A Lawless Salvation (Part 1)

Romans chapter 6 and verses 1 through 5 is as far as we're going to get tonight.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not.

How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

Therefore we were buried with him through baptism into death that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death certainly we also shall be in the likeness of his resurrection.

His life. Now I know the sentence continues on but Paul usually wrote in mile long sentences so you'd have to break it somewhere. Now the standard kind of view the standard view on the divisions of Romans or how you might take the book of Romans and divide it into kind of themes or divisions.

Kind of sort of getting the idea of how Paul was thinking when he wrote the letter and looking at the themes and such.

The traditional view is to take chapters 1 through 4 and identify those chapters as being primarily focused on justification.

Of course he goes through sin and the various categories of people who sin and so forth and we've been through all of that. Chapter 5 through 8 looks more at sanctification and assurance as well.

Those are basically the themes. Now this is a generalization and oversimplification to be sure of these chapters but these are kind of the standard divisions.

Then when you get to chapter 9, 9 through 11, Paul looks at Israel. Israel is a focus but the Gentiles also and he begins to focus on God's dealing with Israel and how that is connected with and significant to his dealings with Gentiles, with all people.

Then chapters 12 through 16 he looks at some practical issues. Now we're in that second section. Chapters 5 through 8 or we started that a few weeks ago.

Now we're here to chapter 6 and there are those who would interpret chapters 6 and 7 as one huge parentheses.

D. Martin Lloyd-Jones held this view and some other theologians and I think he's right. It's a parenthesis. You know what I mean when I say that about a section of scripture?

It means that it appears that Paul is interrupting his kind of flow of writing and the subject that he's dealing with.

He kind of postpones that for a time. And speaks of something else. Now though I would agree that there's a kind of a parenthesis here.

It kind of shifts to something. And then when he gets to chapter 8 he's going to shift back to it. Though that seems to be clear. Just in kind of the way it reads. And the subjects that he deals with.

I really believe that it's still a continuation of his thought. And his theme. And he is just now simply stopping a minute and addressing a question.

Actually a couple of questions. Based upon what he's already been teaching. And we'll get to what those questions are in just a minute. And so there's a continuation of his thought. It makes perfect sense.

And the reason why there seems to be this interruption. And the reason why Paul would kind of stop with that a moment. And move to an issue that's related.

Is from what he says. Or based upon what he says in verses 20 and 21 of chapter 5. I didn't read that a moment ago. But I'm going to now. In verse 20 he says in chapter 5.

Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded. Grace abounded much more.

Beautiful passage. And really apologize. But we did not deal in depth into that verse. Not going to tonight either. But this is what he said.

And then verse 21. So that as sin reigned in death. Even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. It might reign.

Grace reigns. Grace triumphs. Is the idea there. Alright. You say well okay. Why then does he shift to something based upon that.

Or what's the substance of that. Well you see. When Paul declared in those two verses. I just read a moment ago. He declared what he declared there. Can be misinterpreted.

And has been. Misinterpreted by many. And has led to some false conclusions. About grace. And about salvation.

And the first one. Is the false notion that since. He says where sin abounded. Grace abounded much more. Translation. Grace will win the day. Grace will triumph.

Since he said that. Then. Here's the false conclusion. I can live any way I want to. Because I'm. Under grace. Do you understand the.

Line of thought there. The way of thinking. That may be totally foreign. To your way of thinking. I hope so. I really do. But this is what he.

What he's addressing. It comes from. This last statement. And it's almost as if. Paul is writing. And he writes. That. Great. Wonderful truth there. And that closes. This chapter.

Closes this line of thought. And then he sits back. And thinks. You know. There are some. Who are going to construe this. In. Thus and such a way. And so he says.

Let me deal with that. All right. So that's the. There's the first. Misconception. And that's the one. We're going to focus on tonight. We might call it. A lawless salvation.

The false notion. That you could have. A lawless. Salvation. That is. You could be saved. And live lawlessly. And it would be okay.

Because you're under grace. Now there's a big long. Scholarly word. For this. It's antinomianism. Just jot that down. Just spell it.

However it sounds. To you. Okay. Antinomianism. And we'll get to that. In just a minute. Now here's the second. False. Assumption. Or false. Conclusion.

