The Truth about the Relationship

Romans 5:12 – 6:1-23

With any relationship it can appear to be one way on the surface, but the truth about that relationship is what goes on behind closed doors. So is the same with our relationship with the Lord. We can sound religious, and sanctimonious in our claims to have a personal relationship with the Lord but the truth concerning our relationship with the Lord is based on what goes on in the heart, which is then made manifest through our actions.

When an act is personal it is directed toward a particular person. This teaching will explain how acts that embrace God’s goodness can be personally directed toward the Lord. Additionally, acts of willful sin are personally directed toward the Lord. Either way, it’s personal.

For Example: In 2 Samuel 6:14, David danced before the Lord with all his might as an act of gratitude toward the Lord. In 2 Samuel 12:13 after David had taken Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, and had Uriah killed, he said to the prophet, Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Not that he had sinned against Uriah, but all sin against the Lord. Both acts were personally toward the Lord.

In Romans 5:12 – Paul compares and contrasts justification and condemnation. He explains how sin entered into the universe by the sin of Adam who is the father of the human race. All that come through Adam are subject to the judgement of sin, which is death, because we are all sinners.

The contrast is that by the righteousness of Jesus Christ, the free gift of righteousness has justified man, and made saved him from the judgment of sin. Where sin abound, grace do much more abound, Romans 5:20.

In Romans 6:1, Paul poses a rhetorical question: Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Meaning, am I free to continue to sin because grace covers me?

An important point of clarification that Paul makes in Romans 5:12 is that even though sin entered into the human race by the sin of Adam, the judgment for sin, being death is not universally inherited because of the sin of Adam but because all have sin. As long as we can point the finger toward Adam, we can claim no responsibility for our sin, but we are personally responsible for our sins because of our sinful nature.

For Example: a child is innocent until it learns how to exercise its will. Them you begin to see the sinful nature of the child as they willfully disobey. You tell the child to come back, and the child looks at you, then looks at where they want to go, and take off running. Sometimes laughing the whole way. That’s willful disobedience demonstrated in the early stages of childhood, which continues, and increases as the child gets older. He goes from disobeying parents to disobeying the teacher; the playground monitor; the police, to willfully disobeying the ultimate authority, which is God.

It is one thing to be born into sin, but when we continue in sin after Christ has paid the price for our sins—that’s personal. We can’t put that on Adam, we’ve done that.

It’s not enough to just hear the good news of the gospel, you’ve got to embrace the gift of salvation for yourself. You’ve got to receive what Christ accomplished on the cross as being personally accomplished for you.

If I tell you that I’ve opened a bank account in your name, and deposited $100,000 in the account, you go to the bank expecting to make a withdraw. Why? Because you’ve taken what I said personal, and expect to personally benefit from it.

When the gospel of salvation gets personal, you respond to God’s sanctifying work by dying to sin. Romans 6:11 says that you reckon, meaning count is as being true, to be dead to sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. When the relationship with God gets personal, you’ll live as one that belongs to God.