Review Memory Verses:

Romans 3:23

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

Romans 3:28

For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

Romans 5:1

Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,

Romans 5:8

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Chapters:

1-3 SIN

3-5 SALVATION

6-8 SANCTIFICATION

Continuation: Sanctification - How to Live for God, set apart unto God.

Opening Question:

How come the book of Romans did not begin with sanctification?

How come when God inspired the apostle Paul to write the bible he started out with sin and then salvation and then sanctification?

How come it is not sanctification first?

It is impossible to live a sanctified life apart from salvation. It is impossible to talk about salvation until one is convinced he/she is a sinner. Many people today do not appreciate Jesus Christ. They don’t understand salvation because they have not understood the meaning of the sinfulness of mankind.

Why do you need a savior if you don’t believe you are lost. Why do you want to come to Jesus if you are not convinced that there is no other solution apart from Christ?

Review:

What does sanctification mean? Holy living, set apart unto God, by product of genuine salvation.

We are set apart from sin unto God. You are set apart.

How many of you are holy? Why are you Holy? What happens to your sin? Forgiven. How do you know it’s forgiven? The reason why you are forgiven is because of what Christ has done for you. He died for you at calvary and you are placing your faith on what He has done.

Quick Review:

Romans 6: 1 You must know that you have died to sin.

You know that you were baptized into Christ.

You must know your union with Christ.

Your old self was crucified

How many of you are still tempted today?

Being set free from sin does not mean you will have no struggle with sin. It does not mean you will not have temptation.

Who is living in your life today? Is it your self or is it Jesus?

What makes you special? You are set apart for God.

Romans 6:11

Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Illustration:

My former pastor taught me this. He said, Peter I went to the seminary years ago when he was young after coming to Christ and he started calling the different names of the dead person in the cemetery. He would look up the tombstone and here’s the name Mr. so and so he would call that person. According to Him Mr. so and so was not answering him. You know why? Because that person is dead.

So according to him when temptation comes and temptation knocks in your life what will he say? Nothing. He is dead. He does not respond to sin. In other words if you feel like responding you tell yourself I have died. Sin shall no longer have dominion over me I have died to sin I will not even respond to that. That should be your attitude but for many of us that is not our attitude. When sin knocks at the door we open the door and say how come you have just knock today?

Romans 6: 16-23 You are set free from the slavery of sin.

How do I know who is the master of your life? The one you are obeying he is your master. 2Peter 2:19. John 8:32,34.

How many of you have been sinning from the time you can remember?

Who is your master? Sin

Who is our new master? Jesus.

Good news: You have been set free from sin.

Romans 6:16 Two possible master either of sin resulting in death or obedience resulting in righteousness

5. 17 The bible says in the past you were slaves of sin but biblically speaking right now we are slaves of righteousness. In your heart do you want to obey God, in your life do you long to obey God? Yes. The question is how do you put that into practice?

Col. 1:13

For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,

Which kingdom do you belong to?

Matthew 6:24

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will hold to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

Whom do I belong to?

Romans 6: 20-22 God save you for what purpose? To serve Jesus.

If your purpose in life is not to serve God something is wrong. Once you understand salvation you’ve got to realize God save you for what purpose? To serve Jesus not to serve yourself.

What are the benefits? v.22

5. 23 The bible is saying salvation brings sanctification.

You cannot have salvation without sanctification

What can you learn about salvation? Salvation is a gift.

2. You have been set free from the law. You are now free from the bondage of the law.

Example:

The law of God. The wages of sin is death. The payment of sin is death. That is a law. If you disobey God you will die.

Romans 7:2-3 Can you imagine if all the newspaper will follow this principle? Anytime a married woman will get involve with another man and she remarries another man. The newspaper would say adulteress. However as Christians do you understand the meaning of free from the law?

5. 4 Based on the bible once you are married is that permanent? Yes. Can you remarry? That’s why years ago divorce and remarriage among believers is less than one percent because the believers knew when they divorce their mate they can never remarry. Divorce and remarriage is hardly heard in the Christian community but in the last 30 years because of certain adjustment to biblical teachings many sincere and evangelical pastors are saying you can divorce and remarry. The divorce rate in the Christian community is now almost the same as unbelievers. Why? Because as long as you believe you can divorce and remarry every time you have problems at home what are you tempted to do? But if you are convinced I cannot separate, I cannot remarry if you have problems at home what are you committed to do?

We are committed to resolve issues, we are committed to reach out with others, we are committed to reach out to one another and solve our problems but not to get out of our relationship. There is security in our relationship because it is patterned after God’s relationship to me.

