Dead to Sin, Alive in Christ - (Rom 6:1-4), Part 1/4

“If grace is free, why not keep sinning?” That question may sound modern, but Paul answers it directly in Romans 6 and his answer cuts through the noise. We pick up right where the letter pivots from justification by faith into sanctification, and we slow down to show how union with Christ reshapes the whole Christian life.

We talk about holiness in a way that does not turn it into a pride project or a behavior scoreboard. Holiness means consecration, being set apart by God for his use, and it flows from what God has already done in salvation. When people accuse grace-centered Christians of promoting moral indifference, we explain why that charge misunderstands the gospel. The grace that justifies is the same grace that sanctifies, and it destroys sin’s dominion rather than giving anyone a pass.

Along the way, we discuss inside-out change, the law written on the heart, and why we keep preaching the truth of free grace even when it gets mocked. We also explore communicable attributes of God that believers grow into through sanctification, and non-communicable attributes that belong to God alone. If you want a clear, Bible-based answer to the “license to sin” accusation, this conversation will strengthen your footing.

Subscribe for more, share this with a friend who wrestles with grace and holiness, and leave a review with your biggest takeaway. What part of Romans 6 challenges you most right now?

Transcript

From Justification To Sanctification

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I'm in Romans chapter six. Romans chapter six. We'll be beginning at verse one, but not before an introduction briefly about chapter six, only because, and primarily because up to this point, we've been talking about justification, justification by faith. And now we're branching into another section of Paul's teaching in Romans chapter six, which goes past justification, and now we embark into the area of sanctification. And Romans chapter six through eight deal with the Christian that is in union with Christ. The union, the union that we have with Christ. So justification in the order of Paul's uh treatise here has he's sort of more or less ended it, even though there's still parts of it engaged and sprinkled throughout, but now he's going into sanctification and explaining how this is also a component of our salvation, which is given by God and is never separated from the gift that we have in Christ when we have obtained this so great a salvation.

Defining Holiness As Consecration

SPEAKER_02 1:34

So in this introduction, we're talking about the believer's union with Christ and the life that we have in Christ of holiness. Holiness. And I know that when we talk about holiness, most of us have a hard time identifying ourselves as being holy. And rightly so, and rightly so, but nonetheless, holiness is has part of not just the nature of how we are to act and behave, but it is also speaking to and about a consecration, a separation from the world and set apart by God for his use. And that's really what holiness is all about, being consecrated by God for his use. And it is not generally something that we associate with what we do, although the reticence for somebody to admit, for a Christian to admit to being holy, has to do with the association of holiness being based on things that you do and how you behave, and the measure of what one perceives as being acts of obedience, when in fact holiness is being consecrated by God and separated by and consecrated unto good works. So in this introduction of Romans chapter six, Paul now turns from the doctrine, as I've already said, from he's turned from the doctrine of justification to the equally important doctrine of sanctification. It is equally important.

