His Perfect Love

Guest (Male): The truth about sin and who you really are in Christ. Next on His Perfect Love. This is His perfect love. The word goes out. It's what real love looks like in truth and faith. This is His perfect love.

Romans Chapter 6 tells us that we are no longer under sin's dominion. As believers in Christ, we are now under new management and that in Christ, we are free from sin's power. Now, that should excite and motivate you. Today on His Perfect Love, we learn that we are no longer a slave to sin as Christians. Pastor Matt VanderVen brings Romans Chapter 6, verses 5-11 into focus. But first, Pastor Matt brings us up to speed with this review.

Matt VanderVen: God had taken us and he, through his word, and again, Chapter 3 brought us to this idea that we are all guilty of sin and that we need a Savior. We need one that is able to save us from our own sin. We then went into Chapter 4, and he began to show us how it was only by faith and faith alone. Chapter 5 began to pick up some steam here and he started talking about how, while there was one man Adam, there was one greater, the man Christ Jesus, the God-man that came. If all of humanity entered into sin nature through one man, the Adamic nature, everyone else can then through Jesus Christ receive him as Lord and Savior and enter into that new nature, the new life, the new man.

Scripturally using God's terms, he uses "old man" and "new man." Those are his terms. You might hear people say "sin nature," but that is Christianese. That is not found in the Bible. Old man and new man are the specific terms that we see in the scripture, and we are going to go through that. But he tells us that this new man received is dead to sin. Now, that sounds well and good until you live more than a day in the Christian life and you say, "But I just sinned again. I thought I had a new nature. How is this possible?"

Well, I am glad you asked. Because as we read on, we are going to see that there is a battle in verse 1 and in verse 15. There are two different questions he asks in Chapter 6. He is going to explain it to everybody. He says that, yes, grace abounds more than sin. You should not continue in your sin, whether it is habitual sin, which is this first half of what he tackles in Chapter 6, or occasional sin, which is the latter half he tackles in Chapter 6.

He is going to say, "But here is how it is possible." I don't know about you, but I want to know how it is possible to live the Christian life when I am challenged by my flesh. When I am struggling with my own conscience and soul because I know what the spirit wants me to do, but there is that decision. What do I do? With that, we covered verses 1 through 4 last week. Because of time, we are just going to jump right into it again with verse 1. I won't exegete in such detail until verse 5, where I continue exegesis line by line.

I just want us to understand that this is what he set as a foundation before us. He has created us as intelligent beings. We are to worship intelligently, but we are also to come to the word of God intelligently and with questions we might have, like why and how we do this. How is it possible? This is a chapter on sanctification. This is not a chapter on salvation; he is already done with that. He did that for chapters 4 and 5: faith and faith alone.

What happens after that? Is it void? Do we continue sinning? Do we say, "Well, sin abounds, and I know grace abounds more, so I can do whatever I want to do"? We laugh, but much of the Christian church does not understand God's word on this because they pick and choose what seems right in their own eyes. Let's look in Chapter 6, verse 1 of Romans. "What shall we say then?" again picking up from really verses 20 and 21 of Chapter 5. "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?"

That is the question right there. Circle that in your bibles. That is the question he is going to take the next 14 verses to address. "Certainly not. How shall we who died..." wait a minute, are you alive? Do you have a pulse? Didn't you die? Yes. What does the Bible say? If you are born twice, you will die once. But if you are only born once, you are going to die twice. The book of Revelation teaches of a second death. The first death is our mortal bodies dying, but the second death is being cast into the lake of fire. It even says in Revelation, right around Chapter 20, that it is our second death. And that is what awaits those who have not placed their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

It is a free choice. It is a choice that anyone can make, and it is not merited or based on anyone deserving it. It is not because someone is better than someone else. It does not even matter at that moment if they have just committed the most horrific sin and are sitting in prison somewhere or are guilty of whatever they have been charged. At that moment when they receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they are free and free indeed. That is the gift and the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

He gave it to you and me without any strings attached because he loves us and because of his truth. How can you come in here and not celebrate when we hear this good news? Because all it takes is a memory of just who we were before Christ and now to know who we are in Christ. Thank you, Jesus. Amen? He says, "Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized..." actually, let me back up. He says, "Who died to sin, live any longer in it?" How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? It is gone; it is not there. The old man is dead.

He is going to make this case. He says that now when you sin, the sin must be coming from somewhere else. We are going to talk about that. He is going to tell us where that is. Let's continue. "Or do you not know that as many of us were baptized..." circle that. That is the same word, baptizo. Next week, we have a baptism. We have at least one or two people coming up who we know will be baptized during the first and second service. We will have our baptistry up here. It will be wonderful because it will be one more time that we see a public proclamation of the inward transformation of the heart that we will all be able to see.

When Jesus Christ was on the cross at Calvary, there was a spiritual transaction that took place. All of us believe that, or we wouldn't be born-again believers. Did you physically with your eyes see that transaction? No. Two thousand years ago, if you were physically present, would you have seen that spiritual transaction take place? No. You would have seen the outcome of that, which was the veil being torn from top to bottom. You would have seen a centurion guard as he sat there and punctured the outer chamber of the heart and water came forth.

