticket punched for heaven. That s not what happens in salvation. What happens is that by faith you are joining yourself to Jesus and all that Jesus is and all that Jesus did. You are uniting yourself to Jesus death and also to his resurrection portrayed in baptism by going under the water and coming up out of the water. So that when you place your faith in Christ, far from simply getting your ticket punched to heaven, you are being transferred out from under the lordship and mastery and reign of this king called sin. And you are being transferred to a new kingdom, a kingdom ruled by God. To die to sin is to no longer be a citizen of the country of sin. Sin no longer has authority over your life. It no longer has to dominate you. You ve torn up your citizenship papers. You ve renounced allegiance to that king. You ve gone through a naturalization process and have become a citizen of a new kingdom the kingdom of God Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 8

9 What does all of this have to do with a proper understanding of grace? Grace is not God saying to the prodigal, Hey, if you want to leave home again, go ahead. When you return, I will give you gifts and you can use them any way you choose and head out again for the road. Come back and I will give you more gifts that you can use and abuse any way you choose. No. The Apostle Paul says that grace is like sin in that it is a power. It is a lordship. It is a mastery, a reign. Grace is an authority. Look at Romans 5:21: Romans 5:21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. What an interesting phrase the reign of grace. Grace is not a ticket that you get punched that gives you entrance into heaven. Grace is not a get out of jail free card. The grace of God is a power, it is a dynamic thing. It is an authority. It is a rule, a mastery, a lordship. The grace of God is a power that rules over your life. That s Paul s argument in Romans 6. He makes it in Romans 6:15: Romans 6:15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means! You see, Paul in the book of Romans in dominated by his thinking regarding the kingdom of God. The Apostle Paul sees two different kingdoms, two different powers, two different realms, two different ages one is the old age. The old age And in this old age we are under the masters of: Sin Law Death To be born into this world is to be born into the old age which since our first parents is an age dominated by the ruling of sin and law our attempts to get right with God by our own performance, and death, the ultimate outcome of sin and self-help attempts. But now, through our faith union with Christ, we enter a new age. New age 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 9

10 And in this new age we come under a new set of masters, Grace Obedience Eternal Life The bottom line is this, friend. You do not actually ever experience the grace of God without it changing you. If you say, I am a Christian and yet, Rich, I have never really been changed; I am exactly as I was before and after receiving Christ; there has been no change in my life, then the Apostle Paul would say, I doubt you ve ever experienced the grace of God. You can get a ticket punched for heaven and not be changed, but that s not what grace is. Grace is a power. Grace is like a hot stove. You can t touch it without getting burned. You can t touch grace without being changed. What difference does it make if I sin or not? God will forgive me anyway. And Step 2: Step 1 You must know something: God s grace changes you. Step #2 You must remember something: remember who you are Romans 6:11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Some of the old versions say, reckon yourselves dead. The Greek word is the word from which we get the word logic. Think through the implications, Paul said, of you coming out from under the reign of sin and coming under a new reign, the reign of grace. I want you to understand and know what happened to you when you became a Christian. You no longer need to be dominated by the power of sin. You have a new Lord now. You live under a new authority. There is a new sheriff in town called the grace of God. So you need to remember who you are, Christians. You are a citizen of a new state. Let me tell you a story. My wife, Marlene, used to be a medical social worker and she worked for several years at The Ohio State University (OSU) Hospital. They had a case involving a young man, who had overdosed on drugs, and because of his drug overdose he could not remember who he was or where he was from. And the police couldn t figure out his identity. So Marlene went in and sat with this guy and just talked with him. She took notes of her conversations with him and over the course of a few days this young 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 10

11 man mentioned a number of cities that he remembered. Marlene took out a map and began to circle the cities on the map that this man mentioned. They basically followed I-70 from Columbus out to Las Vegas. So she contacted the Las Vegas police and discovered there was a missing person s report for a young man. They sent her the photo and it was this guy, although he looked quite different because he had lost about 40 pounds. By tracing back this young man s journey, she was able to assist him to remember who he was. She gave him back his life. Now, when we sin we re like that young man, overdosed on drugs, and lying in a hospital bed. We don t remember who we are and we don t remember where we came from. So, Paul takes out the map and he traces through for us our history. He says, This is who you are. When you placed your faith in Christ, you joined yourself to Jesus. And this Jesus, who you joined yourself to, triumphed over a power, a king, a master named sin. And he burst through that realm and he entered a new realm, the realm of the kingdom of God. And because of your faith union with Christ, he is taking you with him. Remember who you are and walk this out. Romans 6:4 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. Literally where it says, We, too, may live a new life it means: We should walk in newness of life Step by step, right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. I remind myself of who I am. no longer need to be dominated by the power of sin. That s not who I am. I am a person living under a new master. I have a new Lord. How do we walk this out? Step #3 You must offer something: offer your body to God Here is what Paul says in Romans 6: 12 14: Romans 6: Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 13 Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. 14 For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace. Bob Dylan, during his Christian phase, wrote a song lyric that said: 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 11