Grace Is Not Permission To Sin

SPEAKER_02 3:23

And having established already that sinners are accepted before God solely through the righteousness of Christ that is received by faith, he anticipates an objection. Paul anticipates a likely objection that many gainsayers may have when it comes to how we interpret grace. And so if grace abounds, if grace abounds, as we discussed in yesterday's discussion, if grace abounds where sin has abounded, then some folks, as we are very well familiar with today, some folks might be inclined to conclude that sin actually serves the purpose of magnifying grace and therefore should be continued. Should we continue in sin that grace may abound? And so this is what we often, those of us who hold to these sacred doctrines of grace, we often get ridiculed and mocked and mocked and accused of promoting a salvation that means that we can do whatever we want, sin as often as we want, sin in any kind of way that we want, and because of this grace, we're going to be saved and justified and glorified regardless. And that is a wrong perspective to have. And Paul is arguing against, Paul is arguing against that very perception. And so he recognizes that the gospel of free grace and free justification will always be vulnerable to this particular accusation. So, Christians, we need to understand something. When you preach grace, when you preach grace through faith for salvation apart, apart from any works of any law, any works, ceremonial, ritualistic, whatever it may be, whatever it may be, it is important to understand that you are going to be mocked and ridiculed in being put in this category of people who are, for a theoret, for a theological term, are antinomian. In other words, no law. And you believe that you can sin as often as you want in any kind of way that you want because you've been saved by grace. And that is not true. True believers understand that salvation by grace is in itself the impetus, the impetus for holy living. It is the impetus for holy living. It is the motivating factor that motivates us to living godly lives, lives that please the Lord. And so those who do not understand the nature of God's saving grace, they imagine that it encourages carelessness and moral indifference. And we cannot abide by such a view. We cannot. We believe, we believe, if we are truly Christian, that the grace that we have received by God, the mercy and the and the and the compassion and the salvation that we received makes us his workmanship created unto Christ Jesus and created by created in Christ Jesus unto good works. So our good works, being his workmanship, are factored into, are factored into the salvation that we have been given. And so it is not just the grace that we've been given, but we have also been given by God the works that we are going to do. And so all these things that God has given us are given to us by way of his grace. He gives us things that we do not merit. We obtain them through no merit of our own. Grace gives us salvation, it gives us faith, it gives us justification, it gives us glorification, it gives us sanctification. Every communicable attribute of God is imparted to his faithful servants. And I'm going to deal more with this communicable, these communicable attributes of God that he gives to his people. So now we come to Romans chapter 6 and verse 1. And again, we're going to be dealing with this idea of union with Christ in death and resurrection. There's a union that we now have with him. There's a union that we now have with him that ties us to him. So Romans chapter 6 through 8, we're dealing with the realm that we have been transferred into, having been translated from the realm of darkness and the kingdom of Satan, now being transferred by faith into this other realm, which is the Lord's realm, which is Christ's kingdom, which is his kingdom. So verse 1, Romans 6, Paul says, Shall we say then? Shall we say then? I mean sorry, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? And he says in verse 2, God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?

Law Written On The Heart

SPEAKER_02 10:05

So, Sister Terry, you got something you wanted to say? Go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 10:10

When you live by the written law, the commandments, the law is coming in through your mind, through your flesh. When you're born again, the law is written on your heart, and it is an inside out sanctification.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Right, right.

SPEAKER_04 10:29

And therefore our union with him.

SPEAKER_02 10:31

That's right. We are in union with him. We're in union with him. So what shall we say then? Do we continue in sin, that grace be abound? And this is something that we are often accused of. Believing that our salvation is by grace, we are often accused by saying, Well, what does that mean? Does that mean that you can commit all the sin you want? Because since you are teaching that you are saved by grace, that you can sin all that you want. And then there are those who also believe that if that is true, then should we continue in sin so that God is glorified by overshadowing that perspective? In other words, does continuing in sin enhance or make more can or render more conspicuous the glory and grace of our Lord? And the answer is obviously an emphatic no. It is not true. That is infinitely negative. So Paul begins, Paul begins chapter 6, verse 1, by addressing this false conclusion. A false conclusion that is easily, that can easily be drawn from the doctrine that he has just been explaining as it pertains to justification by faith. And so having taught that where sin abounded, grace did much more abound, Paul is anticipating the objection that such a teaching could encourage a life of continued sin. This is a teaching that must be rejected. We do not believe that grace promotes a greater degree of sin, nor do we look at grace as a per as permission to continue in sin so that God can be rendered more illustrious in the eyes of those who commit these sins. If grace is magnified by the forgiveness of sin, there are those who might reason that increasing sin would provide a greater opportunity for grace to be displayed. Again, we must reject this perspective. And so this objection that people may pose reveals the natural corruption of the human heart. A natural corruption in the human heart which is prone, which has a proclivity to twist this most glorious truth of God into excuses for a perpetuity in wickedness. This must be rejected. It must be rejected. So the doctrine of the Lord's free justification by grace alone has always been vulnerable. Has always been vulnerable to such abuses because fallen men often seek liberty from and in the midst of their guilt while refusing liberation from sin itself. Brother Rodney, what do you think so far?

SPEAKER_05 14:06

I'm just uh taking it in here again. Ready to take I'm I'm still stuck from last night a little bit, but I'm here just taking it in. I agree, as as with sin and crease breaks the boundary, you know, super bound as I said last night, you know. So I'm just following it from right there where you said that. I was listening from right when you I've been listening all the time, but when you say that, I tuned in to that point because it reminded me of what I said yesterday.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

So all right. Uh Sister Vanessa, what do you think so far?

SPEAKER_06 14:35

I think I, you know, I I agree with everything. I mean, there isn't nothing I can add right now. You're doing really good job.

SPEAKER_02 14:42

For now.

