His Perfect Love

Matt VanderVen: When we serve God, he gives us the best imaginable gift: eternal life with our Heavenly Father. That's what awaits you and I. That's the promise and the hope we have. Are you ready to dig in? Is there anything gonna hold you back? What are you afraid of?

You've already been given the gift. It's already waiting for you. We should be fearless when we're in the will of God, fearless.

Guest (Male): It is time for His Perfect Love, the daily radio outreach of Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. As you take a close inventory of your life, would you say you're under sin's control? Maybe it feels like you just can't break free from it, but you really want to. Is there any hope?

Romans 6 points the way to freedom from sin by the grace of God and in the power of the spirit. Only there is true freedom found. Here is Pastor Matt VanderVen with more from Romans chapter six, starting with verse 15.

Matt VanderVen: In verse 15, he says, "What then? Shall we sin?" This is in the future tense because we are not under the law but under grace. Certainly not. This is the second question he asks. You remember in verse one was the first. This is the second question. This is really, and I'm going to help you understand what he's asking here in the Greek because the Greek explains it a little better.

What he's not saying is, "What then? Shall we sin because we're not under the law but under grace? Certainly not." He's not just saying, "Should we keep sinning?" He's already asked that question in verse one. He's not repeating it again in verse 15. The question asked, "Shall we sin?" has more to do with occasional sin because we're not under the law but we're under grace.

Paul has already told us in verse one that a lifestyle of habitual sin is not compatible with those that are living a life changed by grace. But what about occasional sin? What about sin here or there? A little white lie, some people have called it. I've heard people use that term, "white lie." Call it a pink lie, call it a yellow lie, I don't care what color you call it. It's a lie.

A half-truth is a lie. "Well, I want to protect someone's feelings." Are you lying? Yes. So how do you think God's going to honor that? How can he? God's not a respecter of persons. He doesn't lie. It says in the Bible he can't lie. So what about the occasional sin? If we're under grace and not the law, must we be so concerned with sin here?

I think that's what Paul's dealing with in verse 15. And again, the verb tense, as I mentioned, in the ancient Greek word, "sin," is important. It's in the future active tense. It indicates a dabbling. It's not the same thing as in verse one when he says, "We continually sin." No, that meant exactly what we would understand better in the English, a continual, habitual sin.

What we see here in verse 15 is, "Shall we sin?" but the "shall" is in the future tense, which means in the English it gives this idea of here or there, or a dabbling. It's not the same word used for continual sin as he said in verse one, "Shall we continually sin?" It's more of an occasion. That's why I called it that. I didn't know what other word to use.

But he's clearly made a differentiation here in verse 15 for us. So he's condemning not only habitual sin, but in verse 15, he's even condemning occasional sin. Let's look at verse 16 and 17. "Do you not know?" I love when Paul says that. "Do you not know?" It's like, "Maybe I do, Paul, maybe I don't, but I'm sure I'm going to know now after reading this."

"Do you not know that to whom you present yourself slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered." So he says, "To whom you present yourselves as slaves, that's who you obey."

You're going to have a master, every one of us in here. I think of our young people. We were all young at one time, some of us with our gray hair. Maybe we don't remember. When I say some of us, obviously all of us were young, but I mean some of us are a little younger than others. I don't know how else to say it. I'm perpetually 13, I think, mentally, and those that know me well enough would agree and laugh.

But when I read this, it reminds me back of the fads growing up. I had these fads. Do you think you chose those fads? I can remember the sneakers a certain way and things today a certain way. You can look at different people based on when I was growing up. We had the jocks, and they dressed one way. We kind of dressed one way, kind of fit in with that and called them the jocks.

Then we had another kind of group where they wore the leather jackets. I was friends with those guys too, so I kind of was friends with everybody. I kind of took a turn depending on the day of the week: throw the leather jacket on, throw the jersey on. I was in all of it. The leather jackets, and you kind of rode the motorcycle.

