THE DANGER OF LIBERTINISM
(Romans Bible Study Series Tape Fifteen)
Recommended reading Romans 6:1-13.
A study, about the cross and death of our savior,
creates in us a real appreciation for Jesus Christ. We develop an
understanding about His death and the fact that He was willing to say
good-bye to life. A proper understanding about His death, produces in us a
hatred for sin and what it did to Christ as our Savior. We also gain a
better understanding of righteousness by faith, which helps us in our
study into the Book of Romans. Paul is a logical and a well educated
writer. He was one of the most qualified individuals to deliver the
message, that God directed Him to deliver. We gain an insight into the
gospel which Paul details more than the other writers. The study into Romans
6, deals with the dangers that comes with preaching the everlasting
gospel. The danger comes from people twisting the message. The everlasting
gospel is just that, it is the everlasting covenant that has always
existed and will always exist.
I. Satan does not want us to understand the gospel.
· Satan doesn't
want us to have a clear understanding about the love of God. A love that
is everlasting, unconditional, and never changes.
· Satan does not
want us to know about or to understand the gospel. Paul tells us that
this would occur in II Corinthians 4:3-4. Satan has counterfeited
many things including the very gospel message. When we look at the two
counterfeits of the gospel, we see how so many, including ourselves,
could fall for them. Satan is very clever.
II. The true gospel has been counterfeited.
· The first
counterfeit Paul addressed in Romans 4, is called legalism.
Legalism in many ways resembles the gospel. Legalists talk about the
Law. The gospel certainly includes the Law. God did not change, destroy,
or do away with the Law. The law is involved, but living by the Law, and
trying to add anything to salvation, to grace, or to the gift of God
results in legalism. You cannot earn salvation. You cannot even earn the
truth by your faith; you only accept truth by your faith.
· The second
counterfeit has several names. One name often used is libertinism or
anti- nomianism. Anti meaning against and nomianism is the Law.
Sometimes libertinism is also referred to as cheap grace. We have seen
that the gospel is the righteousness of God, and that in the holy
history of Christ everything necessary for us to be in the family of God
is already fulfilled.
· Libertinism
states, that since I am already saved by the doing and the dying of
Christ, surely I have the liberty to do what I want and what I like. The
gospel and its' free gift of salvation is now used as an excuse to sin.
As we now look at Romans 6, it will become very clear that this is
not true.
· Liberty and
license are not the same thing. Yes, the gospel sets me free, but not
free to do what ever I please. Freedom means responsibility.
· Religion and
churches are very much like the governments of the world; rarely, do
they tell what we should hear or the whole truth. They will share with
you what you want to hear and will go headlong into what has already
been predetermined. Paul does not keep the truth from us. He tells us
the truth - to be free in Christ is not a license to do what we want.
III. A misunderstanding of the gospel message is dangerous.
· There are some
wonderful statements in the gospel but improper understanding can be
dangerous. The dangerous misunderstanding of the statements has led some
teachers to not even quote them. One such statement is in Romans
5:20. Paul meant by this statement that no matter how terrible a
sinner you are, the gospel can save you. The gift and grace of God
abounds far more than sin. The problem is that all of us not only have a
sinful nature, even after conversion, we also have a nature that loves
sin. We cannot deceive ourselves.
· Our converted
mind might hate sin, but our nature will love sin to our dying day. When
we read the wonderful statement that Paul made, we could pervert and
corrupt that statement by saying that grace is so wonderful that the
more I sin, the more grace will cancel my sin. Let us keep on sinning
that grace may abound; Paul does not mean that. The flesh will
tell you and lead you to believe that this is what Paul means. We
pervert Paul's statements for our own personal benefit.
· A second
statement is found in Romans 6:14. Paul did mean the 10
Commandments, when he said you are not under the Law but under grace,
Paul meant that every time you fall the Law cannot condemn you, sin no
longer has authority to execute you. Paul talks about the sting of death
in I Corinthians 15:56. Sin gets its' authority to kill us from
the law. If you are no longer under the Law, sin cannot do that to you.
