Under Sin or Under Grace?
They had chosen to homeschool their children instead of sending them to public school and it is illegal to homeschool you children in
In a similar way, we who have believed in Christ Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior have been giving spiritual asylum in the sense that the moment we believed in Christ we were transferred from Satan’s kingdom and the position of being “under sin” to Christ’s Kingdom and the position of being “under grace”. And as long as we are in Christ’s kingdom and under grace, we are not subject to the authority, control, and power of Satan or sin in and over our lives. And since we will be in Christ’s kingdom and under His dominion forever, we will forever be “under grace” and never ever have to worry about coming under the authority or being subject to the authority of Satan and sin again. But, even though this is true of us who have believed in Christ—we sometimes act as though it is not true and live as though sin still had authority and power over us. Many times, we much like many of the slaves that were officially freed at the end of the Civil War but continued to live like slaves, continue to live as though we were still slaves of sin even though we have been freed from sin by virtue of Christ’s work on our behalf.
Today, I want us to consider what Paul means when he tells us that before salvation we were all “under sin” and what happened to us when Christ saved us. Usually it is the case that most preachers come to a text like Romans 3:9-20 and highlight the depraved nature of man before his salvation, emphasizing his wicked and reprehensible character and conduct apart from Christ as we have done for the last couple of weeks. And this of course is a good thing to do and a good thing to preach as our salvation is brought into focus to a far greater degree when who we were and what we were like before we were saved is seen clearly. However, if this is as far as you go into this doctrine of radical and total depravity then you have really missed the boat when it comes to seeing and understanding the greatness of our salvation and what we were actually saved out of. You see, we were saved from much more than our depraved character and conduct and conversation and conceit. We were also saved from our position of being “under sin”.
As a result of the Fall of Adam—our representative—all of our being was affected so every bit of us became utterly and radically depraved—intellectually, emotionally, volitionally, and physically. There simply was nothing about us that was pleasing to God or able to merit in the slightest degree the grace of God so that He would even be inclined to save us. But more than that—the very reason we could not merit or earn God’s grace and the very reason for our wretched depravity was the fact that we were under the authority, dominion, control, and power of sin as those who belonged to Satan’s kingdom of darkness. Whereas a person must be saved from his sins—he must also be saved from being “under sin” so that he is no longer hostile to God and naturally resistant and rebellious toward Him as a sinner who has no choice but to sin as he exists under the reign and control of sin and thus the condemnation of the Law of God. To merely forgive all our sinful attitudes and behavior would not have been a complete salvation and would not have resulted in our really being saved at all.
You see, in order to save us completely so as to make us a truly new creation in Christ—God had to deal with more than our depravity in terms of how it affected our person. He also had to change our position and remove us from being under the power and control of sin as well as the subsequent condemnation of the Law. And unless we grasp the truth that whereas before salvation we were ”under sin” but as a result of God’s amazing grace in our lives, we are now “under grace”—it will be impossible for us to truly grasp the wonder of our salvation—as well be impossible for us to grow in sanctification. So turn with me to Romans 3:9 where Paul tells us that every single one of us without exception was “under sin” before we were saved.
The phrase “under sin” is probably best defined by its synonyms found in such passages as Colossians 1:13, where Paul refers to it as “the domain of darkness”. Actually, the word “domain” is literally rendered “authority” and so we see that before salvation we were under the authority of darkness or sin. In Acts 26:18, Paul again refers to our former position and the current position of all unbelievers right now as being in “darkness” and under the “dominion or authority of Satan”. In fact, the unbeliever is so identified with being under the dominion and authority of darkness that Paul in Ephesians 5:8 describes them as actually being “darkness”. Earlier in Ephesians 2:2 Paul describes what it is like to live in this darkness under the dominion of sin and Satan. He says that those who were in this condition lived their lives “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Jesus, in the Gospel of John describes those who are in the darkness as being people “who love the darkness rather than the light” in John
So with all this in mind, we see that when Paul tells us in Romans 3:9
that all unbelievers, Jew and Gentile, are “under sin”—he is telling us that in our unsaved condition we were under the reign, dominion, authority, control, and power of sin and Satan as we lived in complete spiritual darkness. Thus, we were slaves to sin and could do nothing but sin. And thus the reason why there was none righteous—not even one. And none who understood and none who sought God and none who did good and why we were all under the condemnation of the law with no hope and no help in and of ourselves.
