Restoration Church

Restoration Church is a network of bible-believing house churches holding to reformed doctrine. We make disciples, gather together, and equip the saints. We don’t have a lot of programming, because every member is about the work of spreading the Gospel.

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Note: Paul continues to bring up questions in anticipation of objections. This is likely due to the fact that he has taught these principles many times and knows the common questions.  His rhetorical method is effective.  

V1-4

• Since God covers sin with His abounding grace, the question arises “Should we sin more, so God can be glorified in saving greater sinners?”  Paul answers with his firm “May it never be!”

• Then Paul gives the reason why we should not continue in sin: Because we have died to sin through our (spiritual) baptism into Christ.  

• The language here indicates that when I repented and believed the gospel and was baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ, it was as if I was on the cross with/in Christ just as I was with/in Adam when he ate the fruit (see Romans 5:12-21).  My old life of sin has been crucified and I live by faith in Christ with the hope of the resurrection (Gal. 2:20).  

• Thus, I should walk in newness of life, because I am in newness of life.  

V5-11

• Paul continues this line of thought pointing out that just as we have been united with Christ in His death, so shall we be united with Him in the resurrection. 

• He uses our death in Christ to show that we are now freed from sin.  Since we died to sin, we are no longer ruled by it.  

• Just as Christ will never die again, so shall we never die again, because death does not have dominion over us now that we are in Christ who has conquered death.  

V12-14

• Paul’s conclusion is that we should not let sin reign in our bodies since it no longer has dominion over us.  

• Just as a slave who has been set free from his old master is under no obligation to obey the master, so should we not obey sin or present our bodies as tools of sin.  The sin nature can shout orders (temptations), but we no longer have to obey as we once did when we were dead in our sin (Ephesians 2:1-3).  

• This is a critical reality.  We are to “recon” ourselves dead to sin.  We must change our mind over to the reality that sin is no longer our master, no matter how forcefully temptation shouts orders for us to sin. 

V15-19

• Paul raises the question of whether we should sin (even though we are not slaves to sin) since we are under grace.  This is really a continuation of the last question as he addresses it from another perspective.  The answer is firmy “By No Means!”

• Paul points out that whatever you obey is your master.  You are slave to whatever it is you obey.  

• Either you are a slave to sin (which leads to death) or a slave to obedience (which leads to righteousness).  As Bob Dylan says “You’ve gotta serve somebody.” 

• Your new master (righteousness) leads you to sanctification.  (Paul notes that he’s using human terms for the sake of illustration)

V20-23

• Paul points out that before we were slaves to righteousness, we were “free” in regards to righteousness.  However, the fruit of the former life lived apart from obedience was fruit we are now ashamed of.  Further, the end result of sin is death.  

• Note: this is not merely a reference to eternal things (thought that is included).  Sinning goes against God’s natural order in this life and in eternity.  Sinning will lead to physical death and eternal damnation.  Note that the greedy, adulterers, homosexuals, etc. often suffer from anxiety and illness.  The murderer fears his own demise.  The thief fears he will be robbed.  They all descend to addiction, loneliness, and death.  Worse, eternal punishment awaits them.  

• We are either on the path to death (sin) or the path to sanctification (obedience).  Be a slave to obedience, a slave to Christ, and live joyfully in sanctification. 

• Thus, Paul ends this section with the classic verse (23) that so clearly points out the contrast between death and eternal life.  However, note that just as justification is by grace, so is sanctification as both are in Christ.  The wagest (payment) for sin is death.  Note the “works” language.  Death through sin is by works…works of the flesh (Gal. 5).  However, eternal life is a free gift that we gain by being IN Christ Jesus as we were once in Adam.  We call this the doctrine of Federal Headship.  Adam was our federal “head” while we were in sin.  Now, Christ is our federal Head.  

• The slave to sin will work to sin.  The slave to righteousness will see the free gift of eternal life manifest in obedience, because Christ obeyed and we are in Christ.  It is still His works, but we are now obediently growing in spiritual fruit of obedience because we are in Christ (Gal 5:22ff and John 15).

V1-6

• Paul is expounding on the reality that we are crucified with Christ when we are baptized into Christ (Spirit baptism).  

• The Law was binding before we were in Christ, because we were “alive” to it just as a woman is bound to marriage while she is alive.  However, we are crucified in Christ. Christ paid the penalty for our sin according to the Law.  We are protected from double jeopardy.  In Christ it is as thought the “wife” is married to a new husband.  

• In this way, we are no longer under the Law. We belong to God and are to bear fruit for Him.  This is important because while we were in sin our sin nature took “opportunity” with the Law to sin more.  Now, we are in Christ and bearing fruit for God. 

• Now we walk in the Spirit to bear spiritual fruit (See Gal. 5:22ff). 

V7-12

• This brings up the question “ Is the Law sin?” since my sin was worse under the Law. The answer is an emphatic “no.” 

• Paul explains that the Law exposes sin. It is purely good.  

• However, sinful people like to sin.  As the Law exposes sin, sinners like sin more and sin more. 

• V. 11 says that sin seizes an opportunity through the commandment and deceives the sinner.  

• Thus, the Law is good.

V13

• This brings up the question: Did something good cause death?  The answer is the emphatic “no.”  

• Sin is what brought death (just as in the first sin). 

• Note that the Law not only exposes sin, but it allows sin to become worse beyond measure.  This proves sin to be sin.  It is like when the villain of a story gets more power and becomes more wicked.  It isn’t that he was not bad in the beginning.  It is that his evil is manifest fully, showing him to be what he truly is at his core.  In a similar way, the Law shows sin for what it is….evil beyond measure….leading to death. 

V14-20

• Paul has affirmed that the Law is good and spiritual, but that creates a problem for the person who still has a sin nature.  

