Bible, Bros & Brew
Bible, Bros, & Brew is all about helping you navigate your relationship with God in practical, real-life ways. Hosts David and Phil dig into scripture—'chopping up the word'—and bring it to life with insights you can actually use every day. And while they’re at it, they share their favorite 'brews'—don’t worry, it’s not booze! Just a solid lineup of classic coffees and teas to keep the conversations flowing.
Bible, Bros & Brew
Breaking the Cycle of Sin | Exploring Grace and Transformation in Romans 6 | Bible, Bros & Brew
Can grace lead you to sin? Join us as we tackle this thought-provoking question and unravel the profound teachings of Romans 6. Highlighting key verses in this seminal chapter, David and Phil address the provocative question of whether grace encourages sin and emphasize the importance of breaking free from the repetitive cycles of sin that many believers encounter.
Throughout the episode, we uncover the power of choice and grace in overcoming sin, reflecting on profound concepts of identity in Christ as highlighted in Romans 5 and 6. We emphasize the completeness of Jesus' sacrifice and the transformation believers undergo through spiritual immersion, empowering them to walk in newness of life. Through personal anecdotes, we illustrate the need for proactive participation and taking initiative in our faith journey, focusing on setting our minds on spiritual matters and resisting earthly temptations. Explore how grace, far from being a passive gift, is an active force that aids believers in fulfilling God's instructions and breaking free from the mastery of sin.
We encourage you to share your thoughts, ask questions, and suggest topics to foster a vibrant community centered on faith and growth. Join us in this enriching episode and become part of a community committed to exploring faith's transformative power.
gotbrew@biblebros.net
Hey everybody, in this episode of Bible Bros and Brew, philip and I are going to continue our conversation about breaking the cycle of sin. You know, romans 6 says something very interesting. It starts off and asks this question what then, shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Certainly not. Let's talk about why. Up next, on Bible Bros and Bros.
Speaker 2:Well, hey everybody, and welcome back. Broke out the 1990s, you know kind of thing.
Speaker 1:there we're not going to talk about any dance moves that happened while we were off screen but Philip may have hit once or twice, like he did back in the olden days.
Speaker 2:Yes, if I perfected my sprinkler, I forgot how to do that one, but anyway, okay.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Bible Bros and Brew. I'm David. With me tonight is Phillip, and also with us on the ones and twos the wheels of steel, the man with steel hands, because if you have fleshly hands they don't hit. That one and that two. Just quite right, so you gotta get it. Just I don't know what I'm saying. It's okay, ryan is with us tonight. I did in fact have hand surgery. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm good. That was to help me better. Okay.
Speaker 1:We learned something new about Ryan. In just a moment of foolishness, I didn't really have hands. Oh dude, never mind.
Speaker 2:I thought it was like the Wolverine thing where they put claws in there.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Adamantium, as they say.
Speaker 1:Sorry, we're glad that you guys have joined us tonight. We're looking forward to our conversation, as usual before we get started. You guys have joined us tonight. We're looking forward to our conversation, as usual, before we get started, we always like to talk about what we're drinking because, as you know, good conversation requires a good beverage to support it and, of course, that beverage must be brewed coffee, tea, not really water, but we let people get away with that sometimes. Philip, what are you drinking?
Speaker 2:tonight. I think this is going to surprise you guys. I've never featured this before on Bible Bros and Brew. This is Halifia Farms Matcha Almond Latte.
Speaker 1:Ah I feel like just saying that you put a curse on my life it does have kind of a curse flavor to it.
Speaker 2:But yeah, stephanie and the girls, they all love matcha and so they bought this and I was like I need to feature something different on Bible Bros. Let me try this thing. It's actually actually pretty doggone good. It looks like something that would be unhealthy, but it's actually you know, it's not bad man, it's got a nice flavor.
Speaker 1:So really quickly, what does matcha taste like?
Speaker 2:It's a good question. I don't even know how to describe it. It's like it's green tea. I mean that's kind of the big thing, but um, I mean I guess green tea man, like it's it's. But it reminds me of, like, what you would do, like if you juiced. You know, like did your whole jack malane juicer thing.
Speaker 2:But um, yeah, you know, but it's, it's good man it's got. It's not super sweet, but it's. It's also, um, not too, you know, like harsh either. So, uh, I'm digging it. It's not like my fave, I'll be honest, but I'm, I'm trying to, I'm trying to mix it up a little bit on the show here.
Speaker 1:So okay, okay proud of you I have to honestly say that I have been hesitant to delve into the matcha pool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so take your time, take your time.
Speaker 1:Coffee Ryan, how about you what you drinking today?
Speaker 2:I've got the Pete's oh yes, which Pete's are you drinking tonight? The Big Bang, big Bang, big.