Thus to merely forgive a person of his sins without removing him from under the dominion, power, and authority of sin would be no salvation at all because he would still be under the authority, dominion, control, and power of sin. And unless we understand the extent to which we were lost in terms of both our practice and our position we really can’t comprehend or grasp the infinite value of Christ’s work in saving us. And if all we see ourselves saved from is merely our sins and our own personal depravity rather than from the dominion, authority, power, and the reign of Satan as he controlled us through sin—we really have no idea of how great a salvation God has provided for us.
Furthermore, we really cannot understand how it is that God has provided for our sanctification in the sense of overcoming sin’s influence in our lives.
You see, if being “under sin” was where we were in our position before salvation—where are we now that we have been saved?
Colossians
Once we have been transferred from being “under sin” to being “under grace” it is forever—that is what Romans
What he meant by the word “indeed” at the end of his statement was that your freedom from the power, control, and authority of sin would be a true freedom—a real and genuine permanent freedom not just a temporary detant.
And the reason why—He said that “if the Son makes you free—you have this true, real, genuine, and permanent freedom from the power of sin is because He removed you from being “under sin” to being “under grace” as your new and permanent position in Christ.
Thus, there is never a single moment when the believer the child of God is outside the grace of God and not acceptable to God or accepted by God. Because we are living under the reign and dominion of God’s grace—His unmerited favor—and because God’s grace always increases and is more than abundant to deal with and cover our sin there will never be a time in our lives as believers where our standing before God is ever changed or in question.
Listen, being “under grace” means that our acceptance with God has forever been secured for us and will never ever change in the slightest degree so that we are ever less acceptable or more acceptable to Him. As a believer in Christ Jesus who is now “under grace” you are as accepted by God right now as you will be when you have been in heaven ten thousand years and having not sinned for those ten thousand years. Being “under grace” rather than being “under sin” means that even when you do sin on this earth—your sin has no bearing at all upon God’s love for you or desire for you.
The fact that we are now under grace and forever will be under grace ensures our eternal destiny and ensures that God will always deal with us in accordance with His grace and not in accordance with our sin. Listen, as believers we will never get the punishment we deserve. We will never ever fall from grace and thus incur God’s wrath or anger toward us regardless of how much we sin or how badly we sin as Christians.
And these kinds of statement while so very comforting to most of us who do sin much and badly—also causes others of you some concern doesn’t it?
To you—it sounds as though what I am saying is an encouragement for professing believers to just go out and sin all they want because God will never be angry with them or deal with them in accordance with their sin. I mean—if we cannot out sin God’s grace and if when our sin increases—God’s grace abounds all the more so as to cover it—why not just live any way we want and sin to our hearts content? Well—this is a good question. And in fact, it is the very question that Paul anticipates and then asks in Romans 6:1. But unless you understand that when he asks, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?” that he means: “Are we to continue living as though we were still under sin’s reign, control, dominion, and power so that grace may increase?”, you’ll end up missing the whole pint of Romans 6 and really of our sanctification and how it is that God makes us holy especially when dealing with sin habits and besetting sins.
Look at his answer that begins in Romans 6:2. “How shall we who through faith in Christ Jesus have been transferred from being under sin to being under grace and thus have in effect “died” to sin’s authority, control, power, and reign in my life—still live as though we are under sin’s power?” And then in rest of Romans 6, Paul explains this truth by teaching us that in as believers in Christ—we are in union with Christ so that everything that is true of Christ Jesus in this chapter is also true of us by virtue of the fact that we are completely identified with Christ. Keep in mind that baptism in the Bible is first and foremost a symbol of identification with either a teacher, a teaching, or both. And as the word is used here in this chapter, it is talking about our identification and union with Christ. Thus again, what ever is true of Christ is true of us. And so, because our old self really was crucified with and in Christ at the cross and because our old self really was buried with Christ and in Christ—who we were outside of Christ is dead and gone.