The priority. And here's the conclusion. That. And it has to do with. Pertains to the priority. Of the law. Over grace. That the law is supreme.

And not grace. And. It. It. It even. Would speak. To the notion. That. That. That. Grace. Is to be rejected. This.

This whole. Idea. Of salvation. By grace alone. Is to be rejected. In favor of. A works. A works. Kind of religion. Kind of religion. And many.

Of course. Are living in that. According to that. False notion. A works. Kind of salvation. That is.

If you look back. And we're not going to go back. But if you go back. To chapter five. And you read. And we did study this. How. How. How. How. Paul.

Kind of. Takes us. Starting with Adam. And. And ending up with Christ. The first Adam. The second Adam. And so forth. And so you get that from chapter five.

Five. But in between those two. People. Significant people in history. An event took place. That Paul does not really deal with here.

In chapter five. And that event. Was the giving of the law. A very significant event. That God gave the law.

And. And so here is the. The assumption. Or. I guess. The. The question. By those. Who would. Look at that. And wonder. Now what about the law.

What about it. This was. An important issue. For the Jews. Who were. Primarily. Paul's readers. Gentiles too.

But Jews also. This would be a big problem. For them. That we've. We've forgotten here. About the law. You know. And so. How do we fit. Their thinking. How do we fit the law.

Into Paul's teaching. On grace. And that is a big question. Isn't it. I mean. God gave the law. Must be important.

Right. Don't you think. I think so. And so. Here's the false assumption. The misconception. The. The. The. The. False notion. If we take what Paul wrote.

Then. Just take what he wrote there. Then. Here's the idea. If you hold. To the law. Then you destroy grace. If you hold.

To grace. Then you make the law. Meaningless. Now there's the idea. There's the question.

That Paul. Is going to answer for us. Now this. That last one. You know. To hold grace. You make the law meaningless. That one was a big problem. For.

His Jewish readers. Huge problem. Because the law. Was given to them. And they took that. Very seriously. And were very proud of that.

And so. Since that's the case. That led many. Of the Jews. Of his day. To reject. The gospel of grace. And to trust. Their salvation. To their.

Works of righteousness. Their. Keeping of the law. All right now. The first. False notion. Is a lawless. Salvation.

And this is the subject. Of chapter six. The second. False notion. Is a workless. Salvation. It.

Almost. Speaking out of. You know. Speaking. Out of two sides. Of the mouth here. A. Workless.

Salvation. A. We might. We might even call it. A. A. Graceless. Salvation. All right.

So. We'll of course. Take chapter six. First. Chapter seven. Is. Is. Where he deals. With. The workless. Salvation. And. And.

So. Now. We will. Look at chapter six. And deal with. This subject. Of antinomianism. Now. Let's explain. This word. Though. You probably already know.

But there might be someone here. Who doesn't know. So. Let me. Let me. Let me explain it. As. Some people. Say. Anti. Nomianism.

Anti. Means what? Against. It certainly does. In the Greek language. This is a Greek word. It comes from a Greek word. Anti. Means against.

And. Nomian. Or. Coming. Coming from the Greek word. Namas. Means. Law. That's the Greek word for law.

Namas. Anti. Law. Against. Law. And it's the philosophy. Or describes. Or characterizes.

The philosophy. Or I guess. We really ought to call it. A theology. Of seeing grace. As a license. To sin. Though I know. As I look.

At you. Here on a Sunday night. You know. The cream of the crop. This. This. Has. This notion. This thinking.

Has. It's just not a part of you. But this is. Antinomianism. Grace. Wonderful grace. Gives me a license. Do whatever I want to do. It's those who say.

I'm under grace. So I can. Just live any way. I want to. I'm free in Jesus. Just free. I'm. I'm. I'm free. Liberated. In Christ. But now.

Antinomianism. Is a perversion. Of the gospel. It's a perversion. Of grace. And. We'll see that. As Paul kind of unfolds. His. Thoughts. About this. And.

His response. To this. Kind of question. That's out there. Now. And that's what Paul's doing. He's anticipating a question. And. And here.