Speaker 1:Bang, okay, packaging, I forgot I've never tried that. Okay, tonight I am bringing to you From Red Barn it's called Sal Joaquin Aurora. I know that sounds like me repeating one of Phillip's cuss words from Peregrine, but this is a blend of chocolate, apple and caramel Dang.
Speaker 2:Okay, next level, dude.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like it's deep, it's strong. It's not like I tend to if you haven't figured me out yet. I tend to like flavors and I tend to like my coffee more of a light roast, right Medium roast. Dark roast usually puts me off, whereas Ryan, on the other hand, he'll drink the darkest of the dark roast. If you call it black, if it's middle sun isn't as black as it's outer rim, he's not interested so I do drink some black around just for people like Ryan. You drink a lot of black, don't you?
Speaker 1:a lot of dark coffee, a dark roast yeah so, yeah, that's from Red Barn, it's really good, so pick up and enjoy.
Speaker 1:All right, let's jump into what we want to talk about tonight.
Speaker 1:We've been talking about breaking the cycle of sin over the last few weeks and we of course had Lynn Nestor with us who, we were so glad, joined us as a guest host.
Speaker 1:But as we've been talking about breaking the cycle of sin, we kind of started from this concept that, first of all, we're talking directly to Christians right, because if you're not a born-again believer, then you've just got to break free from sin period. Right, but for the born-again believer, there is the opportunity and the possibility of stepping into ongoing, repetitive sin in your life, getting stuck in that cycle. And so we looked at six things that will keep you stuck in the cycle of sin, and we're actually going to talk about a couple of those tonight too, because they're in the scripture. But tonight we want to take a look at Romans, chapter six, and we want to talk about this concept of you know asking that question you know, now that we're born again, should we continue on in sin because of God's grace? And the answer to that question is a certainly not. So, philip, where do you want to start with this one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely Romans 6, verse 1. This was something that, as I was reading it it's probably been a few days since I've kind of discovered this whole thread and what Paul was saying. But back in Romans 5, you don't have to go there, ron, I'm just kind of setting it up but back in Romans 5, one of the things that Paul pointed out was near the end of the chapter. He said you know, where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. And he was saying much more abound. He was saying you know, basically, the sacrifice that Jesus made for all or did for all of us. It was something that covered every dimension of sin, every level of sin. There's no sin that the blood of Jesus does not take away. And that's something that, honestly, is still kind of a mind boggler when you think about it, especially how dark and depraved the world can be, and you think about the fact that, no matter how wicked mankind can be, there's no sin that the blood has not taken away and has not covered. So that's just a fascinating thing by itself. And so when he said that about where sin abounds, grace does much more abound, then he kind of goes into a couple of other things.
Speaker 2:Then we arrive here in Romans 6, 1, and he's continuing the thought because, as we've all probably heard before, sometime back when the Bible was actually written, they didn't have chapter and verse divisions. There was no such thing as a Romans 5 or Romans 6. It was just one long letter to the Romans basically. So when Paul was starting here, he wasn't starting with a brand new idea or starting off in a different direction. He was actually continuing the thread. He was starting in Romans 5. And what he said was what then, shall we say? Verse one and this is from the Berean Standard Bible, which is a good translation, I like it a lot he says what then, shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? Now, one of the things that you find out from that verse I think it's pretty fascinating David is like he wrote in another letter, and it may have been one of the Corinthian letters, but he said that they have been accused of saying this, you know, like by by false apostles and people that are out there to to to kind of undermine their work. Paul was like they falsely accused us of saying hey, let's keep sitting so that God's grace can abound even more, you know. And so here I think he's kind of alluding to that too. He's like shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? And he says no, not a bit. He said certainly not.
Speaker 2:And here's the thing that I think is, if I could call it like a linchpin of the whole concept of identity in Christ, I think it kind of starts or it blows up in this verse two, here how can we who died to sin live in it any longer? And it's like wait a second, you know when did I die to sin? You know he's saying it as if it's a past tense event, something that's already done. And if that doesn't raise like a flag, it's like what? What does he mean by this? And so he goes into verse three. He says well, aren't you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Now here's the thing about it.
Speaker 2:A lot of people, when they read this, they automatically think of water baptism.
Speaker 2:They think it's talking about that time when they may have gone down to the baptismal pool at a church and got dunked in water.
Speaker 2:That's actually not what he's referring to.
Speaker 2:He's referring to the act of being spiritually immersed into Christ by getting born again.
Speaker 2:Now, water baptism is a symbolic representation of that and that's why we do it.
Speaker 2:It's meant to be something to show hey, here's what happened to you spiritually you were immersed into Christ.
