¶ Repentance and Freedom From Sin
It doesn't make sense like Paul is responding to the question that many of us viscerally feel I can't just get away with it . He's saying like no , because here's the deal if you truly received the spirit and we'll get to this if you truly received that repentance , that's just the dumbest question you could ask .
Welcome back to the move where we're vibing with the book 10 minutes at a time .
We finally made it to Romans , chapter 6 , one of my favorite chapters honestly , it's a freaking good chapter . We're gonna be looking at verses 1 through 11 . So do us a favor , do yourself a favor and read it check it out . Well , you can pause right now and we'll be here waiting for you . Go and read those verses wait , wait .
Before you go , make sure you hit the like button . Subscribe , leave a comment , interact . We love you . Yeah , and we are back the question I have a question for do you actually think we're gonna get through 11 ? I Just want to say I don't think so no , let's go for it All right .
Well , we're gonna give it a shot . We got 10 minutes on the clock . Three , two , one , vamanos .
Justin . What shall we say then ?
I don't know what should we say ? That's kind of what I think about every podcast . We didn't plan this , we're just gonna talk .
Here's the thing , that's my famous line , here's the thing . I think what frames Roman six is this idea of these two atoms that we spoke of in the previous ten , and what grounds the idea of the two atoms is that in one atom , the old atom , you get what you deserve .
Yeah , right , therefore , do something good right .
So if you're gonna live by the law , make sure you're constantly keeping the law all the time , because the moment you fall short , Spanking you're earning that which you deserve , which is falling short , which is all right , the death that comes with it .
The second atom is an atom that , outside of yourself , he does this one act of obedience that , if you agree and believe in , you're good . Now the problem of the police officer . The good police officer .
We've used two examples so far in the last four or five episodes , and it's the good police officer that speeding speeding , he gives you the hundred dollars because you expect against the common expectation , and or the police officer that caught you jaywalking and does not give you a ticket .
Yeah .
The question then becomes should I keep jaywalking ? Should I keep speeding ? What shall we say then ? Should I keep jaywalking so that he gives me a three dollar bonus every time he catches me ?
jaywalking , because the thing is , even if you're not getting the hundred bucks , because that seems excessive . You didn't just letting you off .
There's a you don't know the cops . I know .
I Need to know those cops All right , there's like an adrenaline rush that happens when you messed up , but then you're like forgiven from that thing . Yeah , so there is a certain sense like what then I should just keep doing and it's not even just jaywalking and speeding , because those are like From a personal benefit .
There's not very much that we gain from that .
But there are other things that are on the list , as it were , that we like to do like at least that our flesh , yeah , likes to do so if there's no real penalty for these things if you're saying that it really is just based off this one act and Maybe I can just keep doing it then I'm in power to continue doing it like why not ?
Yeah , why not ? And this is what Paul is dealing with here . What shall we say then ? Are we to continue in sin ? That the hundred dollar cop Might continue to pop up ? That grace may abound and what he said ? By no means .
Yeah , and I love that that other translations say God forbid In the Greek .
That's the strongest Inundation that you could have if I could , if you don't mind , if it's all right , it's Hell , no yeah yeah , no , no , please don't take that as a cuss .
I literally mean like hell , no you say no to hell , there you go .
So that he's emphasizing and this is the next line I think that we often miss is how can we who died to Sin , because what happens I recognize .
Here real quick before you go there , because you're translate what are you reading from right now I'm reading from the ESV the English thing in my notes . I was looking through the King James version and yours says again what's the phrase ?
How can we who died to sin ?
who died . Yeah , I like the King James better in this one . I actually usually like the English standard , yeah , but the King says that are dead . It's a presence , reality , not just something that happened back then we are currently dead to sin , and this language gets even better Later in this chunk where he talks about that . He that is dead is also free .
From some . So why do I jaywalk ? Because I've prioritized my needs above traffic . Yeah , why do I speed ?
Same reason I prioritize , cuz you're running late my need or I just like to go fast .
I just want to go right . I like to go back and bother so that I prioritize my needs above the safety of the people that I'm traveling with . I prioritize my needs above the concern of the traffic that's flowing right .
And when I come to an awareness that the prioritization of my need comes at the expense of others , when I come to the recognition that me wanting to do that which I want to do , contrary to what law says I should do , is actually introducing death . And when I extrapolate my jaywalking to me , j walking in my relationships , you know what I mean .
You're married when you press on what you want to do at the expense of your wife .
Mm-hmm right .
That's the sort of thing that actually leads to arguments . Resentment ultimately it could , if not , if it goes unchecked , is what leads to the death of a marriage . Yeah right .
Yeah .
So God is highlighting Paul's highlighting . How is it that , if you're freed From the thing that introduces death , you want to return to it ?
Yeah , paul is saying like listen , if you're truly have accepted this thing , then living in this way , just like it don't make sense like Paul , is responding to the question that many of us viscerally feel . I can I just get away with it ? He's saying like no cuz , here's the deal .
If you truly received the spirit and we'll get to this if you truly received that repentance , that's just the dumbest question you could ask cuz you don't want to return to that which introduces death . No , you've been delivered from that thing . You entered a new reality . Why would you even Consider ?
how would you even consider ? Why would you get shot in the thigh ? Have the bullet removed , then wake up .
And that's the doctor .
Can you shoot me again ? Yeah , the same hole , like no , no . So then he continues . He says verse 3 do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death ? Tell me a little bit about baptism .
