as he moves into chapter 6, he necessarily and permanently links a holy life with true salvation.

In other words, you don't need externally to control people who are redeemed

because there is planted within them a control principle by virtue of the new nature

which is under the control of the Holy Spirit of God. Welcome to Grace to you with John MacArthur.

I'm your host, Phil Johnson. Today, John's beginning the first of several broadcasts from the

Book of Romans on what it means to have freedom from sin. That's the title of our series.

And John, throughout all of your years of teaching through the New Testament, I think your messages

from Romans really do stand out. You began your verse by verse study of Romans in the early 1980s

and you spent five years taking your congregation through the riches of that book.

And in fact, you were in the middle of Romans. I think Romans chapter 5, when I first came to

Grace Community Church. And so for me and your congregation, the first go-around in Romans really

was significant, wasn't it? Yeah, and I think it was a significant time in my own life as well.

And particularly the part of Romans that we're going to be featuring in this new series,

Romans 6 and 7. And the series is going to be titled Freedom from Sin. And the reason I say it was

significant for me was coming into Grace Church. In fact, even before I became the pastor,

I think it was the summer before I actually became pastor of Grace Church. I was deeply burdened

by my inability to get a grasp on Romans 6 and 7. So I remember spending that entire summer

reading everything I could find that would explain to me the significance of Romans 6 and 7,

which is the whole issue of sanctification. The believers battle with sin and where the

victory lies and all of that. That's where we live and move and have our being, obviously.

And I remember coming out of that summer with such an overwhelming understanding of

Romans 6 and 7 that the first sermon I ever preached at Grace Church when I was just

...