Speaker 2:So when it says that here we were baptized into Christ, it's talking about that spiritual immersion that happened, where we became one with him by accepting him as our Savior. So it says, all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may walk in newness of life and David. The main thing I wanted to point out about this passage is, like everything that he says happened to Jesus, it also counts as having happened to us because of us accepting him as our Lord and Savior, and it's like man. That's a powerful spiritual truth right there and that's why we can walk free from sin, we can conquer those things that try to keep us in a cycle of sin, because, just as he took the sin, nailed it to the cross and rose again to totally redeem us, it counts for us if we will but put our faith in him.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a really powerful picture if you would just envision it and put yourself in the picture and see that Christ did die. That is without question. We all know about him dying on the cross. We know that he was nailed there. Another scripture talks about how we were nailed with him and we can see that just as he was pulled off of that cross after he physically died and laid in that tomb, that we too were laid in that same tomb. Yeah. But then we see the glory of God manifest and that glory says because he rises, because you died with him, now you rise also.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And it's such a great picture because you begin to see yourself differently when you realize that I'm just not some random somebody, but, as a believer in Christ, I'm somebody who died, and we'll see. The scripture tells us here, in just a few minutes that I died to sin and now I'm alive to Christ and I'm a whole new person. And you come out brand new and now you have the opportunity to make some brand new choices. And it's those choices that lead to whether or not you find yourself caught in the cycle of sin.
Speaker 2:That's good. That's good. And I think possibly we underplay or I guess that's the word we underplay the role that our own choice has in this whole process of overcoming sin. I think we don't give it the credit that we need to as far as understanding that if you want to overcome sin, it's not something that's just going to jump on you out of nowhere. It does require you to use your power to choose, your own will, which is the one thing that God has chosen not to interfere with. And that's part of the reason why you know humanity in the situation we're in is because he gave us free will, you know, but using that power to choose and say you know what.
Speaker 2:I may have gotten duped by this. I may have gotten tempted by this 20, 30, 50 other times, but for this time you know what I'm going to say no. I'm going to actually say no and decide I will not yield to this temptation. As soon as you make that decision to do that, you'll find the empowerment and the grace of God to help you to overcome that thing, whatever it is. And it just makes me think of 1 Corinthians 10, when he said there's no temptation that's gotten a hold of you that you're not able. It's not common to man, you know. He was saying there's plenty of temptations out there, but don't think you're experiencing something that no other human being has ever experienced. Right, right and so. But he said but God is faithful, because he won't allow you to be tempted above your ability to overcome it and he will make a way of escape for you to get out of that temptation. You know so, um.
Speaker 1:And it's funny that we uh, I just lost the word, but, um, you know, we, we, we have to realize that, yes, God has established and set up all of these things for us, but this Christian life is a choice.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:And let me tell you that your choice becomes a critically important part of the equation, because, number one I was always taught it like this, that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman and he's not going to make you do per se what you don't want to do.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:So when the Holy Spirit comes to you and may give you a leading to go a certain way or to do a certain thing, it's up to you to choose to actually do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:Now Paul would tell you. He would say that I'm compelled to do certain things a certain way, which means Paul has made the choice to give himself over to righteousness. Yeah, way, which means Paul has made the choice to give himself over to righteousness. And so now, when the Holy Spirit comes to me and says go this way or do this thing, I'm compelled to do that because I've given myself over to it. But when you haven't given yourself over to Christ, which is your choice, then you don't have. What was a compulsion for one man becomes just a simple matter of decision or choice for another man.
Speaker 2:That's good.
Speaker 1:You can choose to do it or not do it, and sometimes we do that out of ignorance too. Sometimes it's a matter of I didn't fully understand that that pull was to do X or Y, especially when you're young.
Speaker 1:in the Lord, you know as you're growing in your discernment and you're growing in your hearing. God, you know, you're not sure sometimes, and indeed, when we grow, sometimes it is our flesh talking to us, sometimes it is your flesh and the wrong intention trying to lead you. That's where we ask God for discernment and clarity. But yeah, just don't ever forget this Christian life is about choice.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and it's about the choices you make. I even, philip, if we can look back at Romans, chapter 6, and I may be jumping way ahead. Yeah, let me look here. I think I want to, because I wrote myself a note earlier. Let me pull my note up real quick, but it was. It was a note about. You know, as we were looking through this section, you know it was verse 10 and 11. Here it says the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the death he died, he died to sin once for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you too must count yourselves dead to sin, but alive to God. And you know I said I wrote myself the note. We choose to live unto God.
Speaker 1:Knowing this, yeah, you know, if you look at verse eight, it says now, if we die with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him, for we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again. Death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin one time for all, but the life he lives, he lives to God, right? So you see the choice there, the choice there between death and life, and that we don't, you know, I don't want death to have dominion over me.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:So I willfully choose life, and then I work to grow in Christ.
