His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): Today on His Perfect Love, living life to the fullest in the victory of Jesus.

Matt VanderVen: Whether you want to partake in the battle or not, friend, you are in the battle. The question is, are you a pawn that is just manipulated and victimized? Are you working for the Lord's army where God is directing your steps? All of your mind, your instruments are brought into that subjection to the sovereignty of God.

People aren't talking about this today. It's really important. It's discipleship. Paul wanted us to know how to live the Christian life, and he wanted us to live it with victory, friends.

Guest (Male): Hello, friend, and thanks for joining us today for His Perfect Love. We're going through Romans, and today we'll see what it says about who we are in Christ and how to be successful in our battle against sin. Make your way over to chapter 6 as we uncover how to live the victorious Christian life. There's a lot to discover from this very valuable and practical passage of scripture. Here now to mine some of its gems, starting at verse 13, is Pastor Matt VanderVen.

Matt VanderVen: We're going to pick up in verse 13. We've come that far. If you'd turn in your Bible to Romans chapter 6, we're going to look at verse 13. As I said, he's made his way to this point that verse 12 left off: "Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey it in its lust." That was where he left off, and he was saying this habitual sin—the lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, the pride of life—this will do you in as a Christian.

This will be something that tries to consume you, but if you don't understand that you have victory over it, therefore you have a free will choice to sin or to not sin, there's a power in that. When you know you have the capability or the ability to do something, all of a sudden you begin to take account of that and you walk in it. And that's what Paul was building for us. This is a chapter of encouragement and a chapter of sanctification.

This is a chapter of how we walk the Christian life. Whether you've been saved one day or you've been saved 50 or 60 years, this chapter speaks what we need to understand and how we're to live. A lot of it is for our minds and our hearts so that we're not divided, so that we're not wrestling with God. What do I mean divided? The flesh doesn't quit, does it? But the spirit—Galatians 5:16 says it's a battle between the flesh and the spirit. We read that last week.

He doesn't want us to be divided like that. He says that if we walk in the spirit, we can overcome the snare of the flesh. Jesus isn't grammatically challenged. If He tells us that's something that we can have, that's a gift He's given us, then we ought to receive that. Amen? Let's jump in. He says, "And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead."

Isn't it fitting that today we talk about baptism? What is baptism? Dying and new life, the resurrection. Dying with Christ and being buried with Christ, rising to the resurrection to newness of life that we read already back in verse four of chapter six. He says, "And your members as instruments of righteousness to God." Just think about that. Our instruments—our hands, our mouth—they're not to be instruments for wicked or evil any longer. Now they're to be dedicated unto the Lord.

"For sin shall not have dominion." Kyrio in the Greek. Kyrio is the word; it expresses a power over you. "For you are not under the law, but you're under the system of grace." He says, "But you're under grace." When you look at this, backing up to verse 13, if a person lived in prison for a number of years, or even in some ways the military for a number of years, if you were in the military for say 23 or 24 years and you were used to a certain system.

Prison is another example. If you were in prison for a number of years and you were used to life where your time was dedicated to certain activities that really weren't necessarily always up for you to choose but were made for you and you had to fit in this, and then all of a sudden you were set free. You come out of prison and you have this opportunity to do pretty much anything you want. Where are you going to eat? What would you like for dinner tonight? Not what are they serving.

What does your next day look like? Where are you going to work? All of these choices. One of the things that a lot of times in a prison ministry you'll do is helping those that come out, and when it's lovely, when they're born-again believers in Christ, helping them to understand life outside of prison. This newness of life and how to live that life outside of prison to the fullest in the victory of Jesus Christ. As believers, Paul is going to put us in a similar idea here.

He's going to say, much like prisoners when they come out and they're set free, they still think and act like a prisoner for a while. There's a process that has to take place before they realize, "Wow, I can really do these things." But even though I can do these things, maybe these things aren't so good for me to do. Because the temptations and things—maybe drugs or alcohol, things that landed them in prison to begin with—weren't readily available for them. But now they're out and they're readily available.

But they're not good for them. Learning to adjust to that, learning to have those temptations flood you again and be able to stand strong and say, "No, Lord, I don't want that." Paul here is helping us understand the habits of freedom haven't been established. They haven't been lived. They haven't been adopted. Paul shows us how to build the habits of freedom in the Christian life in verse 13. He's saying your members. He goes first that they need to stop yielding to their bodily appetites.

Look at it again in verse 13. He says, "And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin." That's what he's saying there, that there's a choice and it has to be intentional. We have to be willing to look at this and say intentionally, "I am not going to walk in the way of sin, no matter how enticing it might seem for a moment." It's going to bite. In hence doing, because they never do that, they actually live a life of defeat.