12 You ve got to serve somebody It may be the devil or it may be the Lord, But you ve got to serve somebody He was speaking the truth here that in this universe there is no neutral ground. You are always under a power. Why can t I just sin as I will and also experience the grace of God? Because you can t be under two powers at the same time. The decision by Christians to have one foot in the world dominated by sin and another foot in the kingdom of God is an impossibility. The reason, Christian, if you are a Christian that you are so unhappy, so ineffective, is because you are trying to live under two kings at once. The way to stop doing that it so offer your body to God. Your physical body your ears and what you listen to; your mouth and what you say; your eyes and what you look at; your hands and what you touch; your feet and where you go; your private parts all of you; give your body over to God. Why do you have to turn your body over to God? Because if God has your body, he has you. If he has your body, he has you. Step #4 You must consider something: consider the payment You say, It doesn t matter if I sin because God will always forgive me. The Apostle Paul says, Consider the payment. Romans 6: I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. 20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The payment from sin You say, Sin doesn t matter. Paul says, It does matter. Because when you sin it is not just an activity; it is not just a behavior. When you sin you are bringing yourself back under the power of sin and this results in several things. It results in slavery Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 12

13 Romans 6:19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. Sin is a power. And the problem with bringing yourself under that power is you can t just sin once. Look at that phrase in Romans 6:19: Romans 6:19 I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. Sin is like the old ad for Lays Potato Chips: You can t just eat one. The problem with telling a lie is that you always need another lie to cover up the first lie; and then you need a third lie to cover up the first two ever-increasing wickedness. The problem with looking at porn is that you cannot just stop with one look. It is a power. One look will turn the three looks and then to ever-increasing wickedness. The same thing is true when you give vent to your anger. The same thing is true when you allow bitterness and unforgiveness to settle in your heart. The same thing is true when you give yourself over to self-pity. You are bringing yourself under a power. Do you want to do that? It doesn t matter if I sin, God will always forgive me. Do you really want to become a slave? And do you want to experience shame? Romans 6:21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! It is impossible to sin and to come under this dark power without feeling God s fatherly displeasure. Sin is not just something we do to ourselves. Sin is an act of rebellion against God. And when we Christians sin, we haven t lost our legal standing before God, but we absolutely do lose the experience of fellowship with God. We experience God s displeasure. And so we feel ashamed. It is hard for us to look up into the face of God when we are walking under the power of sin. And God not only shows his displeasure to us, but the book of Hebrews tells us that God will discipline his children Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 13

14 Friend, if life really is not working for you and the wheels just keep falling off no matter what you try to do, it is appropriate for you to stop, if you are a follower of Christ, and say, Am I experiencing my Father s discipline? Not always; bad things happen to good people. This world is broken and fallen. But I think with a mature Christian, it is really appropriate to sit down and ask the question. If the wheels are falling off of your life, nothing is working, am I experiencing the discipline of God? It doesn t matter if I sin. Do you want to experience the discipline of God? And the last result is death. Romans 6:21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. You can t live under the power of sin and feel alive. Ultimately, if we continue in sin we re on a track, a trajectory that will lead to eternal death, eternal separation from God. But even right now, every time we bring ourselves under the power of sin, we re drinking a little bit of death into us. It doesn t matter if I sin. Do you feel want to be dead inside? Do you feel unhappy? Do you feel joyless? No Christian can continue to live under the power of sin and live a joyful life. It is impossible. By way of contrast, the Apostle Paul says: Consider the payment from obedience Romans 6: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The Apostle Paul says that the benefit you reap leads to holiness and the result is eternal life. When you choose to obey God, even though it is hard, the payment God gives you is holiness. You share his nature and you experience God s pleasure over your life. The reason why obedience will lead to joy in your life is because when you obey God you can look up in to the face of your Father and feel his smile over your life. You don t have to fear God s discipline. And another way to put it 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 14

15 is that you experience eternal life. Not just life after you die, but life right now a life of freedom; a life of internal peace; a life where you really do feel that you are the beloved of God; the abundant life the life that Christ promised. Christ died on a cross not to punch your ticket for heaven. He died on a cross to remove you out from under the tyranny and power of sin and death; and to fuel your life with an experience of fellowship with God. Let s pray Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 15

16 It Doesn t Matter If I Sin Because God Will Always Forgive Me Rich Nathan May 22, 2011 Myths: Myths Christians Believe Series Romans 6 I. The myth II. The objection III. The response A. What it isn t B. What it is IV. Paul s answers to the myth A. You must know something: God s grace changes you B. You must remember something: remember who you are C. You must offer something: offer your body to God D. You must consider something: consider the payment 1. The payment for sin 2. The payment from obedience 2010 Rich Nathan VineyardColumbus.org 16