· You are free
from the condemnation of the Law and its' curse. Under the Law the soul
that sins must die. To a Christian the Law cannot say that to us because
we are under grace. It is truly good news; but it also can be dangerous
news. The danger that we deal with is, since the law cannot condemn you,
you can now do both what you want and like to do. The flesh will say
keep on sinning; you are no longer under the Law, you are under grace.
Notice, being under grace does not give you that liberty. The answer
Paul gave to that wrong line of reasoning is "God forbid",
it is unthinkable. Paul starts to deal with the danger of the wrong
thinking.
IV. Satan does not care whether your legalistic or believe in anti-nomianism.
· He will often
sway you from one counterfeit extreme to the other. The two camps often
battle it out with each other and neither is correct.
· A legalist
always looks good from the outside. Performance is always good. The
problem is inward. Christ condemned that behavior as hypocritical.
· Anti-nomianism
is outward. You can see the problems, so there is a hope of correction.
Both belong to Satan; what we want is the truth as it is in Christ.
· Paul deals with
anti-nomianism in Romans 6:1. We have submitted our lives to
Christ. The phrase died to sin appears three times in Romans 6:1-13.
The first use in Verse 2, applies to the believer. It appears the
second time in verse 10, and applies to Christ. Our subjective
experience is always based on an objective truth. The truth is the
historical Christ. Christ not only died, He brought an end to sin. Sin
is eliminated.
V. When Christ comes the second time, he will not deal with the sin
problem.
· Christ has
already dealt with sin on the cross. When Christ returns, He will come
without sin unto salvation.
· When Christ
arose from the dead, he left sin and death in the grave forever, as is
stated in Romans 6:9. The second half of Romans 6:10, details
the life which Christ now lives. Christ now will never again have to
experience the God abandonment that our sins produced on the cross.
· A Christian is
one who has accepted his identity with Christ. In Christ we are
redeemed. We are united in the death of Christ and in His resurrection,
as Paul states in Romans 6:5. We have the past tense for death
and the future tense for the resurrection. We have died to sin, and in
the future, we will live with Christ.
· If we want to
live with Christ, we must die with Him. If we die with Christ, we have
left our sin in the grave. The grave is not a sepulcher, it is the water
into which we were baptized.
· We leave sin in
the grave. Paul says if you have died to sin, how can you then say it is
all right to sin. You are contradicting your righteousness by faith to
say such a thing.
· Paul makes a
very interesting comment in Romans 6:7. Paul does not say you are
free to sin, he states that you are freed from sin. In Romans 6,
Paul is not dealing with performance, rather with the attitude toward
sin.
· Even though we
have said good-bye to sin in our heart, we still may fall and make
mistakes. We still struggle and fall. A Christian's performance must
never be because of condoning sin.
· A Christian
should always have a negative attitude toward sin. A Christian cannot
say it is all right to sin just because he died to sin. Romans 6:11,
states that a Christian should consider himself dead to sin. Once we
accept Christ, Romans 6:12, tells us that we cannot let sin rule
or reign over us.
VI. Paul tells us that in Christ sin no longer has dominion over us.
· We are to enjoy
and apply our freedom.
· We do not have
to go along with Satan or sin. Do not let sin rule over our bodies.
· We are now
alive and Paul tells us how we should present ourselves in Romans
6:13.
Imagine what would happen if we really surrendered
ourselves to this truth. We would not have to worry about legalism or
compromises in our lives. We should remind ourselves daily, who we are in
Christ. We are dead to sin, no longer does it have the authority to rule
over us. We are not only dead to sin, we are alive to God. Let God's
Spirit lead and guide us and give us power. Let God be our ruler. He is a
benevolent loving father, who loves us eternally and will give to us
everything that is good. |
The Danger of Libiternism