It is. He says. Here's the question. Here in verse one. What shall we say then? Shall we continue. In sin. That grace may abound. There. There's the antinomian. Question.

All right. That's the question. That Paul's going to answer. Throughout this chapter. Now. The words. Shall we continue. I don't know something about the air conditioner.

Right here. It turns my pages. The words. Shall we continue. Actually come from one Greek word.

Just one word in the text. And I'm not going to tell you what it is. It is right next to the word. For sin. All right.

Epy. Naeo. And. Hamartia. Meaning. Persistent. Or to remain.

It refers to. Habitual. Kind of a habitual. Kind of activity. In your life. Sin. Sin. So.

You put the two together. And it's talking about. A persistent. Lifestyle. Habitual. Kind of lifestyle. Of sin. In your life.

It is. Descriptive. Of the unbeliever. The unregenerate. It is who you and I. Once were. Now. A believer. Can sin.

Obviously. I'm not saying. Or suggesting. That we could ever come to a place. Where we don't sin. We can sin. The same sin. More than once. I'm not. Not talking about that. In. In. In the. The barest sense.

Of the word. Habitual. There. There can be. A certain. Sin. Struggle. In your life. That is persistent. That you keep battling with. But that's a different thing. From. Having a lifestyle.

That is sold out. To that. Without any qualms. Without any conviction. And you just live that way. That's what he's talking about here. Actually.

He's talking about more than just that. But a believer can sin. But a true believer. Does not live in. Habitual sin. And the reason is.

Because the believer. Is in Christ. Christ. That's the point he's going to make here. We're in Christ. And we're not. In Adam. Any longer. You understand that about your salvation.

Now we can still sin. And do. Still sin. But we don't. Sin. In the same sense. With the same kind of principle. Operating. And controlling. Our lives. Because we're no longer in Adam.

We are in Christ. You see. Adam. And just. By way of reminder here. Adam. Had a son. And his name was Cain. And Cain was his daddy.

All over. Everything. Cain was. His daddy was. And he passed it on. All the way down. Until it got to us. This sin.

We were all. Born. Sons of Adam. Every single one of us. Were born that way. Sons of Adam. But. When you were born again. When you gave your life to Christ.

And trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. As your Lord. And your Savior. And you were. You were born again. Something changed. In your life. Forever. Sin.

Used to have. The rights. Over me. Used to be the controlling. Factor. In my life. And I acted accordingly.

That is when I was in Adam. But in Christ. That is no longer the case. Now this is what. Paul's point is here. Whether you understand that or not.

Or whether you are skeptical of that or not. That is exactly what Paul. Is going to tell us here. But you see. Sin. Now. For a believer. Has no rights. Any more.

So. When you talk about. Continuing in sin. That is habitual sinning. There is now. No possible way. For a true believer. To go back.

And live. As he or she. Lived. In Adam. Now we can behave. In ways. That are similar. To our life.

In Adam. We can commit. Some of the same sins. But that's. Not the same. Thing. Here. We're talking about. Continuing. Ongoing.

A pattern. Of sinful life. That is. In absolute. Disregard. Of God. And his word. And anything. That is indicative. Of the Holy Spirit.

Living in us. I want you to look. At John. First John. Matter of fact. First John. Chapter three. And.

The men. In here. At least. Those who were. Have been. Here. For our. Monday night. Bible study. And Tom's. Teaching. Teachings. Out of first. John. Will remember this.

But in. John. First John. Chapter three. Look at verse four. Where John. Just says. It's so. Matter of factly.

Whoever commits sin. Also commits lawlessness. And sin is lawlessness. Then verse six. Whoever abides in him. Does not sin. Whoever sins. Has neither seen him.

Or. Nor. Known him. Verse nine. Whoever. Has been born of God. Does not sin. Those are pretty absolute terms. Aren't they? Does not sin.

For his seed. Remains in him. And he cannot sin. Because. He has been born of God. Now. John.

Is talking about. The same thing. That Paul. Is talking about here. And Paul. Is going to tell us. Give us more information.

About how this is just not possible. For a believer to sin. In. In this. Continuing way. To continue in sin. It's not possible.

Romans six. Paul's going to explain that. Now. If you're saved. Here tonight. I would love to just assume that.

