Why Grace Is Not a License to Sin — Romans 6 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, it's good to have everybody in again this afternoon. And as I've mentioned before, especially for the folks here in the Eastern Oklahoma area, if you'd ever like to come in and be a part and parcel of our television audience, we tape four programs, of course, on a Wednesday afternoon. And we like to start the cameras about one o'clock and we're usually out of here by four, 4.15. So if any of you in this area of the world would like to come in, you just call either the station or call us on our 800 number and find out the day we're taping and come on in and join us because we just love to meet these people that are already watching the program. And again, we like to remind you periodically that all the past programs are available in videotapes as well as in the printed page. And we're just amazed that especially these little books are catching on. And we get orders almost every day now for the whole set. And we've got, what, 21 books are just now finished. So those of you on television, if you do not have the facilities to watch the tape or the time, you might want to try one of the little books and see how you like them. And again, we always like to thank our television people as well as, of course, my class people for your continued prayer support, for your financial support. And I was just telling someone before we started the cameras rolling, in the last week, I've had two people from two different areas of the country suddenly realize that I'm just a layman. I have no formal education. I have no big church congregation behind me. No one underwrites this. And they said, how in the world did you, a layman, ever get such a television ministry? And I was, well, if you can tell me, then we'll both know because this is just something that sort of unfolded in God's own sovereign grace. And we never dreamed it would come to this, but anyway, the Lord is using it. He's blessing it. And we've never been in the red. We've never asked for money and I never will. Anytime the funds dry up, then so does the program. But whatever, you've all been so faithful. You've been so generous. And again, we just can't thank you enough. All right, let's get right back into where we left off in our last program. For those of you in the audience, that's a month ago, but we were in Romans chapter five and we stopped at verse 20 and 21. So I'd like to come back to verse 20 for just a moment before we go on into chapter six. Now, as I mentioned on one of the other programs, if not at least once, maybe twice, that as you teach the Old Testament and especially Genesis and Revelation, it's no problem at all keeping people interested and whet their appetites. And when we taught in those areas, we had so many phone calls that I was a little bit, well, I had some trepidations about entering into the Pauline letters now, because usually, even in my classes, this is an area where people are not as excited. Now, they should be, because this is where we are. But the response from the television audience has been almost as good from Romans as it was from Revelation. And that is thrilling. I had a call from a fellow in Indiana the other day and he just couldn't say enough for what Romans was doing for him. And so this is what we love to hear. All right, Romans chapter five, beginning of verse 20, where Paul now writes, "'Moreover, the law entered that the offense,' in other words, the fall, the sin, "'that the offense might abound.'" Now, that sounds a little bit quirky on the surface, doesn't it? You mean the law caused sin to abound? Well, not that the law caused people to sin more, but the law caused people to understand how sinful they were. You remember, I put it on the board several months ago now, I guess, I had it on the blackboard that we are not sinners because we've broken the law. We break the law because we're sinners, see? And that's what we have to understand, that our whole sin problem began with Adam. We've inherited it. And so the very nature of mankind is to be sinful. And so when the law came in, all it could do was show man how sinful he really was. And that's what Paul is trying to drive home through these chapters in chapter five. And now as we go on into chapter six. All right, so the law entered that the offense might abound, but you see, God is still greater than everything. So where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Now, if you'll remember in our last program or two, when I teach Romans, I like to call this three-lettered word sin, singular, as the what? The old Adam or the old sin nature. And never lose sight of that. And you won't do any violence to Scripture if you just use it synonymously as such. That where old Adam or the old nature abounded, grace did much more abound. Now, all you have to do is just reflect back in human history or even just in our own present day. When you read of the horrendous atrocities that armed forces can commit against their enemy, how can they do that? How can these young men from one area of the world, like in Yugoslavia right now tonight, how can the young men from Bosnia, while they're fighting a war over here against their enemy, lose all sense of morality? They get the idea that any female is free game for their animal appetites. Nobody seemingly tries to take it away from them. They have full