Speaker 2:That's good, is that?
Speaker 1:crazy.
Speaker 2:No, no, that's actually. That's awesome. It makes me think of, actually, ryan, if you could put that back up. One more thing when it says here in verse 11, so you too must count yourselves dead to sin, you too must count yourselves dead to sin. In the King James it says, I think, like, likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead to sin. And the word reckon is pretty interesting, like, oh, cool. Thank you, Ryan.
Speaker 2:The word reckon there actually is an accounting term. I was studying it one day. I was looking up in the Greek and it's fascinating because that word reckoned there is the same Greek word that's used in Matthew 25 when it talked about the parable of the talents, and it said after a long time, the Lord of those servants came back and reckoned with them. He was taking an account of what they had done with the money that he gave them, and so it was like he was. He was, uh, basically taking an inventory, um, and so, yeah, there we go. Uh, where's that thing at? Oh, sorry, ryan, uh, if only I was a Greek scholar, but there it is. Uh, consider, it will be that word. Consider there, yeah, three, oh, four, not there it is. Consider, it'll be that word consider there, yeah, 3049. There you go, it's logizomai or whatever. Have you say that? And it means to take into account, to reckon or to reason to a logical conclusion, is another thing. There was another dictionary, or let me see it down there Yep, take into account, to make an account of, to pass to one's account, to lay to one's charge. So it had this idea of like, taking an inventory. Yeah, there you go to number among, to reckon with.
Speaker 2:So long story short, he was basically saying consider all the evidence that's put before you, consider what Jesus did and what his sacrifice means and in light of that, reckon yourself to be dead to sin, account yourself as somebody who's dead to sin. And I really started thinking about that. That really is the key, that's the switch that has to come on in your mind for you to really start saying I don't have to yield to this temptation every time it comes. You know why? Because I account myself as somebody who's dead to that sin. But it's all about how you have decided to count yourself. If that makes sense.
Speaker 2:It's like what side of the equation am I going to be on? Am I going to be on the side that says I can't get out of this. Every time it gets me. I'm constantly falling into this trap every time. Or am I going to say you know what, if God said that I can call myself dead to sin? If that's what's written in the Bible, that's what the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write? He said hey, you reckon yourself to be dead to sin If you take that perspective, all of a sudden it's like oh yeah, I don't actually have to do this, I can actually say no, and then the Spirit of God in me will give me the empowerment to walk away from that thing, whatever it is.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that, philip, If you look, let's look at Romans 12. I mean Romans 6, verse 12, because it backs up what you're saying and it actually gives you a specific instruction and it actually gives you a specific instruction. It says therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, so that you obey its desire.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 1:Do not listen to this. Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who's been bought from death into life and present the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. So once again, it's about our choice. If we give our bodies over to sin or parts of our body over to sin and I don't want to be like, I don't mean to be crude, but when you think it's not like this wildly biblical thing, when you talk about giving your body over as instruments of wickedness we're talking about when you use your hands to steal, you're giving your body over. When you I hate to say it this way, I'm not trying to be crass but when you give your body over to blatant sexual sin, that's you yielding your body as your instrument over to wickedness. When you give your eyes over to ogling women or to staring at women and doing all this stuff which the Bible tells you don't do that, you are literally yielding your body as instruments of wickedness. This is very practical.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It's not like wild and deep or anything, and then it tells you what it is like.
Speaker 1:You can do that, but here's what you should do Yield these hands over to help people. He tells you what it is Like. You can do that, but here's what you should do. Yield these hands over to help people. Yield your body over to marriage and then partake in that at the right time. Yield your eyes to studying God's word, seeing people in need to the good and happy things in life. See the sunset, see the beautiful things that God has created and done.
Speaker 1:Yield your body as instruments to those things rather than things that pull you into sin, because, look it then speaks to a cycle when you yield your body over to sin.
Speaker 1:You're in it. You're in it. I don't know what else to say. Don't let sin. Look what it says. It says in verse 12, do not let sin reign in your mortal body. So it doesn't say don't let sin get you one time, even though God doesn't want that to happen, because the only reason it gets an opportunity to reign in your mortal body is if it got you one time, then it got you second time, and then a third time, and then it became time after time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:So don't let sin reign in your mortal body. I think that's huge, philip, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I think it's huge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I think it's interesting that he used the word let Right. That's something that we can't overlook. That, you know, don't let it happen. Now, when you think about something that you let happen, just in general, anything that you say you'd let happen, that means there was at least a little bit of power in your hand to stop that thing. I can't say I let a hurricane hit the neighborhood. I don't have any power over that. But I could say I let the roof get to water damage because I didn't repair the leak. So it speaks to a little bit of a neglect, if you want to put it that way.