SPEAKER_06 14:44

No, you always did really.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

We see how it goes for the rest of it for the rest of this message. But you know, you know, but we'll we'll continue to get through it. Let me pick one more. Lisa, what do you think?

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Well, just as I said earlier, I have been dealing with this all day, and it's literally heartbreaking to think that Christians believe like this. I mean, we have to trust the Lord. We are made new, we are new creations in Christ Jesus. The old is gone, the new is here, the old loved their sin, the new no longer loves our sin. We have God living, literally living inside of us. So anyone who says that because we believe that we are saved by the Lord's grace and we have nothing to do with it, that we like to sin, is absolute ridiculousness. It's wickedness, and as Mariah said in another one, in another live, I'll never forget it, it exposes their own hearts. Right. They're the the wicked men who who say such things.

SPEAKER_01 15:46

Right. Absolutely. Absolutely. Let me pick one more. Mariah, go ahead. Anything you want to add to it?

SPEAKER_03 15:55

No, sir. It's loud, so I don't.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

Okay. Terry. Anything you want to add?

SPEAKER_04 16:05

I'm good.

SPEAKER_02 16:06

All right. Sounds good, sister.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Thank you. I'm glad you're up here, by the way.

SPEAKER_04 16:10

Thank you. I'm glad I am too. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 16:13

All right, sister.

Keep Preaching Grace Under Fire

SPEAKER_02 16:15

So, Paul, he does not retreat from the doctrine of grace because of the abuses that people lay upon it. And neither should we. And here's my point. There are many people, as I said, when you talk about grace, they will accuse us of saying that we believe that that means we can sin and do whatever we want. And Paul is saying that that this happens, that people will make this, render this accusation, people will come to this conclusion, at least it's a conclusion that he anticipates people would have. And as evidence of that, we see this happening today. But Paul is saying, in teaching us in this lesson here, that just because that happens, it should not discourage us from preaching it. We still must preach, we still must preach the grace of God. And we should never waver in telling people this truth because we fear that they're going to misunderstand it or misinterpret it. Remember, the truth of God is always going to be embraced and accepted by those who are truly his people. And remember, when we preach the word of God, our expectation and hope and desire is that it reaches those whom God has called to be redeemed according to his choice of them before the foundation of the world. So Paul doesn't back off, he continues to preach the truth fully and completely, and he doesn't worry about the abuses that are that people that men bring upon him. He continues to preach the truth, continues to do so, and so should we.

Grace Breaks Sin's Dominion

SPEAKER_02 18:09

So instead, what Paul does is he demonstrates that the objection arises from a complete misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding of the believer's relationship to Christ, which is what he's getting to in this chapter. We have a place in Christ, our relationship in Christ. That relationship being in Christ. And the gospel never encourages sin. There is nothing about the gospel anywhere that encourages sin or even intimates that once you have believed it, now you have a license to sin. In fact, what it does, it destroys the dominion of sin. Again, which is something he's going to deal with as we progress through this chapter. Grace destroys sin's dominion. Destroys it. The grace that pardons is the same grace that sanctifies. And this is what we need to understand. The same grace that pardons is the same grace that sanctifies. When we are pardoned, pardoned by our Lord. When we are pardoned by our Lord, it is also the sanctification that goes along with it. There is no part of what God offers to us where pieces are offered and the other components are not. If he imparts grace, he also, and if he imparts grace, he justifies. If he justifies, he sanctifies. If he sanctifies, he glorifies. These things all go together. They all go together. And so all of these communicable attributes, as I talked about, about God, they are imparted to us with the new birth.

Communicable Attributes And God's Uniqueness

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Now, Sister Lisa, what do I mean in your mind? And it's okay if the answer is wrong. I just want to know your thought process. When I say communicable attributes of God, what do I mean? What am I referring to when I say communicable attributes?

SPEAKER_00 20:36

Um, I honestly don't I don't know what that word means. I'm I'm sorry, Jonathan. Communicable. No, communicable. Shared attributes?

SPEAKER_02 20:46

Okay, there you are. And so take it further. Keep going with it. So if it's a communicable attribute of God and is shared, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_00 20:56

That means we start to take on those attributes as we're being sanctified in Christ. We start to love what he loves, hate what he hates.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

Absolutely. You're you're right, you're right there. You're right there, absolutely. So, so if the if if God has communicable attributes, Vanessa, what would be considered non-communicable attributes by God? What are non-communicable attributes?