liberty. In fact, as I read the statement of one general of a bygone time, he said, well, that's just one of the privileges of being a foot soldier. Well, where do they get such thinking? Why do these young men just suddenly lose everything that they must have learned at their mama's knee? It's that old sin nature. And every one of us, every one of us, as we saw back in Romans chapter one and two, are capable of those same things. And as I tried to explain back in chapter three, when the old sin nature is shown for what it really is, and God says we are all sinners, then we have to stop and realize that under like circumstances, we would probably be prone to do the same thing. In fact, as I was mulling this over, I was thinking even in my own service days, back in basic training, and I was a couple of years older than most of the kids that were coming in, these 17 -year-olds especially, and they'd be doing things that I just knew they didn't do when they were in their little old hometown. And I would ask them once in a while, and they'll tell me, did you do this at home? Oh, no. Well, then why do you do it here? Because nobody knows me. Well, isn't that the perfect answer? See, even the unbeliever can be inhibited by virtue of his surroundings, his circumstances, his parental influence, the influence of community, but you put them in a totally strange environment and you put them away from home where no one knows them, the old Adam has free course. See, and this is just exactly what happens then when soldiers of an invading army can just pillage a community, can rape the women, and seemingly doesn't bother them. Well, that's the old Adam, see? And every one of us, before we were saved, would have been capable of those same things because that's where the human race is coming from. And so this is what Paul is trying to show, that the old Adam, he abounds with sin, but where sin abounds, the grace of God is always greater. All right, now then, verse 21, that as sin, here it is again, the old Adam, so as the old Adam hath reigned, now when you think of a reign, what do you think of? A king, and use that terminology. And even as old Adam has just reigned like a king over us as an individual and over humanity as a whole, even so might grace reign like a king, see? And so we have these two alternatives. We can either let old Adam rule supreme, or we can let the grace of God come in and overwhelm old Adam, and God's grace rules supreme. And that's where the matter of choice comes in. See, God isn't gonna force anybody. And I just mentioned to one of my class again the other night, it's just not part and parcel of our Christian endeavor to go out and corner people and force these things down their throats. That's not the way it's supposed to work. You do not grab somebody by the chest and say, now listen to me, I've got something you have to hear. No, you don't do that. But as the Lord creates interest in them and they begin to ask questions, then I say, boy, have both barrels loaded and be ready with all the scripture at your command and be able to bring them to a knowledge of what the book is trying to say. All right, so as old Adam has reigned under death, misery, my, look at the world's misery tonight. And what is it caused by? Old Adam, it's the man's sinful nature. Even so, my grace reign like a king through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, of course, I maintain that this is a narrow book. Christianity is a narrow concept. Christianity does not reach out and say, well, it doesn't matter if you're Muslim or if you're Shinto or Hindu. It doesn't matter, you can still profess Christianity. Oh, no, that doesn't work because the scripture says there is no other name given under heaven among men whereby we must be saved. And so that narrows it down, doesn't it? And yet it's absolute. You know, I've been stressing the absoluteness of the word of God. And I always like to stress that this book stands head and shoulders and then some above any other religious book in this world because it's the only book on earth that tells the future hundreds, thousands of years in advance and it's all been fulfilled so far and the rest will be. And there isn't another so-called book, and I don't like the word religion, so I'm not gonna equate Christianity with a religion, but there is not another book on earth that can do that. I don't care what the religious book is, they cannot prophesy the future like the Bible does. And so it's absolute, we can trust it. It is the word of God. All right, now then I think we're ready to go on into chapter six. That grace abounds even where sin abounds. And then Paul says in verse one, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin? In other words, shall we continue to let old Adam have his way and reign as king just because God's grace is still greater? And what's the answer? God forbid. Don't even think such a thought. Now, if I understand Greek correctly, the term God isn't even in verse two. It's banish the thought. Don't think such a thing that just because God's grace is so overwhelming that we are now free to do as we please, let old Adam control us, and God will somehow take care of it. Now, Paul says back in Romans three, and we looked at this several months ago, I guess, come back with me a minute to Romans chapter three and drop in at verse seven. Romans three verse seven. And I'm accused of it, and