Speaker 2:I think that kind of is implicitly like an encouragement to stay vigilant about how you're conducting yourself. You know, and that's why I think Colossians 3 ties in so good with Romans 6 and Romans 8 too, we can jump all into that sometime. But when Colossians 3, it says in verse 1, If you are risen with Christ which we are, you know, seek the things that are above, where Christ is on the right hand of God. And then it says oh, thank you Ryan. Um, in verse two, set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. So many of the other translations I've read, say keep your mind set on these things or purposely fix your mind on things that are above. And it's another case, David, of like you have a responsibility here. You have the choice and the power to choose to do this.
Speaker 2:And something that I think is like a big theme across the board for all this is that this Christian walk, this walk with God, is not passive. There's nothing passive about this. You know you have a role, you have a part, and this is something that my wife and I, we teach our girls all the time. You know this is a cooperation with God and with his word. You have your part that you do and God has his part that he does. And we always tell them God won't do your part and you can't do his part, Because he gave us our own free will and right to choose to do whatever we want to do. So he's not going to force you to do anything. He's not going to make you a robot that just automatically obeys whatever he says. It's something that you have to choose to do, but know that just as sure as you can't do God's part, he's not going to do your part. So this is something that we have to involve that power of choice to do.
Speaker 1:Right, this Christian walk is partially made up of the collection of choices that we make. Yes, maybe I don't want to call it one of the disasters, but one of the downsides of some people's Christian lives is that they're waiting for God to do everything Right. That's not how he works. You have to make choices and decisions, just like we just read you have to choose life or you choose death. Just like you have to choose to lend your members to righteousness or to lend your members over to evil. Yeah, there are choices that you have to make, and you have to make those choices daily.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:The Bible talks about how we're to work out our faith with fear and trembling. That's not a one-time action, that's a daily action. It's a choice of how you're going to walk through the day, regardless of what's thrown at you. And even if you have a moment where you break down and things aren't going your way, you know, I think the most important thing we can do is believe God. Believe God in every situation and circumstance, but even believing him in every situation and circumstance is a choice.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1:And I don't think that we fully appreciate how much and I feel like I'm harping on it now how much our choices are actually shaping the picture of our lives. So if you find yourself sitting there waiting for God to do something. You might want to investigate whether or not there's a choice you need to make. Even when it's just a decision. I'm going to live for Christ.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's a big deal, even when it's just a decision I'm going to live for Christ.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely it's a big deal.
Speaker 2:I think about it because I've actually talked to this one person in particular. I remember talking to one time and they had this attitude of well, if God wants me to have it, he'll give it to me. You know, it's this kind of a passive thing, like I guess it's just going to fall out of the sky and hit me in the head before you know. And that's not. There's nothing in the Bible that supports that way of thinking that that's the way to to walk. This, this Christian walk, is to just sit back and chill and maybe God will levitate you off the couch and have you.
Speaker 2:Maybe God will levitate you off the couch and have you do something with you. It's not that it's actually when you get up and you are tired and sleepy or whatever, but you make the choice to spend some time praying. That's because you have decided to do that thing. You know and I mean I know this man, cause there's been many mornings where I I didn't necessarily feel like praying or reading the Bible, and sometimes I, you know I yielded to the sleep more than I did to the prayer. But the bottom line is, you know God's not going to. You know, open the Bible, levitate it across the room. You know, to the chapter.
Speaker 2:Read this bow this yeah, you know, I have to do that, I have to be the one to open my mouth and say the words to pray. You know, it's something that we have to recognize our role, and it's not a bad thing, it's actually a good thing, because he wants to cooperate with us, he wants to walk with us in that kind of a way, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. I completely agree. You know one other part from this last grouping of Scripture that we were just reading Romans 6, 12, and 13. I want to read what 14 says, because it's the truth about you, for sin shall not be your master because you are not under law but under grace. Isn't it great to know that? You know the question we start with, and I'm going to point something out in just a minute here. In verse, 1 says Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? And the answer is certainly not. But what we see here is because we're under grace, sin is not our master.
Speaker 2:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 1:So now we see part of the purpose for grace. Grace delivers us from being under the control, being mastered by sin.
Speaker 2:That's good, man, that's good.
Speaker 1:So it's not a question of whether we should involve ourselves in sin for the purpose of grace. That's a false teaching. It's rather we involve ourselves in grace because it sets us free from sin.
Speaker 2:There you go, and grace is an empowerment. That's the whole thing it's like. Grace is actually an empowerment to do the things that God has instructed us to do, and that's what Paul meant in 1 Corinthians 15. When he was talking about it, he said you know, by the grace of God, I am what I am. He said, but his grace was not in vain towards me because he said, I labored more abundantly than everybody, but it wasn't really me, it was the grace of God that sent me, and I think Ryan might be going through that right now. So I appreciate that, ryan. But there it is, yep. In verse nine he said I'm the least of the apostles and an unworthy to be called an apostle which I find fascinating, by the way, because a lot of folks around here call themselves apostles, so-and-so these days.