So there's this idea that's very popular and we were talking about this earlier in depending on where you live in the country , what church , whatever repentance , is oftentimes Summarized as this experience , which isn't false , it's just incomplete .
I like that .
Repentance . What does repentance mean ? Repentance ? You've heard the pastor Sam walking down the road . And then , when I repent and I found out I'm going down the wrong direction , what do I do ? I turn and I walk down a different path . That's what the word means .
Yeah and so when you say , oh , I'm living this lifestyle , I'm I'm getting drunk , I'm promiscuous , I'm prideful , I'm arrogant and all these things , that that , when I finally come to know the Lord and his goodness , I repent and I turn away from these evil ways of living and I no longer do them .
Yeah so , after my baptism , I am now consciously trying to walk away from a former way of living . Yes true or false ?
true , however incomplete , incomplete . How's it incomplete ? It's incomplete because it seems as though repentance is not simply the turning away from my former life into a new life .
Right , but repentance is also and maybe I shouldn't say the word also , just because , the way I think about it , repentance is truly , truly and primarily the gift that comes from God right .
We've heard this phrase before right . Repentance comes from God . Repentance is a gift from .
God , it's a gift .
How's it a gift if all I'm doing is turning away and I'm working really hard to not visit that website ?
because the turning away is not something that you yourself can do . It's something that's initiated and accomplished by God as he draws you in through the revelation of Jesus Christ .
I'd like to think about it this way and to continue , or in a straight line if I'm walking Right and in and towards death right , and if I were to turn around , this is life this way right ? Where is the cross ? If I'm walking in and towards death , where is the cross ? The cross is not behind me .
The cross is actually ahead of me as I walk in death , right in front of me . You see what I'm saying , and as I walk and I finally see the revelation of the cross as the goodness of God towards me , I then see him lifted up and I see that God is testifying through his son that he so loved me that he was willing to give his son .
That awakens within me not only conviction of how atrocious sin is , that it would cost God his life but also but it also awakens for me a love to God that he would love me in such a way , and as his spirit draws me , I say I don't want to live in this realm If it causes God that and also it would cause me that right , this duality of like .
It would cost me my life . But whoa , it has cost him his life . And the spirit of God tells me welcome to me , child , you can turn , you can live in my presence . And as I turn , this is repentance , right .
But then the other aspect is that now , as I'm walking in newness of life , in and with God , because now the cross , and as I turn and walk , there's one that walks beside me , holy Spirit . Right , he's the paraclete . Paraclete literally means para alongside , clete for foot , walking alongside , a feet alongside . So he's walking with me .
And as I'm walking with the Lord , all of a sudden my burdens fall off , my sin is forgiven , iniquity is not counted against me , I have peace with God . And as I have peace with God , that means I have agreement with the maker of my soul .
That means that creation and creator are now an intimate relationship , and the only response that I now have , as I'm walking through that , is gratitude , overwhelming Right , absolutely so it's this sigh . This is one of the ideas of repentance in the Old Testament . It's a sigh . Is that 10 minutes . That's 10 minutes . What'd I tell you ?
We ain't gonna do it . I told you , man , so audible . Do we keep going or do we do a part two ? Oh , man , cause you're in the middle of this thing .
Oh man , well , let's keep going a little bit , and then we gotta go . Part two All right . It's a sigh .
So here you're not just describing an experience . Just for clarity , the word repentance , yes , does mean a turning away from , but what you're ? If I understand it , you're also saying that there's a second definition to that word .
There is , and it's quite literally this experience of the feeling that you have when you come home from work and you kick your shoes off and you're just able to relax for the first time , this experience of when a burden is taken off of your shoulders . There's this levity to life now , there's this newness to life .
It's a rest , yeah , and it's a good rest . It's almost as though you could say it where , like if somebody were to invite you into that rest , it would say something like come unto me all , ye who labor and are heavy laden , and I will give you rest .
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me , for I am meek and lowly in heart , and you will find rest unto , unto your soul , for my yoke is easy and my burden is light .
This thing that I carried for all of my life , that was weighing down on me , that was beating me up , and it's not like , obviously it's not a physical thing . It's that thing in your mind , that conscience that's just berating you because you've fallen short . That's actually lifted now . You're no longer living in that path of death .
You're freed , you're liberated . You get this sighing experience
¶ Freedom From Sin and Repeating Mistakes
. Paul uses the language you're dead to sin . And once you've experienced that goodness , once you've had that levity , that sighing experience , why would you ever then voluntarily place the burden on your shoulders again because you are now dead to sin , you're free from that burden .
Yeah , why would I jaywalk knowing that I'm breaking the law ?
So good .
Even breaking the law . It's more conscious condemnation , guilt . I either have one of two options I stop jaywalking or I jaywalk so much that I see in my conscience .
Yes , so this is beautiful . This is challenging to understand how it applies to our life , because once we've received the spirit , once we've had that baptism , once we've even repented , there comes inevitably some time where we repeat the what's , the phrase , the ignorance the patterns of our former ignorance . Aka we kick the cat again .
We visit the website again we get angry , we jaywalk , again , we speed again .
So how does that interact with what the text says about being free from sin ? That's what we're going to talk about in the next 10 . In the next 10 . Thanks for , by the way , helping us out and giving us a few extra minutes .
We're going to try our best to stick within 10 as we go forward , but every once in a while there's some goodness in there that we got to get to .
So we'll see you in the next one .