• Note: there is a debate as to whether Paul is using the present tense to talk about the past life before Christ or speaking of the present after Christ.  I personally believe (along with most scholars) that he is talking about the present life after Christ.  He is pointing out how the believer wrestles with sin.  Since Paul just pointed out that sinners don’t usually struggle with sin…they love it….it makes the most sense to me that Paul is talking about a believer’s struggle with sin. 

• Paul here talks about the battle between the sin nature and the spirit living in a person.  You sense his frustration as he becomes exasperated that he still sins despite the fact that he’s died to sin and is alive in Christ. 

• He seems to point out that the fact that he struggles with the sin is proof that he loves God and is born of the Spirit (v19-20).  This is a key reality.  The “believer” who does not wrestle with sin or who does not feel guilt over it should be concerned.  The believer who fights sin and struggles should be assured of his salvation!  

V21-25

• In this section, Paul’s struggle with sin comes to a climax as he says, “Wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?”  

• This is one of few (maybe the only) questions Paul asks in Romans that isn’t answered with an emphatic “no.”  The answer is a victorious, “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” 

• This is some really good news.  Jesus has paid our sin debt, and though we struggle with sin we have the victory in Christ.  Not only is our sin debt paid, but we also have hope that we will ultimately be fully sanctified (details of that are in the next chapter).  For now, Paul is setting us up to hope.

Critical Theory in various forms has made its way into the dominant thought of western culture and sadly into much of the “evangelical church.” We live in a season in which “social justice” is esteemed over biblical justice and in which man’s feelings are valued over God’s commands. At the root of all of this is man’s rebellion against God (Romans 1:18ff).

Specifically, the atheistic theories of Marxism reformulated into social (rather than economic) terms have infused themselves into the culture. This system of thought propagated by Antonio Gramsci and the Frankfurt school seeks to overthrow the “hegemony” of Christendom. Its tool for destruction is Critical Theory which exists for the expressed purpose of causing division. It sees all relationships through the lens of oppressor/oppressed and attacks “systems” of injustice rather than individual sin. It denies objective truth and implements deconstruction (a la Jaques Derrida) as a means of denying that which is plainly true. It denies the Law of God and esteems the feelings of the “oppressed” as the authority on morality.

Critical Theory’s implementation of “intersectionality” sees the least respected as the most oppressed and most worthy of moral authority. Have you wondered why transgendered drag queens are celebrated as they expose themselves to children? Critical Theory is why. Have you wondered why Black Lives Matter lifts up criminals as martyrs while largely ignoring non-criminal victims? Critical Theory is why. Have you ever wondered why feminists have begun to acknowledge that infants in the womb are human lives that they feel “empowered” to kill? Critical theory is why. The cultural Marxists esteem even the worst of society as heroes in an attempt to “overthrow the hegemony.”

Sadly, many evangelicals have excepted Critical Theory and intersectionality as “useful tools” (see the 2019 Southern Baptist Convention’s Resolution 9). Many more have unwittingly adopted the principles of “social justice” without considering the fact that Scripture speaks to issues of racism and abuse with perfect sufficiency. The result is that Critical Theory in churches is doing exactly what it was designed to do: divide and destroy.

This sermon addresses the roots of “Social Justice” and counters it with biblical principles of Justice, ultimately leading to Ephesians 4 and the need to be built up in the faith, mature, and impervious to “every wind of doctrine.”

See By What Standard? for more.

Download Sermon Notes Here

Abortion Statistics:

https://concernedwomen.org/abortion-demographics-who-has-an-abortion/

https://www.guttmacher.org/fact-sheet/induced-abortion-united-states

https://www.care-net.org/why-making-life-disciples

https://concernedwomen.org/abortion-demographics-who-has-an-abortion/

https://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/

Abolitionist Organizations:

https://freethestates.org

https://endabortionnow.com

Local Pro-Life Pregnancy Center:

https://cornerstoneanswers.org

Abolitionist Documentaries:

Babies are Murdered Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxDyfSHEq5g

Babies are Still Murdered Here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-vyYE6C8MU

The Holy Spirit is often misrepresented in modern Christianity. We often neglect the fact that He indwells believers and grows spiritual fruit in us (Galatians 5). This sermon addresses the work of God to make us more like Christ.

Every year we celebrate Christ’s victory over death. This year we talked about 1 Corinthians 15 (as usual) and also mentioned the pre-textual creed Paul refers to in verses 3-7 (“what I received”) as a reminder of the simplicity and power of the Gospel message.

In this sermon, Pastor Dan discusses the full divinity and personhood of the Holy Spirit, addressing HIs action in the Old Testament and the promise in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 36 that He would indwell believers in the New Testament. We then discuss the work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament and new as it relates to believers obeying God and preaching the gospel.

Pastor Dan teaches on worshipping God with our resources, including time and finances. In the process, he answers questions about whether tithing is a principle for the Church or just Old Testament Israel. We also discuss key principles related to tithing related to caring for family and those in need.

Church Website: https://restorationhcn.org/

Contact Restoration: [email protected].

Daniel Samms (Pastor) takes us through several key principles of worship as it relates to Lord’s Day (Corporate) gatherings. He builds on the series’ key passage, John 4, in which Jesus reminds us that worship must be in spirit (devoted worship from regenerated believers, not lip service from the unredeemed) and in truth (in accordance with how God has revealed Himself and commanded us to worship). Dan then takes us through 1 Peter 2, Hebrews 10, 1 Cor. 11, 14, and other key passages to point out key commands related to worship. We address philosophies of worship (Normative Principle vs. Regulative Principle), the idea of Coram Deo (living “before the face of God”), and what it does it mean to enjoy “the means of grace” in a reformed, protestant, biblical sense.