Did I get to choose when I was in any one of those groups what I actually wore or did? My hairstyle changed, the way my vernacular changed, the things I used, the terms I used. Just think about that for a minute. Really think about that in humility for a moment. I'm not attacking anybody here, but think about that. How we get so conditioned by something that we begin to think it's our own.

How many of you remember Michael Jackson's jacket and the white glove? It was on his right hand, I can't remember. He used to have that glove, he put it on, he did the whole thing and he swirled. I'm not going to do it for you right now. I know you're like, "Come on, Pastor, break it out, break it out, baby." I ain't going to do it for you. But you would do that, right?

My point was, you wore the jacket, right? You wore your hair like that. Did you get to choose that? Did you wake up one morning going, "You know, I'm going to make this leather jacket or pleather, depending on where you were at, and I'm going to put these silver type of things on my shoulders and I'm going to turn around and I'm just going to wear one glove. I just feel like one glove today. Today's a one-glove day."

That's it, not two gloves. I bought two, I'm throwing one out, I'm wearing one. And it's on a particular hand. Did you actually get to choose that? No, you didn't. If you're honest, you were following. You were following a fad. Is it any different today? Think about it. I don't care what activity you do, you're following and serving something.

You're a master to something, or something's a master to you, however you want to put it. I think this is important. This is what Paul's bringing out here. He says, "To whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, that's the one you're a slave to." Whatever you present yourself to obey, you're going to become a slave of it. Even today, you can be a Christian, but you can be caught up in something and begin to speak the language of that.

Think about it. Sometimes we have friends from California here. I don't want to say, but sometimes back in the 70s and 80s growing up, "gnarly waves" and the whole thing with the surfboard. I wanted a surfboard so bad. I lived in Rochester, New York. Where was I going to surf? But I wanted a surfboard and instead, I got surfboard wax because that's all I could find.

And I had wax and I'm like, "Someday I'll get a surfboard." You get the point. We start talking that way, we start acting that way. So what's Paul really saying here? He says you put your faith, the obedience of your heart, in God and his word. That's the doctrine we see there. And now you're set free. He says now live every day consistent with that freedom.

It's a command meant to encourage us. He's telling us to let the audio and video match. That's what he's saying. Isn't that a term? I'm using a vernacular even by saying that for our audio and video-file type guys. Look at verse 18. "And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness." What does it mean to be free from sin and to become a slave of righteousness?

It means that sin no longer is your master. That's what it means. Now righteousness is your master. So he's saying serve righteousness instead. Look at verse 19. "I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh." Paul, tell us how it really is. Say it like it really is, Paul. He doesn't hold back.

"For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness and of lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness." I'm going to explain that in a minute. "What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

But now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end, everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." I always underline verse 23 because it's a promise. It's a promise for those born-again believers.

The first thing he tells us, he says, "Look, I speak in human terms. It's because of the weakness of your flesh." Paul explains to them in terms that they would understand that referenced the body parts. Remember that? Members: your mouth, your ears. He's relating it to things, he's giving application for you and I today.

But for that church in Rome that he had never actually physically been present to at that point, at least, he's trying to help them understand the application in their lives for them because he's speaking of things that have a spiritual aspect that you may not normally or readily be able to see, like the newness of life.

When we got rid of the Adamic nature by receiving Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, it wasn't though I can look upon any of you and go, "Oh, you got rid of your Adamic nature. You now have the Christ-like nature. You have a newness of life." Maybe if I watched you, and I could see some fruit or bearing of fruit, but certainly, I can't judge the heart.

None of us can. We can't really tell that. That's why Paul says even in the end times, or Peter as well, he says to be careful; there will be wolves among the sheep. You really don't know. It's becoming more clear today, praise God. Some people are upset about that. We're seeing a falling away. Praise God because we know who the believer is.

We know those that want to sit under the truth. We know those that aren't turning around and having "honey-do." They're not interested in the well-pleasing words, the tickling of the ears. No, they want the word of God and they're willing to submit themselves to that, even if it means they have to turn around and really defeat their own will by turning around and saying, "You know what? I want less of me."