Now what this means practically is that you really did die to sin’s power over you when you trusted in Christ so that you really did become a new creation in Christ who no longer is under sin but under grace and thus is no longer under the power of sin but under the power of God. Thus, Romans 6:3-7 makes the point that as a believer in Christ you and I are no longer slaves to sin and to our sinful passions because we are no longer under sin’s jurisdiction and authority and thus we are no longer under sin’s power and control. Thus, as verse 7 points out using the present tense, if you are a Christian—a believer in Christ Jesus—it is not that you will someday be free of sin’s power and control in and over your passions—you are right now free from sin’s power because you are no longer “under sin”. Thus, we who know Christ as our Lord and Savior have been freed from sin and its power over our lives. In essence, we do not have to sin any more. Oh, we will but we do not have to.
In fact, whereas before salvation we sinned because it was our nature to do so as those who were under the reign of sin—now when we sin—as those who are no longer under the reign of sin but under the reign of grace—it is because we have chosen to do what we did not have to do and for that we are most foolish. So as those who are no longer “under sin” but “under grace” how do we then deal with sin’s temptations and our sinful lust’s cravings to pursue sin?
Look at Romans 6:11. We must reckon or consider that what God says about us is true and believe the fact that we really are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus because we are no longer “under sin” but “under grace”. And once we believe the truth about ourselves—then and only then are we able to obey Romans 6:12.
You see, God’s way of sanctifying us—that is making us practically and experientially holy is the same method He used in saving us—it is the method or the means of faith. Just as we had to believe God so as to be saved—we have to believe Him so as to be sanctified. And herein lies the battle—when you are struggling with sin and it has gotten the best of you more times than you even care to remember and you feel as though you are helpless to fight it and say “no” to it—and God’s Word tells you to believe and reckon yourselves as dead to sin’s power and control because the fact of the matter is you are no longer “under sin” but “under grace”.
This is the battle of faith. This is where you must exercise faith and in the midst of yet another sinful failure say—I will believe God and consider that everything that is true of Jesus in this passage is also true of me by virtue of the fact that I am in union with Christ. Therefore, I am as dead to the power and control of sin in and over my life as Jesus Christ is because I am in Christ—therefore, I do not have to obey this temptation and lustful passion that is raising its head in my life and in fact, I have the power to say “No”. And then do exactly that!
Of course, you may ask—well how can I truly say that I am indeed dead to sin when I am conscious of sin in me and feel like a terrible sinner? You must do as Abraham did in Romans 4:18-21 and believe the Word of God even when everything in us and about us is telling us otherwise. Again, this is the battle of faith. Now—there is so much in Romans 6 that we have not had the time to touch upon—in fact, it is my guess that once we get to this chapter we will spend weeks in it if not months.
Yet, I hope you have seen that not only were you and I saved from our acts of sin—we were saved from the domain and the dominion of sin so that we truly are new creatures in Christ Jesus. We are no longer “under sin”. We are “under grace”. Sin has no jurisdiction or authority over us, no control in us, no power to make us fall—but if we are to experience this freedom from sin’s power and control in our lives and thus really to experience our salvation at work in our life—we must live the Christian life the same way we began it—by faith in the promises of God.
Romans 8:1 really is true of us who love Jesus. There is no condemnation for us because not only have we been forgiven of all our sins—past, present, and future—we have been removed from the reign of sin and Satan to the reign of grace in Christ Jesus. And thus in removing us from under the reign of sin—God delivered us from the condemnation of being “under the law” and from the fear of death—because as 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 puts it:
“O Death where is your victory?
O Death where is your sting?
The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law;
But thanks be to God Who gives us the victory through
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Oh, how great a salvation and how amazing is God’s grace to us who believe!
Listen, every single person who is here today is either “under sin” or “under grace”. You are either under the jurisdiction and authority and control of sin or you are living under grace. There are no other possibilities. If you are in Christ you are under grace. If you are outside of Christ you are under sin and therefore under the condemnation of God’s law and thus on your way to a Christless eternity in hell.
Won’t you believe in Christ today and receive spiritual asylum from sin?
No comments:
Post a Comment