Looking at Ourselves

Romans 6:19-23
 

The big purpose of Romans 6 is to show that righteousness in Christ fights against sin. True faith fights sin in our own lives. It is easy to fight the sin of others, but we must fight our own sin! We should hate our own sin because of Jesus Christ! This text is about our sin, not the sin of others. This chapter calls us to stand in the mirror of the Word of God and to repent of our sin! Faith in Jesus Christ thrust us into a thirst for Jesus above our sinful nature. That’s way Sundays and Wednesdays are so weighty to me! We open the mirror of the Word of God. I pray that you are doing this daily, but there are no lite days of preaching! We examine ourselves!

I.  Looking at Our Flesh (Romans 6:19) What are we spending our energy on? Are we serving Christ or are we in bondage to sin?
     a. Flesh Leads to Bondage (v.19)
     b. Faith Leads to Becoming a Bondservant (v.19) Romans 12:1-2 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
 
II.  Looking at Our Freedom (Romans 6:20-22)
      a. Our Slavery (Romans 6:20) Everyone of us were slaves to sin. Sin was our master until
          God set us free! The appeal of the righteousness of Christ had no beauty to us until Christ
          freed us!
      b. Our Severity (Romans 6:21) Death comes to all who are enslaved, this is the severity of
           sin. We must have salvation through Jesus Christ alone! Acts 4:12 “And there is
           salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by
           which we must be saved.”
      c. Our Sanctification and Satisfaction (Romans 6:22)

 

III. Looking at Our Faith (Romans 6:23) If we have no desire to fight personal sin, we are not saved! That is what this text is saying! I want to fight my own sin and hate my own sin because of the glory of God. Lost people will act like lost people. They will justify sin, they will become unrepentant of sin, and Christ has no authority to them, and His Word has no appeal to them. But, we who call ourselves believers should be fighting sin, our own sin!

This Chapter is addressing everyone to examine their faith in Jesus Christ. Sin requires the payment of death, eternal hell, but praise God that Jesus came to give us life eternally through faith. A true faith is one that fights sin. John Owens said, “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you!” The way we fight sin is that we see something and someone way more superior than sin! Christ must be our superior joy! We grab hold of the Savior, Christ! We will fight sin because of Christ, through the strength of Christ, and for the glory of Christ!

Let’s look at ourselves! Do we desire sin more than the Savior? A fake faith is one that desires to escape Hell, yet has no affection for Christ and His bride! Christ alone must be our response for salvation. As we examine ourselves, do you have saving faith? Have you been freed? To you desire to fight sin because of Jesus Christ? If the answer is no, come to Christ Jesus for salvation!