SPEAKER_06 21:26

Because he doesn't speak with us. He doesn't, we don't understand. We don't, you know, when we read, we we don't understand anything we're reading because he isn't communicating with us.

SPEAKER_02 21:38

No, I'm talking about his I'm talking about his attributes. Things that define his character. There are certain things that he communicates, there's certain things about him that are communicable to us, shared with us, and there are certain things about his about his attributes that are not communicated with us. So what do you think I'm talking about? And remember, we're talking about attributes.

SPEAKER_06 21:59

His time. And his love.

SPEAKER_02 22:01

Would those be communicable? Would those be communicable or non-communicable?

SPEAKER_06 22:06

Communicable.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

Yes. So give me an example of a non-communicable attribute of God. Oh man.

SPEAKER_06 22:14

Hang on. Let me think for a second.

SPEAKER_02 22:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:16

Yeah. Non-communicable.

SPEAKER_02 22:19

What's a non-communicable attribute of God? Let me know if you want help.

SPEAKER_06 22:25

Let me think for a second. He doesn't give us anything. And Terry, you didn't have to tell me that. I was working on it.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Well, see, let me hear it. Let me hear it.

SPEAKER_04 22:40

So sorry, my mic was on and I didn't realize it and I was talking to you.

SPEAKER_02 22:44

That's okay, Terry. That's okay. That's okay. Don't worry about it. Let's keep it going. Keep going, Vanessa.

SPEAKER_06 22:49

Well, like she said, uh his omnipresence. You know.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Okay. His omnipresence. What else? His love towards us and his his love. His love is communicable, right? You said that already.

SPEAKER_06 23:01

Well, yeah, that's true. All right.

SPEAKER_02 23:04

What else?

SPEAKER_06 23:04

His power. His power is, you know, that's not communicable.

SPEAKER_02 23:09

His omnipotence.

SPEAKER_06 23:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:11

What else? Give me one more.

SPEAKER_06 23:15

Let me see. His mercy?

SPEAKER_02 23:18

Nope. That's communicable, right? We can be merciful to others.

SPEAKER_06 23:21

Yeah, that's true too. Jonathan, you make my brain hurt. That's the point. Well, his righteousness we get. We get only because we're with him.

SPEAKER_02 23:33

That's right.

SPEAKER_06 23:34

So is that communicable to you?

SPEAKER_02 23:36

That's communicable too. So you got um, you got omnipotent, all-powerful, and you got you got what else did you say? Uh you said something else, I forget. But let me move on. Let me ask somebody else. Brother Rodney. You got two of them, Vanessa. So Rodney, what it what what's a what's a not what's a communicable attribute of God? A non-communicable.

SPEAKER_05 23:57

Oh, non-communicable. Is grace?

SPEAKER_02 24:01

Nope. You can be gracious, right?

SPEAKER_05 24:04

All right, I can. It's under I don't want to say understanding because I can't. Well, understanding, because I can't understand things on his level, but I can no, because I don't know. I'm not supposed to understand it on my level. Understanding?

SPEAKER_02 24:20

Nope. You can understand things too, right? To a degree, anyway.

SPEAKER_05 24:23

I can. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:25

This is good. Uh they get you guys a thing. This is good. This is good. This is good.

SPEAKER_05 24:34

Oh, he's like his eternal him then eternal, maybe?

SPEAKER_01 24:38

Okay, great one. He's eternal. That's a great one. Okay. That's a great one.

SPEAKER_05 24:41

Okay, okay. Excellent.

SPEAKER_02 24:43

Sister Mariah, your thoughts. Give me a not give me a non-communicable attribute of God.

SPEAKER_03 24:51

I said he's that he's unchanging. He's immutable.

SPEAKER_02 24:54

He's immutable. Excellent. Excellent. You got any others?

SPEAKER_03 25:01

Omnipresent, omnipotent, omni omniscient, omniscient.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

That's right. All those things belong to him exclusively and cannot be communicated to us. Absolutely. So this so so everybody has a has a good idea, and everybody came up with answers that contributed to the whole thing. It's his attribute. There are things that there are attributes that he has. He only can be everywhere at one time. Brother Pat, go ahead.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Is omnibelevel balevolence real? Is it true? Omnibenevolence? All kindness? What do you mean by that, brother?

SPEAKER_04 25:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

Well, I guess to a degree you can look at it that way. But but but the idea of of kindness wouldn't you say that this is a communicable attribute of God that He passes off to His servants?