You would have seen that. And then what would you have seen? Him fall to his knees as the skies and the storm was coming, realizing that what he did was supernatural. There was something different about this act of crucifixion, which he had done 500 or 1,000 times before, but there was something at that moment different that he had never experienced or seen before. This is a man who was trained in how to do this. This was not his first rodeo. But there was something different that day and that night before Passover.

Something he could experience, but he did not have words. He would not have been able to visually see it. But the Bible tells us what it was. It said that the sin of humanity for the believer, for those that confess and place their faith in Jesus Christ alone, their sin past, present, and future was done away with. He even said "Tetelestai" in the Greek, meaning what? "It is finished." It is an accounting term, completed. Justification, a legal term. He is saying it's done. But can you and I see that it was done?

That is part of the faith of understanding what we need to believe and who we are in Christ as sons and daughters. I think we have half of Christianity today walking around with half of the gift God has given them. They have half of what God intended them to have in the spiritual walk in life of this world. They are half full because they are not walking in the truth of what he said and did on that cross. They are not acknowledging the death to the old man.

What were you and I born into before we were reborn, born again, as I say in John 3? Nicodemus, Nick at night. Before we had that experience and we were born again, when we were born, whose likeness and image were we born in? Adam's. Well, Pastor, where do you say that? Originally in the garden, whose likeness were we all born in? Adam and Eve at that point. Whose likeness? God's. Let's turn to Genesis, Chapter 3. We need to go back. Let's start in actually Chapter 5. We are going to look at the family of Adam, if you will, the genealogy.

We studied this in the book of Genesis as we were going through it, and I remember a few people came up afterward and said, "I have never seen this passage." Or, "I have read the book of Genesis 10 or 20 times, and I just don't remember ever seeing this. This makes so much sense now when I go back and read the book of Romans because now I understand what Paul is talking about." He says in Chapter 5, verse 1, "This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day of God, in that day that God created man, he made him in the likeness of God."

Very clear cut. Underline that: "In the likeness of God." We can all see that. We get it. Before original sin, that is how Adam was created. Things were very, very good. He created them male and female. Genesis Chapter 1, verses 26 and 27. Male and female, and blessed them and called them mankind in the day that they were created. "And Adam lived 130 years and got a son in his own likeness." Underline that. That is everything because that talks about the Adamic nature compared to the nature that is from Christ.

The original nature that is in the likeness of God was in the garden originally with Adam and Eve as they dwelled and walked in the garden and fellowshipped with God. They were created in the likeness. But then when original sin in Genesis Chapter 3 came, there was a proclamation given to mankind that man would work and toil, and there would be sweat on his brow. There would be a curse on all of creation that way. The mountains, the earth, and everything around it would moan and groan. Women would then travail in giving birth.

There would be pain and labor. Women, how about it? Pain, labor? Or is it just like going to Hershey Park? No. There's never been... I've never seen a woman just like, "Oh, okay." No. There's travailing. It is called labor for a reason. You ladies are like, "You don't even know what you're talking about yet." I've had a kidney stone; that is the closest I get. I don't know what it is like, but if I talk to my bride, my wife, my helpmate, she will say, "Amen," because it is just as it is written in the word of God.

This was all part of the curse. This was all part of the original, and after that, these children came. You had Cain and Abel, obviously. There was some infighting there, and we know that Cain slew Abel out of pride and jealousy because one's offering was accepted and the other one's was not. Shortly thereafter, we see that there is this child, Seth, that Eve was looking for. She was looking for the seed. One that would come forth that was able to redeem them back to before original sin took place. Eve had longed for this.

That is what is so significant to the Jewish people. They understand the foundation of this. They grew up understanding the Torah. They had the word. Sarah was no different, looking to the seed, one that would come even in her old age. There would be this one that would come who would redeem the people: the Messiah, the branch. You and I know who that is: that is Jesus Christ. But when we receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we also receive a new nature. We need to continue to read on here to understand what Paul is going to tell us about that.

He said in baptism when you go under, that is death, signifying death. When I stand up here and I put my trunks on and I get in the baptistry and I baptize, I am taking that person. They understand it. We've talked about it. They've made a profession for faith, and I am saying in front of everybody, "I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit." And I bring them down and I don't hold them down. They always ask that question, "How long am I under?" Less than a second. I am not going to keep you for two or three seconds. I have never thought about that; I don't know why I am saying that out loud now.

But I keep them, and then you bring them up. It is death to the old man and newness to life. I am just having fun with you a little bit. Forgive me. Newness to life. What are you identifying? Death and resurrection. Newness to life. You can't be identified with one part of it and not be identified with the other. That's good news. That is what he is telling us here as we look at this. He says, "Look, you were baptized into Christ, and you were baptized into his death. Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into his death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life."

You died, and you rose again with Christ. It is what we are signifying by doing that. What else is it? Remember on the cross of Calvary, you could not see the spiritual transaction. If somebody accepts Jesus Christ in their heart, you might see a newness of life in them. You might see fruit bearing witness. But if you looked at that person, other than the joy that they have at that moment when they accept Christ, can you see anything different in the person or on the person? Do they immediately change? Not in sanctification, although certainly there is a difference you can immediately look at and see.