As God would say to us, to pray, "Less of me, more of him," as John the Baptist prayed, ever decreasing. Is that at the end of every one of our texts, our emails, our phone conversations? Ever decreasing. I hope that's something that's not necessarily seen because of the spirituality of that and the spiritual application, but something that's always written on every one of our hearts: ever decreasing.

Because if we're ever decreasing, who's increasing in us? Jesus Christ. We're becoming more like him. That's what Paul's explaining in a term or concepts that they can understand: their body parts, slavery. Especially with the Romans, think about that. They knew exactly what that was about. In verse 20 it says, "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness."

Paul's point is almost humorous here. When you were left to your own will and pleasure, you chose not to do what is righteous, and you called that freedom? Remember what I was talking about the fads and how you were serving one master? You thought you were free. You were just following somebody else's fad.

You were still following. You still are today. But who are you following? What are you following? Is it just another fad? Today, the attention spans are less and less. I mean, fads last—when I was growing up, I mean, gosh, remember even the 70s and part of the 80s? You at least got five years out of a fad, maybe.

Today, months, if you're lucky. And I don't mean lucky in a good way; I mean if it happens that way, because the attention spans are so short. I'm going to talk about that as we go through communion this morning. But what he's telling us here is that there was no freedom even when we thought we had freedom.

We really didn't. We fooled ourselves. We fooled ourselves into a false freedom, thinking that we did. And then in verses 21 and 22, he says, "What fruit did you have then?" The end product of sin is what? Death. That's what he says right there. The end product of sin is death. It's not fun. It's not what you thought it was going to be.

But for the believer, those that are seeking righteousness, what is the end product? Everlasting life. That's your and my end product. That's what we are living for. That's the aim. That's what we have already received the promise, and now we ought to act like it. We ought to act like it.

We're indestructible so long as we are in the will of God to do the things he has called us to do. And we ought not to act as though we're ashamed of Christ. We ought not to act as though we're afraid to do those things that Christ would have us do. Are you willing to take a stand?

Are you willing to stand that abortion is wrong and is murder? Are you afraid to offend your coworkers if they ask you what do you think about it? Are you afraid to post it online that somebody might follow your social network or whatever it is, and that could hurt your future employment because somebody goes back and researches that, because they absolutely do?

And they say, "Wow, is this person going to be able to work in a corporate environment where they can have relationships with people that have different belief systems than they have? Or are they going to be a proselyte? Are they going to be constantly proselytizing what they believe?" It's coming to a city near you. It's been in the works.

I mean, look at the HR of most companies today. I told you the story one time, maybe some of you remember. I literally got written up because I wouldn't ride with a woman in the same car because I said, "She has a husband and I want to respect that, and I have a wife and I'll meet her at the customer meeting."

And I was accused of being intolerant to her feelings as a woman that I wouldn't ride with her. That has gotten so topsy-turvy. Originally, it was the opposite. You worried about maybe the male at that time doing something he shouldn't do with the woman that he was with, and so it was for the woman's protection that usually HR was coming in.

Now it's the opposite. And you just try processing that. It's Isaiah 5. Things are becoming more and more evil and people are simply saying, "Oh, this is all great." And I don't think it's just going to stick to party lines as many people think politically today. I think you're going to see it eventually start to—I've been praying about our state, our commonwealth here of PA.

You've been seeing a lot of the abortion laws and debates being put—it's being brought back down to the states, which I agree with. It was never something that should have been federally mandated; it should have been handled at the states. And people—I don't want to take a political pulpit here, so I need to be careful—but people ought to vote with what they believe as they're Spirit-led.

And if something—as New York, where I'm from—I'm glad my sales tax dollars or my income tax dollars aren't going to fund that. And if I was living there, I would be thinking twice of if I wanted to stay there. Because I assure you that if enough people stood for what they believed and they actually were willing to move to places that would honor the sanctity of life, then those companies that want to give all or governments that want to give all of this things for free and all these things they want to do but they go against my Bible, your Bible, eventually they would be what?