Speaker 1:They love to have the titles, don't they?
Speaker 2:Yes, and I'm like you know Paul did not have a business card with Apostle Paul on it. You know yes.
Speaker 1:Parking lot apostle.
Speaker 2:Yes, parking lot apostle, church lobby apostle. Yes, parking lot apostle, church lobby apostle.
Speaker 1:You know, the only thing you've ever established is this business card you're handing me right now. Yes, with your apostleship established.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Nobody's ever called you an apostle. Nope, nope, none of that. Right, you have special prayer meeting by yourself, and you created that, just like prophet.
Speaker 2:Yep, oh goodness, the prophet gets abused all the time too. Man, it's fascinating because actually I did some study on this with some of the early church fathers' writings and things and found out just through different little panels, but found out that actually in the early church days the requirement to be called an apostle was that you had to have physically seen Jesus Christ. That was one of the things you had to have seen the risen Christ physically. That's why Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9, and I didn't get this at first, but you got to know, like the context In 1 Corinthians 9, first verse, I think Ryan might be going there, so I appreciate that again but he says am I not an apostle?
Speaker 2:Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus, our Lord? He was saying it because he knew that's what people measured your apostleship. So all this apostle did to that and you ain't physically seen the risen Christ. Bro, you may not be qualified for that title is all I'm trying to say. But anyway, that's a whole other sidebar. I'm sorry I went down that road. That a whole other sidebar, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I went down that road. That's a good sidebar.
Speaker 2:But in 1 Corinthians 9, back there, sorry, ryan, I'm having you bounce all over the place but he says, I mean I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. He says in verse 9, I'm the least of the apostles, not worthy to be called apostle because I persecuted the church of God, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder. So here's the personal choice and effort part. I worked harder than all of them. Yet not I, here's God's part, but the grace of God that was with me. So we've got this balance of God doing his part, us doing our part and Paul I mean, according to everything we read, he was not a slacker on his part. I think some fascinating stuff, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that's good. That's really good, philip. Let's look back at Romans, chapter 6. Let's tackle the next little portion there, because back in verse 1, it's almost a repeat of verse 1. Verse 15 is? It has the same question. It starts the same way. What then? Shall we sin? Now there's a little bit of a difference. Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? Certainly not.
Speaker 2:Do you?
Speaker 1:not know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you are slaves to the one you obey. Here we are choosing again, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, you obey. Here we are choosing again, whether you are slaves to sin, leading to death, or to obedience leading to righteousness. But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. So, philip, there we go again, with the opportunity to choose to be slaves to righteousness or choose to be slaves to sin. But we have to choose to be one or the other.
Speaker 1:And then, he throws in this caveat of by the way you've been taught yeah which one to be. So do what you were taught come on man and give yourselves over to that. I mean I just once again, here's the choice, and the crux of it. All you know, is in the middle of it. All is grace. And there's grace for choosing. And there's grace for choosing righteousness, and I don't know that there's any grace for choosing sin.
Speaker 2:Right, man, I'll tell you, I love how he said you know. But, man, I'll tell you, I love how he said you know, either you're going to be obeying sin or Well, let me just read it. How about that? It says you're a slave. It says when you offer yourselves verse 16. Don't you know that when you offer yourselves as obedient slaves, you're slaves to the one you obey? Right, I just thought about that one day and it's like, if I keep yielding to a temptation, I am proving that I'm a slave of that thing. Right, I'm proving that I don't run it, it runs me. Right, that's some hard truth. And it's like, wow, I keep doing this. That means I'm a slave to it. I can say all those stuff I want and make it sound whatever, whatever, but at the end of the day, I'm not the one in control, it's controlling me.
Speaker 1:Right and see, that takes me back. I was thinking back to our previous conversations because that's where we were talking about one of the reasons that we get stuck in the cycle of sin is because sin begets more sin. Oh yes, yep, that's right there, it is in Romans, chapter six, that you've really, by your choice, you've become an obedient slave to sin, because, notice, it says we're obedient slaves, but it doesn't say to what, until we make a choice.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:And so it's wild.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm looking at the definition of obedience here. Ryan. Put it up on the screen. It says to hear and it says obedience. I I'm looking down there under health word studies and it's it says obedience, literally submission to what's heard. Ooh, okay, obedience as the response to someone speaking. This refers both to an earthly voice and the Lord's voice. So that's fascinating. Submission to what is heard. So if you've got the voice of the enemy in your ear, yep, talk about it, dude. And he's telling you hey, turn on that computer and check out that porn site.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:You know, at two in the morning, you know, and it's like, okay, am I going to obey this voice that I'm hearing, you know? Yeah, I think you've probably seen these memes on the web lately, like somebody who let the intrusive thoughts win. Have you seen that stuff?