What is the bondage of the law? If you don’t do A,B,C you will not go to heaven. It is based on performance. I am acceptable because of my performance but the bible says you are no longer under the law. If a husband dies can the wife remarry?

Let’s talk about taxes. Let us say you have a personal assessment of ten million pesos. Example I’m the government I will now run after you but then you died. What happens to the BIR legal case? It is squashed. I can not run after a dead man, I cannot go to the court and say let’s file a case. When a man is dead the law is powerless. The power of the law is not able to run after a man because it reaches up to this point only. The bible says you and I are beyond the touch of the law. Does it mean I will now be lawless? In order to impress the Lord you are not under the legal system. Don’t impress God by saying "Lord I’ve got to do this and that.." you are not under law. In your mind to please God I must read my bible 10 minutes a day, I must go to Wednesday night bible study. God looks at the heart. God is happy if you read the bible if you want to please Him. Don’t fall for legalism.

5. 4 Notice the principle of sanctification you die first so that you can be joined to another. Who is that another? Jesus. So Christianity is a relationship. You die, you have now a new relationship with Jesus that you might bear fruit.

Will all Christians bear fruit?

If you plant a mango tree and the mango tree is normal. There is fertilizer, there is rain and there is sunlight. Will the mango tree bear mangoes? What happens if it bear banana? It’s not a mango tree. Christians what fruit will come out of your life? Sanctification. Holiness. You will live for God, you will bear fruit. Not just sanctification you will have the fruit of the Spirit. You will do things for God but for you to bear fruit you must die first. You have died with Christ. You are joined to Christ and the result is fruit bearing.

5. 5 Remember I gave you the example? "Do not touch." What are you tempted to do? That’s the old self aroused. There is something in us. It is called the rebellious nature of humanity. There is something in us we like to rebel. We don’t like to submit to authority. Do you like to listen to people? You rebel. So when the law says don’t do this. What are you tempted to do?

Illustration:

The story of this helper. She has a boss. Her boss is so meticulous. A one page rule on how to run this house: I want my shirt iron, I want my breakfast served hot, I want my collar sharp and white etc. Now this house help every time she violate something the master of the house will say, "Look at this, this, this, this and this! Okay?" For what ever reason the master fell in love with the house help. And for whatever reason the house help fell in love with the master. So they got married. After the honeymoon they went back to the same house. This time the husband is no longer the master. The wife was no longer the helper she’s now the wife. And when she open the drawer she saw the same list but instead of becoming angry she looks at it. What was the attitude now? She smiles. You know why? Before it was in the spirit of the letter of the law now there is newness of spirit. It’s love. You want your shirt clean? No problem. Why? There is love. The newness of the Spirit before I tried to do everything in order to go to heaven now I am doing good things because I love the Lord. You see the difference? You are set free from the law. We are now united with Jesus because of what Christ did for us and now whatever I do for Jesus is out of love. That is the meaning of newness of the spirit.

5. 7-8 the bible is saying the law is not bad. In fact what is the purpose of the law? Exposed sin. The example used is the ten commandments. What commandment was used by Paul? Thou shall not covet. You know why the apostle Paul uses the ten commandments? To show us the power, the usefulness of the law. The problem is not the law, the problem is the human heart because the ten commandments deals with the sin of the heart. What is the first commandment? Thou shall have no other God before me. Paul is saying the purpose of the law is to show us how sinful we are.

5. 11-13 What the bible is saying is there is nothing wrong with the law. The purpose of the law is to show sin. To show how sinful we really are.

Sanctification does not mean struggle with sin is real. Romans 7:15-25. The freedom from sin thus not mean the absence of struggle to sin. The more mature you are the more you realize there’s struggle going on in your heart.

Are you struggling with sin? If you are bothered with many things you are growing. The struggle begins to get less and less also. But struggle with sin is real. It is not a sign of immaturity on the contrary it’s a sign of spiritual maturity. You know why? If you are not mature you will not struggle with sin. And this is the testimony of Paul. Romans 7:15-25. To discuss next week.

Let me share with you how to have victory over struggle in advance? What must you know?

You have been set free from sin.

You are free from the law. You performance is not the basis of God’s acceptance of you.

Are you accepted by Christ? Yes

Are you save by faith? Yes.

You are free from the law

Is it possible to sin, are you struggling with sin?

Struggle with sin is not bad. What must I do to make the new nature win? You feed the new nature with the word of God. Don’t feed your old nature with the things that you like that is sinful.

Romans 7&8 tells you how to have victory. You need a higher power.

Let’s bow our heads.