Think about that. That has to be the contrary. A life of victory is on one paradigm, and what would be the opposite of that? A life of defeat. We might not want to say that, we might not want to believe that, we might not want to acknowledge that because that hurts. It's hard. If we're being real and we examine our hearts, it's real. We all have to ask that question, are we being defeated? Are we walking a neutered life? I said it last week as bold as I could say it.

Are we neutered Christians? Again, I apologize if I'm offending anybody with the boldness of that tone, but I think there's a severity or sobriety to this, a soberness to this, that we need to understand that there's a choice. Living a life of defeat, discouragement, imprisonment isn't going to produce what God wants to produce in us through that sanctification and victory. We're missing out on God's very best. Sometimes fear, sometimes laziness, sometimes indifference. I don't know.

In me it can be all the above at any one moment. It really can. If I haven't put my eyes on Christ, my members aren't going to be yielded to righteousness, are they? It's not going to happen on its own. As a matter of fact, because the flesh is waging a war, I'm going to be more likely to yield to what's comfortable. That's exactly what Paul's trying to prevent the Christians in Rome from doing and, I believe, 2,000 years later, what he wants for you and I because of Jesus Christ.

He says your members are the parts of your body. Think about what he's talking about. Your ears, your lips, your eyes, your hands, your mind. This is very practical here. Instruments could be better translated here, weapons. You're in a spiritual battle, aren't you? Ephesians chapter 6, 11 through 17 tells us that. It's a battle for the mind. It's not a battle of blood and flesh, is it? It's a battle for the mind.

Some of us maybe aren't aware of that battle. We haven't been in the battle; we've been on a shelf. Maybe we've been victims. Well, that's not where God wants us to be. When the parts of our body are given over to righteousness, they're weapons for good. That's what God wants. When they're given over to sin, what are they? They're weapons for evil. It's not the weapon, it's the motivation of the weapon. Amen? People are fighting for gun laws and all this other stuff, and it's the same thing over and over again.

It's a gun. If you lay a gun down somewhere, a gun doesn't hurt anybody. But when someone picks up a gun with the incorrect or inappropriate motivation, then what happens? Something that's not right. But somebody picks up a gun to defend somebody, to protect, then righteousness. So we can see it's not the gun, it's the motivation. Jesus is saying the same thing with our ears, our lips, our minds, our hearts, with everything that we have. Are they brought into attention?

Like in the military, do we stand at attention? Do we recognize that we are in a battle? It's very deliberate. Whether you want to partake in the battle or not, friend, you are in the battle. The question is, are you a pawn that is just manipulated and victimized? Are you working for the Lord's army where God is directing your steps? All of your mind, your instruments are brought into that subjection to the sovereignty of God.

People aren't talking about this today. It's really important. It's discipleship. Paul wanted us to know how to live the Christian life, and he wanted us to live it with victory, friends. He didn't want us to be a casualty. Think of David in the Old Testament. David's hands were used to slay Goliath—one of his members, right? It was for a cause of righteousness, wasn't it? But that same David, later on, his eyes—one of the members of his body—was used for lust and unrighteousness with Bathsheba.

The second thing that he tells us is he says you must present yourselves to God. This is the key to walking to freedom in Jesus, the freedom that He won for us. It's not enough to take the weapons away from the service of sin; he tells us that we need to enable our service to righteousness. It's not enough to say, "I won't sin and therefore that's good enough." No, he says those weapons that he's given you—giftings of the Holy Spirit—are to be used for the battle ahead.

They are not just to be put up on a shelf as though they're retired because no longer are you ensreared into sin or into unrighteousness. On the contrary, he says put those to use for the glory of God. Isn't that powerful the way he's explaining this? They must be enlisted, using a military term again, for the service of God, for the service of righteousness. From a military strategy perspective, the side with the better weapons—unless God's hand directly intervenes—usually the side with the better weapons wins.

The side that's more organized wins like that. Now certainly there's supernatural aspects to that. In verse 14 he says, "For sin shall not have dominion." Kyrio in the Greek, meaning to have power. That's exactly what it's talking about. It says sin will not have power over you. For you are not hoopa, he says in the Greek again. You're not under. That's what that word in the Greek means. He's talking about a power over and he's contrasting that to an under, a hoopa.

So he's kyrio, hoopa. You have power in victory and you're not under this sin. What's hoopa mean? Subjected to a person, a power, or a thing. He says you're not under the law, but you're subjected to something. What are you subjected to? To Christ, to Jesus. And what would we call that? There's a power there. And what system is it? It's a system of grace. That's the path by which we can live in this freedom. It's a freedom, but it's through the system of grace.