Speaker 1:Yeah, dude, I was about to say, if you've ever, if you, you, you know, and phyllis talked about it before and I've struggled with it before if you've ever struggled with porn, you know about it talking to you. Oh yeah, oh yeah, you know how you have the conversation in your own mind, where you're like I'm not gonna do it and you hear well, it's not gonna. I mean it'd only take a minute, right, you know, and that conversation that you have back and forth with that sin.
Speaker 2:Man, oh man.
Speaker 1:Trying to resist. That's a real. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but that's a conversation, it's real.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean it's in your head, but it's like it really happens.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it does, and how you choose determines whether or not you're going to be a slave that day. Right, it's like, okay, if I decide to go with the intrusive thoughts, as we've been hearing, then I know I have become a punk once again. I've let something control me instead of me being the master of my own fate. If you want to call it that, it's heavy man, want to call it that, so it's heavy man. And I think about it because this doesn't change, no matter what the temptation is. It could be porn, it could be alcohol or drugs, it could be even stealing on your job. Whatever you might be dealing with, if you've yielded to that voice, that voice is telling you something that you know you shouldn't do. But yet you go okay, yeah, maybe this one time. Next thing, you know, man, you have become a slave. In that instance, you put chains around your wrists and you're doing the bidding of something else, and that's a hard pill to swallow, but it's true.
Speaker 1:Right, but then there's the voice of God.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he says come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:Take my yoke upon you. You can go under the chain of sin, come on, or you can go under the gentle wrapping of the Lord, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your soul, because my burden is easy and my yoke is light. And that's really the choice that we're making literally daily, every time every single time, because I'm telling you, our situations and circumstances speak to us.
Speaker 1:They speak to us up here. They speak to us verbally too, but you know, I could think of times where I've been frustrated with my wife about something you know, or I've been frustrated with people at work, and you know, I'm just like man, I'm just going to blah, blah, blah, blah blah, it's like, don't do that.
Speaker 1:And then the conversation goes everything if you let it becomes a conversation starter. But you know what doesn't tempt me anymore? I don't even have conversations about pornography anymore right because when I made the decision and became obedient to righteousness, god began to help me to overcome those conversations yeah, where the conversations don't come anymore.
Speaker 2:See.
Speaker 1:Or they come. Every you know something will try to rear its ugly head out of nowhere. To see if I'll take the bait and I won't Right.
Speaker 2:You've wised up to the game now Right.
Speaker 1:No, you're good, you grow into that Exactly.
Speaker 2:That's exactly what I was going to say. Man, it's like, after a while it's almost like building muscle. The first time you resist that temptation, it's like the first time you pick up a I don't know 50 pound dumbbell and try to do a you know bicep curl with it. It's going to be harder if you've never done that before, but after a while it gets easier because you've built that muscle up to where it's. It's just it's made it stronger over time. And that's exactly the same thing.
Speaker 2:The more you start choosing to resist those temptations and say you know what, I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it this time. Okay, maybe you catch me on another day, I might, but at least for this day I'm going to do my best not to go down that road. That first time you resist is going to be super hard. But then the second time, third time, fourth time, all of a sudden you start seeing, oh, this thing isn't as tempting as it was. It doesn't have that allure that it had the first, however many times.
Speaker 2:But if you keep yielding to it, you're going to find that that temptation gets stronger, that pull and that grip gets stronger on you, and that's when you're in the fight of your life. At that point, man. But in order to break the cycle, in order to walk in that true freedom, man, you eventually have to finally say no. Use your power to choose and choose to say no. And then, all of a sudden, that one time may seem like a small victory, or it may seem like it's not that significant, especially if you still feel tempted in later times or whatever. But you've actually made progress. You've actually made progress. Keep building that momentum.
Speaker 1:Completely agree, Bill. Let's take these last few minutes and we're already at the end of it, so we can look at Romans, chapter 6.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:The end of Romans, chapter 6. But one of the things I want to encourage you guys to last week we tackled the end of 7, like verse 21, 721, and we walked all the way through to 8, 3, 4, 5. But I really want to challenge you for a study If you take, maybe, from the end of five and run all the way through eight, you really have a picture painted, and it's this concept of the struggle around sin, around sin, and I don't know a Christian who really loves God, who wants to be involved in sin.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:But I know that we struggle and Paul is very aware of that struggle and that's why he writes about it and talks so plainly and openly about that struggle. And you know, like we talked about last week, what I want to do I don't do, and what I don't want to do, that's what I'm doing. Lord, help me. Who's going to deliver me from this? And the answer is in Christ Jesus. And in Christ he's telling us. Part of the answer is your choice.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 1:That's right. The answer is in your choice. And if we look at the end of Romans, chapter six, at verse 20, it says for when you were slaves to sin, you were free of obligation to righteousness. So before you were, I even say Philip, maybe before you were born, righteousness. So before you were, I even say philip, maybe before you were born again, when you were just out doing your own thing, absence of god, you were free of obligation to righteousness right right but look at the question at ask in 21 what fruit did you reap at that time?