You all are. Every one of you. I'd rather assume that. And if you are. If you're saved here tonight. Right. What were you saved from.

Sin. And what. Were you saved. To. Righteousness.

Righteousness. And so. Paul wants us to understand. That there is no. Possible way. That you. If you're a true believer. Can go back. And live.

A lifestyle. The lifestyle. You lived. When you were in Adam. That's what he's. What he's going to argue here. And why is that. Because you're not.

In Adam anymore. I know. I'm belaboring the point. I'm kind of. Kind of circular. I'm going. Around it. And around it. And back to it. And back to it. And we'll get to what Paul has to say here.

In just a minute. But you're not. In Adam anymore. You are now. In Christ. We have got to get that. Straight. In our minds. And in our heads. In our hearts.

That is. That as a born again believer. You're not in Adam. Any longer. If you were. You would still be. Under the condemnation. Of a holy. And righteous God.

But you're no longer. In Adam. You are in Christ. And that changes. Everything. Changes everything. Right now. This is the question.

Paul anticipates. And the rest of the chapter. Is his answer. Or his response. A lawless salvation. That's what chapter 6. Deals with. And again. Here's the question.

Why is it. That a believer. Cannot continue. To live in sin. We'll just boil it down. To that kind of question. Why is it. That a believer. Cannot continue. To live in sin. It's the question.

Of antinomianism. His answer. Number one. Because of the absurdity. Of it. It's absurd.

Now that's not his whole answer. That's just the. That's just the heading. For it. Okay. The absurdity. Of it. Look at what he says there.

In verses 1 and 2. Again. What shall we say then? Shall we continue. In sin. The grace may abound. Certainly not. How shall we.

Who died to sin. Live any longer in it. Now. I'm suggesting. To you very strongly. That Paul. Though he didn't. Work. Use the word. Absurdity.

That's exactly. His meaning. Certainly not. In this particular. Translation. Or. Absolutely not.

Or. How utterly. Absurd. Paul could not have used. The Greek language. To convey. This idea.

Any stronger. Than. The way he. Used it here. The words he used it here. Used here. Certainly not. It's absurd.

And. It's a. It's a phrase. He used here. That he. Is quite fond of. And. And. He's going to use it. Quite often. In fact. The. The. This particular phrase.

This. This. This. Emphatic. Phrase. Is found. 14 times. In the New Testament. And. Nearly all of them. Are used by Paul. And. 11 of the 14. Are here.

In the book of Romans. Where he uses. This combination. Meganoito. Is the. The word. Certainly not. 11 times.

And every time. He used it. Every single time. It is a reference. To the absolute. Assertity. Absurdity. Of a thing. Or. The absolute. Absurdity.

Of a certain way. Of thinking. And I'll give you. Some examples. In fact. I might give you. Most of them. Here in Romans. Romans 3. You don't need to turn to it. Unless you can do it. Real quickly. Because I'm going to go ahead.

And read them. Romans 3. Verses 3 to 4. For what if. Some did not believe. Will their unbelief. Make the faithless. Faithfulness of God. Without effect. Certainly not.

He says. How utterly absurd. He says. Indeed. Let God be true. But every man a liar. As it was written. As it is written. That. You may be justified. In your words.

And may overcome. When you are judged. Romans 3. Verses 5 and 6. But if our unrighteousness. Demonstrates the righteousness. Of God. What shall we say?

Is God unjust. Who inflicts wrath? I speak as a man. He says. Then what does he say? Certainly not. Okay. How utterly absurd.

For then. How will God. Judge the world? Romans 3. 31. Do we then make void. The law. Through faith. Certainly not. On the contrary.

We establish the law. Romans 6. 15. What then. Shall we sin. Because we are not under the law. But under grace. This is part of the argument. That we are going to be looking at. Here in chapter 6.

But in the 15th verse. He says this. And his answer. Certainly not. How utterly absurd. In Romans 7. 7. What shall we say then. Is the law sin? Here is where he is dealing.

With the Jews. Who think that. Keeping the law. Is the way to salvation. We will get to that. When we get to chapter 7. And so. Here is the question. What shall we say. Is the law sin? Certainly not.

