10/22/23 - Prevention Theology - Romans 6:1-14 - Pastor Jason Fritz

The message this Sunday is for all those who feel trapped in destructive habits. It is for those who have been living in a cycle of sin, confess, sin, confess, over and over again. It is for those who feel stuck and wonder if thier Christian life will ever move forward. It is also for those who ask, "What did Jesus ever do for me?"

The apostle Paul has been writing about the grace of God in Romans chapter 5. He’s been telling us that God’s grace covers every one of our sins. As often as we sin, there is grace to cover it. Like the waves of an ocean, one rolling in after another, God’s grace does not come to an end. He concludes chapter 5 in this way…

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:20-21

In other words, the law, or God’s moral commands, shows us clearly that we are sinners because they are spelled out in black and white, there is no gray column. We have no excuse and cannot say, “Well, I don’t know what God expects from me!” So in this sense having the law increases sin. Paul goes on to say that where sin increases, grace abounds all the more. Why? The more we sin, the more grace is required to cover that sin.

Paul is a brilliant thinker. He anticipates a question in light of this and it’s found in the very next verse.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? Romans 6:1

If God has to supply more grace to cover our many sins then why not make God look more and more gracious by sinning more and more. His answer is a resounding NO!!

By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? Romans 6:2

What he says next is the cure for your sin cycle. It begins with a specific knowledge found in verses 3 and 4.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

To be baptised is to identify with something or somoene. So if you want to live the victorious Christian life then what you understand about your salvation identity is terribly important. There’s a simple and profound truth here...

We function according to our identity. 

 

You see, Jesus was raised so that we can be given new life. Our old life was in Adam with his death and as a result we were stuck and buried in sin. However, our new life is in Jesus with his death and resurrection. The old life (identity) in Adam is gone, the new life (identity) in Christ has arrived. Therefore Paul concludes this section with a resounding conclusion…

 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:14

 

This is prevention theology. Our identity in Christ prevents us from being under sin’s rule!