For the time being, I would like to encourage you from the Word today as you seek to walk in Spirit by the grace we have in Christ!
AMAZING GRACE!!!
Romans 6:15-19
15 So since God's grace has set us free from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!
16 Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval.
17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you.
18 Now you are free from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.
19 I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.
Can you trace God’s amazing grace throughout this passage? The passage we are looking at today has one clear message. GRACE. The unbelievable … and UNDESERVED blessing and gift of God on our behalf.
This grace that was embodied in Christ is our “Hero.” It has set us free from the cruel slave master we had no power to resist … “SIN”. It has given us a living hope. It has freed us from the eternal wrath and torment that would be ours to satisfy the justice of a holy God.
But this grace is not only “future grace” … it is “present grace.” It is a grace that has enables us to choose to submit to God and to yield our bodies to His service and glory.
This is the message of Romans 6. YOU ARE FREE. You do NOT have to obey sin. STOP giving yourself back into slavery. Satan can NO LONGER keep you. You are the one who is giving in. We must learn to take responsibility for our sinfulness. Sin is no match for God’s grace! It is simply a choice to disobey. We must remember that all sin is a choice on our part to not obey. This does not mean that the sin does not look good to us. But will we continue to be fooled into thinking that somehow sin has gotten better. That somehow Satan has gotten kinder. That somehow God is wrong and has stopped keeping His promises!
STOP going back to prison and begging God to help you escape. He has already purchased your freedom if you belong to Him in salvation! He keeps you by His grace and enables you to live by His grace. The doors are open … stop yielding to the seduction … there is NO testing too great that God has not provided a way of escape. RUN!!!! Run from sin and run to the freedom you have in Christ to not obey sin!
SO, HOW ARE YOU DOING? Who do you serve? Are you and I going to be like a “dog that returns to its vomit” (Proverbs 26:11)? Do you keep going back to the vomit of sin and indulging as though it was some great prize and that which brings fulfillment? Or do you embrace the treasure that is freely yours … a life of companionship and co-laboring with the loving God of the universe that gave His life to buy you back when you deserved to be abandoned.
I would challenge us all today to …
1. Meditate on the immensity of the Grace that God has poured on you … realize in a fresh way the awesome gift you have been given. That you were allowed to see, understand, and respond to that which most of the world will never grasp or accept. Find yourself renewed in THANKFULNESS and awe of who God is and what He has done.
2. Let this gratitude inspire a rich new zeal in knowing and loving and serving a God who deserves ALL of our worship and devotion!
It is my desire that you all love Christ PASSIONATELY, know Christ DEEPLY and enjoy Christ FULLY !!!
For His Name,
Pastor Stephen
No comments:
Post a Comment