Welcome back to the Setting Captives Free Purity Follow-Up course, we’re glad you are here and hope you are benefiting from this course and the ministry of your mentor (if you were assigned one).
Today is our last lesson on the application of the gospel from Romans chapter 6, seeing our new identity in Christ; and we are going to do something a little bit different today and I know it will be spiritually beneficial to you.
Before we start, let’s remind ourselves of some important things we’ve studied so far:
All Scripture points us to the gospel. The gospel is “of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and should be sought out and discovered in our reading of the Bible.
All truth about Jesus and the gospel is transforming truth (see 2 Corinthians 3:17-18). This means that when we read the Scriptures, we should be purposeful about it, seeking to be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). We should not be content to walk away from our Bible reading with only some facts or information; we want to come seeking transformation for our hearts and lives.
We should look to apply everything we read, asking the Holy Spirit to illuminate us, help us to implement the passage, change us, encourage us, lift us up, and so forth.
With these truths in mind, what we are going to do today is finish our study of Romans chapter 6, asking you to read the passage and then pray it back to God.
We began doing this in Purity Bootcamp. Maybe you will remember when we studied Jesus’ words, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you” (John 15:7). This tells us that we are to pray God’s Word back to Him (“my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish”), and as we do so, God answers our prayer (“it will be done for you.”)
I use this method in my life every day. As I study God’s Word, I’m praying each verse back to Him, and delighting as God answers His Word in my prayers daily. I’ve confirmed the truth of Isaiah 55:11 over and over, “so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.”
This is one of the ways that God sets us free from indulging our flesh. We take His Word and wrestle with God (as did Jacob--Genesis 32:24) by praying His Word to Him, claiming the truth of it as our own, and latching on to the promises as we pray them back to God.
Here’s the passage, please take a moment and read through it:
Romans 6:15-23 ESV What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! (16) Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? (17) But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, (18) and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. (19) I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. (20) For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. (21) But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. (22) But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. (23) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Now I’ll break the passage down into verses, and I’ll pray the first one with you:
Romans 6:15 ESV What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
I would pray: “Father in heaven, Your Word tells me I am not under law but under grace. I know this means that you are committed to only treating me according to grace for the rest of my life. But, Lord, please help me not to use your grace as a license to sin. Help me reject that error and to embrace the truth that grace doesn’t give me a reason to sin but rather gives me the energy to avoid it, teaching me to say “no” to it. Help me meditate today on the words, “By No means!”
Question 1. Please pray Romans 6:15 back to God here, personalizing it:
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