I suppose most of you are. If you explain to some curiosity seeker that the grace of God is greater than all our sin, that we're not under any demands of the law, we're living under grace, they'll shake their head and say, well, then you're telling me you can do whatever you wanna do and God's grace will take care of it? No, I've never taught that. In fact, I've told my classes now for 20 some years, grace is not what? License. Grace is not license. That doesn't give us the freedom to do as we please. It just simply changes our appetites and it changes our motives. But here Paul was up against the same thing. Romans three verse seven. For if the truth of God had more abounded through my lie under his glory, why yet am I also judged or concluded as a sinner? And not rather, and then in parentheses, as we be slanderously reported, and some affirm that we say, you see what he's saying? We are being falsely accused of this very thing that when we proclaim the grace of God as being so great and so free, then they accuse us of saying, well, you can just do as you please because the grace of God will take care of it. But look at his answer. And as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good may come. What's their end? Their condemnation is just. And then he goes on to say, what then are we better than they? No and no wise for we have both proved Jew and Gentile that they are what? All under sin and of course in need of his grace. All right, let's move back into chapter six then again. And so he says, continue in sin, God forbid, banish the thought. And then here's the reason. Here's the real reason. How shall we that are dead to old Adam, see how that helps clarify the text? How shall we who are dead now to old Adam live any longer therein? Now we'll be seeing it all through these early verses of chapter six, but just to refresh your memory, when did our old Adam die? Well, the moment we believed God reckoned him dead, crucified, says the Paul men in Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but what? Christ liveth in me. Now that's the whole work of the gospel in the hearts of men is that we can put old Adam on the cross, reckon him as dead, no longer ruling as a king. He is kaput. And now we have the ulterior. We have Christ living and reigning in his grace. All right, verse three. Now here is where I'll probably run into a buzzsaw of controversy. And I'm just going to teach it as I feel the Lord has led me to see it, even though it's completely opposite from what I used to practice years and years ago. I use this verse just as much as anybody to convince people of water baptism. But I suddenly, suddenly saw, now wait a minute, this goes way beyond water baptism. And all I ask people to do is don't take my word for it, but open your eyes, take off the blinders of tradition and look what the book says. Verse three, know you not that so many of us as were baptized into, not the church, not a denomination, but baptized into what? Into Jesus Christ. Now you see, water can't do that. Water can't put anybody into the body of Christ. And I can prove that from Scripture. This has to be the work of the Spirit of God and not water. And so it just breaks down if you try to make this teach water baptism. And then just finish the verse and then I'll go back and show you some verses. Now we were baptized into Jesus Christ and we were baptized into His death. All right, come back with me or go ahead, I guess, to the right, 1 Corinthians, 1 Corinthians chapter 12. And look what the book says. Don't listen to what I say. That's why I like to have the Scripture on the screen as often as possible. Because I know for a lot of folks, they probably never read the Word of God except as it pops on the screen. And here it is, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning at verse 12. And here is Paul's use of the word, which is strictly Pauline. Now, when I use the word Pauline, I hope everybody understands. I mean that which came from the pen of the apostle Paul. I'm not talking about some female or anything like that. I'm talking about the writings of Paul as being Pauline. All right, this is a Pauline term, the body of Christ. In Ephesians 1, he makes it so plain, the body of Christ and the church, which is his body. All right, now we're having the same concept here in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, except in verse 12, he's using the human body as an example. All right, for as the body, this human body, is one and has many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are still one body. Now he's talking about this body. We have eyes, hands, fingers in its purpose. They're singular in their nerve endings. You know, I don't have to tell you, if you strike your thumb with a hammer, the whole body hurts, not just the thumb. And it all goes to that central nervous system. All right, Paul is using that now as an example. And now look what he says in the end of the verse. So also is Christ. He is the head of the body, which is composed of many members. Now, I know there are some that just ridicule this idea of the so-called body of Christ as being an invisible entity, but the scripture doesn't. The scripture teaches it, especially in Paul's writing, that we now become members of the body of Christ, of which he is the head in heaven, and we're the body still here on the earth. All right, how did we become then