On the contrary. I would not have known sin. Except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness. Unless the law had said. You shall not covet. Romans 7.

13. He is speaking of the law. Again. Here in chapter 7. Has then what is good. Become death to me? Speaking of the law. Certainly not.

There it is. Again. But sin that it might appear. Sin was producing death in me. Through what is good. So that sin. Through the commandment. Might become exceedingly sinful.

Romans 9. 14. What shall we say then. Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not. How utterly absurd.

Romans 11. 1. I say then. Has God cast away his people? Certainly not. For I also am an Israelite. Of the seed of Abraham. Of the tribe of Benjamin. Romans 11.

11. I say then. Have they stumbled. That they should fall? Certainly not. But through their fall. To provoke them to jealousy. Salvation has come to the Gentiles.

There's. I think. Maybe nine or ten of them. It's amazing. Now see. You see. Listen. The expression. Meganoito.

Clearly conveys the idea. Of an absolute absurdity. We might say. You're crazy. That's what.

How we might put it. And again. What is it. That Paul says. Is absolutely absurd. The notion. That a true believer. Can go back. And live the lifestyle.

He or she. Once lived. When in Adam. Before being in Christ. And it's absurd. And why is that? Why is it utterly absurd? Because it's impossible.

And. And why is it impossible? Because verse two. How shall we. Who died. To sin. There's the key. Phrase. How shall we. Who died.

To sin. Live any longer in it. That's why it's absurd. That's why it's impossible. That's why the notion.

Is so absurd. Because the believer. You see. Has died. To. Sin. And those who profess. To be believers. But are continuing. In sin.

In the sense that. Paul. Is describing it here. Then that is not. That is not. Proof. That a believer. Can then. Go into sin. And live according to sin.

Again. That's not proof of that. It's proof that they never were. Saved. To begin with. It's certainly not proof. That they were saved. And lost their salvation. Okay.

Now. What does that mean? Died to sin. Well. The sin. That all believers. Have died to.

Is. In effect. The sinner. They once were. In Adam. That's what we've died to. The sinner. We once were. In Adam. It means. I am dead.

To what I was. In Adam. I'm dead to that. The old life. That I used to live. When I was in Adam. That life.

That I lived. As an ungodly sinner. As an enemy of God. As. As an enemy of the cross. That. That life. No longer exists. Exists. Not. Not just suppressed.

Or. Not just. Held. Sway. By the presence of the Holy Spirit. In me. And so. If. If the spirit begins to fail. Then that old life.

Comes back. It's not that at all. It no longer exists. Dear people. It's been nailed. To the cross. It no longer lives.

No longer exists. I. Am. Dead. To it. Now. I'm not only dead. To the old lifestyle. And mindset. And. Habitual.

Sin. Kind of pattern. In my life. I am not only. Dead. To what I was. In Adam. But also. I am dead. To what I did.

As a result of. By virtue of. Being. In Adam. I'm dead to that. And that death is final. It's.

Final. You see. See. If you. If you have died. To one kind of life. You cannot go back. And live that life again. You can't do it.

Life and death. Are incompatible. You can't have both of those. Going on. And operating in your life. Christians have died. To the old. Way. Of living.

And so. How does Paul respond. To the false notion. Of a. Lawless salvation. This anything goes. Kind of salvation. This. This kind of. Seeing grace. As. A license to sin.

How does God respond. To that. That question. What. Why is it that a believer. Cannot continue. To live in sin. How does he do it. Number one. He says. It's absurd. The absurd. The absurdity of it.

Number two. The stupidity of it. Okay. It's just two pointer. Okay. The stupidity of it.

Look at what he says in verse three. I can't read it upside down. Not only that. Excuse me. Chapter six. Verse three. Or do you not.

Know. That as many of us. As were baptized. Into Christ Jesus. Were baptized. Into his death. We'll just stop right there. We'll get to four and five in a minute.

The word no. There. Contrary to. The word I chose. For my point. Does not mean stupid. Necessarily. But the word no.

In the text. It does mean. Literally. No knowledge. No knowledge. It's the negative. Of the word for no. And the Greeks.