It can't happen legalistically, otherwise the law would have been sufficient. But it wasn't. It can't be performance-oriented. It can't be works-based. Again, legalism. It has to be a system of grace. It will happen as we live not under, hoopa, the law, but we live hoopa, under grace. Do you see that? This shows us again that a life lived truly under grace will be a righteous life if all of our members are subjected to the sovereignty of God, to His will be done.

The law was defined as God's standard, and it shows us where we fall short, but it can't give us any kind of freedom from sin. The law could never free you. But grace, as we already read in Romans chapter 5, can. It's grace that reigns through righteousness, Romans chapter 5, verse 21. Grace, not the law, provides the freedom and power. Did you know that actually understanding and being in that position of grace is when you are able to receive that kyrio, the dominion, the power over it?

One would think in our humanity, in our ability to try to have control or exhibit control on others, lording over someone, you would think that would come in that. That is a legalistic position. Control, micromanagement, and all of that is legalistic. You would think under that there would be power. After all, when we're struggling with anxiety or we're overwhelmed by something, what is the natural reaction of the flesh? It's to want to control the situation so that you could somehow see what's coming around the corner.

Or the fear of the unknown, or being able to control the situation. That's you exercising your ability or power to control that situation. God tells us, once again, as Jesus has come and truly helped us understand His word, He says when you want to gain your life you have to lose it. It's the exact opposite of what the world teaches and sometimes even what common sense or logical to our understanding, how limited it is. God says, "I don't think like you do."

And I praise Jesus for that. He doesn't think like a mortal. He thinks like an eternal God, a God of love, a God who ushers in a system of grace. What he tells us is actually it's not that legalism, it's not the control that's going to bring order to that situation. It's not that kyrio power that you try to bring in that moment. It's exact opposite. He says it's the hoopa, it's the you being under the system of grace.

When you come at that and you don't have an expectation of, "Well, that person wronged me, I need to retaliate," when you don't have that expectation, it's kind of like, "That's got nothing on me, man." And it's the same thing when we struggle with addictions. You know my background. The minute I tried to control it, to wield my way in it, "Oh this is it, this is the last time," and then the minute I just was like, "All right, Lord, it is Yours." And I let go, and I believed, and I trusted.

I really just got on my knees and said, "Kyrio, You have dominion and power, God. Hoopa, I am under the system of grace." It got really easy. It's not at all what I expected. I expected it to be arduous, as it was arduous every other time. It is exact opposite. My intellect betrayed me. My common sense betrayed me in those moments. That's why He says don't lean on your own understanding, but acknowledge Me. And He's going to direct your paths.

It may not seem like you're going in the right way, oh, but you are. I love that. There's so much wisdom in that, if we would just try to live it out. Well, in verse 15 he says, "What then? Shall we sin 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.

What he's not saying is, "What then? Shall we sin because we're not under law but under grace? Certainly not." He's not just saying, "Hey, should we keep sinning?" He's already asked that question in verse one. He's not repeating it again in verse 15. The question's asked, "Shall we sin?" has more to do with occasional sin because we're not under 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. 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, 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 in the ancient Greek word, sin is important. It's in the future active tense. 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 active tense, which connotes or means a dabbling.

It's not the same word used for continual sin. It's more of an occasion. That's why I called it that. 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.

Guest (Male): Such an encouraging message here in Romans chapter 6, showing us how to walk the Christian life and overcome the snare of the flesh. This is His Perfect Love. Pastor Matt VanderVen is our Bible teacher. You can hear the study again at hisperfectlove.org. That's hisperfectlove.org. We're also at oneplace.com, and look for us wherever you get your podcasts.

We also have a mobile app. This is a great way to take Pastor Matt's teachings with you at the gym, in the car, on your way to work, or as you're getting ready in the morning. You can learn more about the mobile app and start your download when you visit our website, hisperfectlove.org. And thank you for your prayers and financial support. You can make a donation to this ministry and send us your prayer requests through the website, again at hisperfectlove.org.

Those of you that are in the Mechanicsburg, PA area or will be visiting the area, we want to invite you to join us for a worship service here at Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore. Sunday morning services begin at 8:30 and 10:30. We have a midweek service on Wednesdays at 7:00 PM. We're located at 28 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, PA. Go to ccharrisburg.com for more information. There is much more to come in Romans. Don't miss a moment of the journey with Pastor Matt here on His Perfect Love. His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.