a member of the body of Christ? How did we get into that organism? Well, you didn't sign up for it. Some preacher didn't baptize you into it, but first you had to believe the gospel and the Holy Spirit automatically, immediately, the moment we believe, verse 13, for by one Spirit. See how clear this is? For by one Spirit, that's capitalized, so it's the Holy Spirit, are we, and what's the next word? All. Now, remember, I had to answer a lady, I think it was out in Colorado, who took something like this, and she said, well, does that mean everybody's gonna be saved? Well, you see, the dear lady just had never been taught that Paul never writes to anyone but the believer. So when he says you all, he's not including lost people, he's including every believer, and that's as far as it can go. All right, now look at it again. For by one Spirit, are we all baptized into, not a local church, not a denomination, but into the what? Into the body, see? Now that's an act of God. That's something that we can't put our hands on. That's in the area of the invisible again. You remember way back when we started Romans, I put all the things on the blackboard that God did the moment we believed, and I said every one of them are such that you cannot put your fingers on it, you can't see it, you can't touch it, but we know it happened how? By faith, because the book says so, that this is what God did, and we believe it. Now here's another one. I can't look back and say, well, I can remember, I can feel when the Holy Spirit put me into the body. I have proof, I have others who saw it happen. No, I can't say that, and neither can you, but we know it happened because the book says it did, and the moment every child of God believed, the Holy Spirit baptized them into that body of Christ. Now, the word baptized in the Greek, even in classic Greek, Homer and, got a mental block, who was the other one? Huh? Aristotle. Well, Aristotle and, well, any of these great Greek poets. When they would use the word baptizod, many times it would speak of a ship being sunk at sea. So what did the word really imply? Well, I would like to use the word totally engulfed. When something was baptizod, when something was baptized, it was totally engulfed. Now, that didn't always mean by water. In the spiritual realm, it could mean a lot of things. In other words, Israel coming out of Egypt was spoken of as being baptized unto Moses. Well, what'd that mean? The nation of Israel was totally engulfed in Moses' leadership, see? And then when we speak of something else as having been baptized, it's again meaning that we're totally engulfed by it. For example, right here, when we were baptized into the body of Christ, we were totally engulfed We weren't just set up on the edge someplace. We were engulfed in all this. Turn with me, I think I'm through here. Let's finish the verse, and then I want you to turn to Colossians, honey, chapter two, I think. But anyhow, finish verse 13 in 1 Corinthians 12. So by one spirit are we all, every believer, not just the most spiritual, but every believer is baptized into the one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we bond or free, and we have been all made to drink or partake of that work of the Holy Spirit. All right, now let's come back and see where that puts us, Colossians. Chapter three, that's where it was. Chapter three, verse three. Colossians three, verse three. Here's where this baptism put us, as we're in the body. And here is our position tonight as believers. Colossians three, verse three, for you are dead, again, old Adam, and your life, that which took the place of old Adam, the life of Christ, the new nature, that life is hid with Christ, where? In God. See how plain that is? So the moment we believe we were placed into the body of Christ, and that body of Christ is hid in God, and of course, that gives me another loaded shell for my security of a person that is genuinely saved. No one can get at us there, and we are hid in God. All right, back up a page in Colossians into chapter one. And all these things, of course, took place by virtue of this Holy Spirit baptizing us, engulfing us again in the body of Christ, into the very core of God's being, even while He's still in heaven, and we're still on the earth, yet our position is there. And now in Colossians chapter one, and all this dropped down to verse 12, where Paul has been praying on behalf of the Colossi believers, Gentiles predominantly, and he comes down to the end of his prayer. Look what he says. "'Giving thanks unto the Father, "'who hath made us meet,' or has prepared us again,' see, has gotten everything so that this can work. "'And he has made us meet to be partakers "'of the inheritance of the saints in light,' and we're no longer in darkness, we're now in light. And now verse 13. "'Who,' speaking of God the Father, "'hath translated us,' or hath delivered us, I'm sorry, "'who hath delivered us from the power of darkness.'" Now in our next program, I'll show you how that works. "'But he hath delivered us from the power of darkness, "'and hath,' it's already done, it's a finished transaction, "'and he hath translated us into,' see that position? Just like being baptized into it, engulfed by it. "'And he has translated us into the kingdom of his dear son.'" Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. 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