But really, the inward transformation that is begun in the heart is just like that spiritual transaction on the cross. We really cannot see it with our physical eyes, but it happened. We really could not see when the old man, the nature, was thrown out and literally cast and buried and dead, and the new nature has come upon us. We can't physically see that with our eyes. But God is telling us through the revelation through Paul that that is exactly what happened. That is exactly what we should understand.

This is what I mean when I say that we're dealing with a spiritually neutered church. I don't mean to be so brass about it, but a spiritually neutered church. People are walking and they have no idea of the power of the gospel, no idea of the power of who they are in Christ. You are no longer a victim. Now, certainly, I am not teaching a faith and prosperity gospel where you should be flying first class everywhere you go and you should have the best of everything. That's not scriptural.

But being able to say that I am a new creation, the old things have passed away, there's no condemnation, and that as I walk now, I walk in the strength of Christ, that my equipping is from the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that I can do no good of my own, but it is through him I can do all these things. I think most of us can get behind that because if we are humble enough, even just for a few minutes, we can realize that when we did it our way, it did not turn out good for me, friends. It was bad. I got into a lot of mess.

But when I accepted Christ and I began to understand who I was in him, all that feeling of being no good and never being able to do anything good, and all the insecurity and the anxiety and all the things that I wrestle with began to fall away because I began to understand that when the Father looks at me, he sees Jesus the Son. I began to understand that I am not under the old nature. Therefore, I am no longer trapped. I was a slave to sin. Now, I am no longer a slave to sin.

When I sin, I sin of my own free will. I sin of my own volition. Because now it is a battle between my flesh and the spirit. That is the newness of life. Now, we are going to begin in verse 5 here. I just recapped what we did last week. There is a lot in this, so forgive me as we get all the meat off the bone. But as we go into verses 5 through 10 here, I just want us to understand what Paul, more importantly, is talking about. You all are comprised of three things as you understand who you are today.

You are a body. You are part of that. You have a mind, flesh, organs. You have a body. All of us, I think, can generally agree on that. I don't think there is anybody here that is going to fight me too hard on that one. Maybe not the body you want. Maybe you are still wearing cheaters. Maybe your hip is a little out of whack. You are going to get a new glorified body. Amen? Praise the Lord. But you are a born-again believer. You have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You did not get a new body, did you?

So certainly, that is not what he is talking about has been made new. I don't feel like I am 20 again. Well, let's talk about the second thing. You are also, as Romans Chapter 2 mentioned, it talked about a conscience. It said that everyone was given a measure of faith, and there is a conscience that you know right from wrong. Not only because Chapter 1 of Romans says creation testifies, but Chapter 2 also said that that conscience can actually betray us. It can be the thing that actually condemns us in sin because we had a choice and we willingly sinned.

That conscience is going to bear record and it is going to be written in a book that Jesus Christ holds that will be one day used at when he comes back. At Revelation Chapter 20 and 21, when he stands before the lake of fire and the books are opened and the seals are broken, every single sin in thought that we had, not just what we did, but even the thoughts that betrayed us that our conscience bore witness to. That is called your soul, as the Bible would refer to it. It is your conscience.

Now, my question for you is when we accepted Jesus Christ and we were born again, did I get a new soul or conscience? If you all did, I got gipped, because I didn't. I still have something waging war in me that looks at things that are easy or comfortable and wants that. That is my conscience, and is he alive. Paul will refer to him henceforth as the flesh. Well, there is one other thing that we have that separates us from the animal kingdom because the animal kingdom only has the two I just gave you.

There is something that humanity has that is one more element that nobody else has been given. It had everything to do with us being created in that garden. We did not read that the animals were created in the likeness of God, did we? Never. It was humanity that was created in the likeness of God. So that third part, which is what Nicodemus in John Chapter 3 deals with. What is that? The spirit: our spirit. The spirit that exists in us. We had a spirit to begin with, but it was an Adamic nature. It was a spirit of sin.

When we took off that old man, it was replaced with something else. We were born again in the spirit. We received that nature from Jesus Christ, that spirit. We now have a new spirit. Galatians tells us that the flesh, the soul, the conscience, wages war against the new spirit from Christ, and there is a new battle. Welcome to the new war. That is the Christian life. That is what we're in if you are a believer in Christ. Those that have never accepted Christ never even get that far.

They are just being more or less tossed to and fro, still battling within their soul and the old Adamic nature. They cannot possibly do it themselves. But they have not realized that until they get rid of that old Adamic nature, that once they get the spirit, they have a chance to fight the battle. They can be in the fight. Well, Paul is going to make that clear.

Guest (Male): 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 are 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. Pastor Matt would like to hear from you. Tell us the station you are listening to and what you are getting out of this study in Romans. He would be so encouraged. Email us there at the website hisperfectlove.org. We hope you will 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 are located at 20 North Locust Point Road in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. Go to ccharrisburg.org for more information. And then we will come back to our study of Romans next time on His Perfect Love with Pastor Matt. See you then, and God bless. His Perfect Love is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Harrisburg West Shore.