Bankrupt. They financially wouldn't be able to do that. It would be a very simple solution when it was handled at the state level. It's how it was in our Constitution, it was designed to be that way. We have fallen so far. Martin Luther King, a beautiful man, fought for the value of life because a lot of people got it wrong.

And today, many people have just taken life and they devalued it all over again. But now it's not based on race, which was terribly evil. It's based on a choice of an individual of, "No, it's not convenient." Do the research. One percent or less of the abortions actually have something to do with the health of the mother or the child.

I just think we need to tell the truth. As I've been saying, as Paul's been saying, we need to be honest. And then at least we can have an honest debate if people disagree. Okay. The wages of sin is death. What we're seeing in America is we're reaping what we've been sowing. But it's not too late. Please don't give up hope.

Please pray. Please stand on the word of God because we know believers in Christ Jesus is our Lord. And he says that when we serve God, he gives us the best imaginable gift: eternal life with our Heavenly Father. That's what awaits you and I. That's the promise and the hope we have. Are you ready to dig in?

Is there anything going to hold you back? What are you afraid of? You've already been given the gift. It's already waiting for you. We should be fearless when we're in the will of God, fearless.

Guest (Male): Well, we conclude this chapter here looking back. He answered his first question, why we don't continue in habitual sin, because when we're saved, our sins are forgiven, and God's extended grace to us and we're radically changed. The old man is dead and the new man lives.

Therefore, it's utterly incompatible for a new creation in Jesus to be comfortable in habitual sin. A state of sin can only be temporary for the Christian. That's what we've learned. And as we read in Paul's next question in verse 15 there, what about the occasional sin? Since we're under grace, as believers, we have a new master, not a master of a fad, not a master of evil, not a master of this earth or the lusts of this earth.

The Christian must fight against every occasional sin. We have to be deliberate about that. Everyone here is on a unique race. It's God that's working it out through sanctification in our hearts, but we're all in it. And we shouldn't be comparing our results and where we are in the race with someone else. Because that certainly doesn't lead to a good place.

It just brings each one of us down because we always look to other people and think they're doing better than us. Hopefully, that's the right heart everybody has. We must press towards the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's in Philippians chapter three, verse 14.

Well, thanks for joining us today for His Perfect Love. You can hear this study from Pastor Matt VanderVen again when you visit hisperfectlove.org. Catch up on what you may have missed in Romans at hisperfectlove.org. Look for us on oneplace.com and most of the major podcast platforms.

The Calvary Chapel Harrisburg mobile app is another great way to listen to Pastor Matt's messages shortly after they're delivered. We can help you get started when you visit hisperfectlove.org. His Perfect Love is made possible through the support of listeners just like you. Together we can bring the truths of God's word to the radio every day.

You can make a donation at hisperfectlove.org. And Pastor Matt would like to hear from you. Tell us the station you listen to and what you're getting out of this study in Romans. He would be so encouraged. Email us there at the website, hisperfectlove.org.

We hope you'll visit us at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek service too, Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. We're located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to ccharrisburg.org for more information. We have a little bit of time left, so let's see what's in store for next time when Pastor Matt opens Romans chapter seven.

Matt VanderVen: But before faith came, we kept what? Under guard by the law, kept for the faith which afterward would be revealed. Therefore, the law was a tutor to bring us to Christ. Why? Because when I post a sign that says 55 miles an hour, what do you set your cruise control to? 60, or 65, or 62. It's just begging you to do it.

But without a law, do you know how to blow past it? No, he's—we're going to—that's what he's talking about in Romans. That's the case he's building. He says the law never set free; the law actually baited you. It tempted you. But it also let you understand a moral conduct or righteousness, that we might be justified by faith.

But after faith has come, he says we don't need that tutor. We don't need that law. The law can do nothing for us. The law can do nothing for us now because we've been given something far greater, and that's the system of grace. We've been given a love that surpasses and transcends all our understanding, and that's through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Guest (Male): We have that to look forward to on the next edition of His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt. See you next week.