When they wanted to make a negative. They put a little a. Or alpha. On the front of it. And that made it a negative. Agoneto. Or agoneto. And it means no knowledge.

But. It really conveys the idea. Of absolute ignorance. Something. And. I would say. Stupid.

Are you stupid? Paul is asking. Are you so ignorant? that you do not understand that all of us as believers have been baptized into Christ.

Baptized into Him. Immersed into Him. That we've been baptized into His death.

What does that mean? It must be important. Because Paul said, you're stupid if you don't know this. And if you don't know this, then you come to this false conclusion.

That because of grace, I can live any way I want to. That I can sin. That I can break the law. And it doesn't matter because I'm covered. I can just live in that sin.

I can live like Adam. Like I was in Adam. And Paul said, you're stupid if you think that. Don't you know that you've been baptized into His death?

The death of Christ? You see, when you turned away from the old lifestyle and you turned to Jesus and put your faith in Him, He did something then.

He baptized you in Himself. He immersed you. That's what the word baptized means.

It means to immerse. So we're not talking about water baptism, okay? Don't make the confusion there that now we're talking about being baptized. Don't you know that when you were baptized? No, He's not talking about that baptism.

Which is a symbol of what we're talking about here. But that's not the baptism. The baptism is to be immersed in Christ. And just as the baptism, the physical baptism that takes place here according to commandment after you believe, just like it signifies your identification with Christ.

In fact, often in baptism I will mention that. I don't always. I need to always. that that one who's standing in the baptistry not only standing there as a profession saying I profess my faith in Jesus Christ and I am not ashamed to identify with Him.

Identify with Him in what way? In His death. His death and resurrection but first His death. Paul says that we were baptized into His death.

What death would that be? Hmm? The death of our life in Adam.

That's the death that took place our life in Adam. Now when did that take place? Well, in reality it took place at the cross. at the cross of Christ.

Back there where Jesus died on the cross for us. Because He was our representative there on the cross.

Everything I was in Adam was represented by Christ there at the cross on the cross. He became sin for me.

That's what He did. And He went to the cross to pay my penalty. A debt I could not pay. Now here's the wonder of our salvation. The moment that you put your faith in Jesus Christ at that very moment miraculously you are transported since transported back 2,000 years to the cross.

And you are there. You're there. On the cross. With Jesus. Well actually in Him.

You're there. The old person you were. That old person in Adam. That old person in sin was put to death at the cross.

Dear people. Put to death there. You were baptized into His death. Immersed in it.

You were there. You identified there with Him. And so here's the idea. Recover from your stupidity. Not yours but Paul's readers.

Hopefully not you. How can you as a Christian a Christian go back and take up that old sinful life again because something has changed.

I'm dead to all of that. Dead to it. But not only that but look at verses 4 and 5 and so not only are we dead in sin but we are now alive in Jesus.

We've got to have that there too. Therefore we were buried and that's what you do with dead people. We were buried with Him through baptism into death.

We identified with His death. We were there. That just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father even so we also should walk how?

In newness of life. It's a new thing. See? The old is gone. There are remnants of it still alive through the pollution of sin in our flesh but in the real you as a redeemed born again believer in Christ the real you your soul your spirit that that that old Adam that life in Adam is gone it's forever gone it does not exist.

Something has changed and I'm dead to all of that. And so now in verse 4 and 5 He's saying that we're now alive in Jesus for if we have been He puts the two together if in verse 5 we have been united together in the likeness of His death certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection His life also.

So this immersion in Christ that's the Christian's reality even right now. I'm immersed in Him in the sphere of Christ I am in Him in Christ so it's a new thing and if a so-called Christian a self-professing Christian can take that so-called step of faith or be converted or make a decision of whatever kind it was and then continue to live their lives unchanged basically.

Other than maybe a few habits might change maybe to go to church now whatever but the reality is nothing much has changed then it's a testimony of there still being in Adam and not in Christ for those in Christ can no longer live in sin and so let me ask you can a Christian go back and live like he or she used to live what's Paul's answer certainly not absurd the absurdity of such a notion the stupidity of such a notion how can we if we're dead and have been risen to walk in newness of life how can we continue to live in sin amen but still but