Speaker 1:from the things of which you are now ashamed, goodness, the outcome of those things is death. But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness and the outcome is eternal life. Praise God, the holiness and the outcome is eternal life.
Speaker 1:The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Verse 23, I believe, is the summation of our choices. There's a payment for sin, and that payment is death. There is also a gift from God for choosing righteousness, and it's eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord Choose.
Speaker 2:That's so good, man, that's so good.
Speaker 1:I love this and partially I love it for 21, because it says what fruit did you reap at the time from the things which you are now ashamed? And I'm like I think back over my life and I'm like I've reaped the fruit of fear. I've reaped the fruit of shame. I've reaped the fruit of condemnation. I've reaped the fruit of broken relationships. I've reaped the fruit of loneliness and it's like all of that stuff when I was a slave slave to sin was what was bearing fruit in my life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but now, as a believer, I see the fruit that leads to holiness and the outcome of eternal life, and I want more of that fruit.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, absolutely. And I just love how he says there is wages that sin pays, but then there's a gift that God gives.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's nice.
Speaker 2:Man. It's just like look at God, Look at how good he is. You're actually working for death, You're a slave to it, but if you choose God's way, it's a gift for him to give you that eternal life. It's like man the good thing about a gift is that you never earn it, you just receive it Right. So that's, that's a beautiful thing, man. This whole chapter I encourage everybody listening. Please read Romans 6. Meditate on this whole chapter, because it is truly. It's a powerful and empowering chapter to help you understand your position in Christ and then also what God has already done in him for your benefit. And it gives you the roadmap. It gives you the roadmap to overcome those temptations or sins in your life and to actually and to actually be a conqueror, more than a conqueror, as he says, in those things. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And you know what else. It also tells us we are empowered to live well and to live good and make right choices.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:We're empowered by God to do so by being born again in him. If we have died with him, then we're resurrected with him and we have the choice to choose righteousness and to choose righteous living, and to choose to yield our body and our body parts to righteousness. Since we've been empowered by this, make good choices. It doesn't mean you're always going to make the perfect choice, but as you continue to work day by day and live day by day, live to make just that. Good choice today, good choice tomorrow, more good choices, and once again, they compound upon one another and they bear fruit in your life.
Speaker 1:They bear fruit in your life, and that's a good thing. We're empowered to win, we're empowered to choose and we're empowered to live a good life in Christ.
Speaker 2:Amen to that.
Speaker 1:We want to pray for everybody. Now that we know even more, we have more empowerment to break the cycle of sin, because now we realize that breaking the cycle of sin starts with our choice. That's right, so let's pray for that.
Speaker 2:That's right, absolutely. Heavenly Father, thank you for revealing all these different truths from your word today. Thank you for your goodness, lord, that you always are there to help us, to assist us. You said in Hebrews 13, you'll never leave us nor forsake us, lord, and we're grateful for that. We're grateful for the companionship of the Holy Spirit in this life to help us. We know that you sent him to dwell in our hearts so that we can have your influence in our lives, lord. We're grateful for that, and I pray for every person who's listened to this podcast or who will listen to it, that you'll empower them in their choices.
Speaker 2:Father. First, reveal your truth to them. Open the eyes of their understanding wherever they need to have that light from your word to overcome those things in their lives that have been hindering them or entangling them, whatever it might be. Open the eyes of their understanding to the truth and revelation in your word about those things, so that they can begin to walk free and begin to make right choices. And you said in your word in Philippians that you're the God who works in us to will and do of your good pleasure. So I pray that for every person listening that they would become even more aware of you, living in them and prompting them, influencing their heart to will and to do of your good pleasure, and I thank you for that, and we praise you for your goodness, lord, in Jesus name Amen.
Speaker 1:Well, everybody, we're going to wrap it up right there Bookmark. We're always taking a bookmark somewhere.
Speaker 1:We're so glad though that you've joined us and that you've connected with us in this episode. We hope you were inspired and encouraged by it. Hey, do us a favor. A couple of favors. First of all, if this ministered to you, share it with someone else, because we're sure that it will minister to them as well. It's always good to crack open God's word and let's just see what it says and then walk according to what it says. So share it with somebody.
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