#28 HCBC 6-10-07 AM
Slaves to What? Or Who is the Boss of Your Life?
“In Christ” -- Part V
Romans 6:15-23
In Rom 6:1-14 we saw that:
We are united to Jesus Christ:
We died to sin (2)
We were baptized into Christ’s death (3)
God intends us to share also in Christ’s resurrection (4-5)
We know that our old self was crucified with Christ (6-7)
We believe that we will also live with Christ (8-10)
We must count ourselves dead to sin but alive to God (11)
We must therefore offer ourselves to God (12-14)
NOW, in Rom 6:14-23 we will see that:
Not only are we united to Jesus Christ; we are also Enslaved to God!
15 Shall We Sin Because We Are Not Under Law But Under Grace?
(sin is slavery)
Who knew better the bondage of slavery than God’s own people?
Until the Spirit of God works in one’s heart to show him his sin, the unsaved person
is unaware of his bondage!
When one comes to faith in Jesus Christ, he is freed from the bondage of sin!
In Pilgrim’s Progress, when Pilgrim came to the Cross, his burden fell off!
Before the Cross, he was a slave to sin! He was owned, controlled and directed by it
Before you and I came to saving faith in Jesus Christ, we were slaves to sin!
16 Slavery has Two Options:
(sin leads to death)
Sin – Leading to Death
Obedience – Leading to Righteousness
Paul begins, in verse 16, to explain a principle that these believers in Rome should
have been aware of.
“Don’t you know…?” also in 6:3; 11:2; 7:14 (we know)
Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves as slaves, you are slave to the one
you obey.
If you offer yourself as a slave to sin, it leads to death!
If you offer yourself as a slave to obedience, it leads to righteousness!
2 Pet 2:17-19
17 Thank God:
We Were Slaves to Sin
We Have Become Obedient
But in verse 17, Paul says that for believers, that has changed!
The hymn says: Once I was blind, but now I see!
Once we were slaves to sin, but we have been freed, that we might become obedient
Before we became Christians, we could not NOT sin!
As Christians, we now have the ability not to sin!
Because we have been set FREE from sin!
18 We Have Been Set Free From Sin
We Have Become Slaves to Righteousness
(Christians have been delivered from sin’s slavery!
(the same work that has delivered Christians from sin’s slavery has also
made them slaves to God, which is true freedom)
Now, in verse 18, Paul says that being set free from sin makes us slaves to
righteousness!
Rom 8:1-2
1 Pet 4:1-6
19 A Human Analogy:
As we used to offer our bodies in slavery
to impurity
to ever increasing wickedness
Now offer your body in slavery
to righteousness leading to holiness
(slavery to righteousness leads to holiness)
There is a progression to slavery to impurity: ever increasing wickedness!
There is a progression to slavery to righteousness: holiness!
One thing leads to another!
One drink leads to another!
One cookie leads to another!
One illicit sexual act leads to another!
One act of stealing leads to another!
One harsh word leads to another!
One lie leads to another!
One word of gossip leads to another!
There is a progression to sin that leads to ever increasing wickedness.
But Christians are supposed to have been freed from this!
“Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized
into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into
death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory
of the Father, we too may live a new life.
Paul says that being a Christian ought to demonstrate a life that has been freed from
sin to a life that is a slave to righteousness!
Verses 20 – 22 explain this.
20 When we were slaves to sin
we were free from the control of righteousness
21 What benefit did we gain from the things we are now ashamed of?
Those things result in death.
22 Now we are free from sin and have become slaves to God
The benefit leads to holiness and the result is eternal life.
23 The wages of sin is death-
BUT
The gift of God is eternal life “In Christ”
The Doctrine of the Two Ways:
Mt 7:13-14 Two gates and Two roads.
Mt 7:15-20 Two trees and Two kinds of fruit.
Mt 7:24-27 Two houses and Two foundations.
K. R. Y. O.
Know 6:3 Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were
baptized into His death!
Reckon 6:11 Reckon (count) yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus!
Yield 6:13 Yield (offer) yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from
death to life!
Obey 6:16 You are slaves to the one whom you obey!
Me genoito = may it not be!
NIV = By no means!
KJV = God forbid!
NKJV = Certainly not!
NAS = May it never be!
Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? (1)
(Rom 6:2 NIV) By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
(Rom 6:15 NIV) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!
(Rom 7:13 NIV) Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
(Rom 11:1 NIV) I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
(Rom 6:2 KJV) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?
(Rom 6:15 KJV) What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.
(Rom 7:13 KJV) Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
(Rom 11:1 KJV) I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
(Rom 6:2 NKJV) Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
(Rom 6:15 NKJV) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
(Rom 7:13 NKJV) Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful.
(Rom 11:1 NKJV) I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
(Rom 6:2 NASB) May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?
(Rom 6:15 NASB) What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!
(Rom 7:13 NASB) Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
(Rom 11:1 NASB) I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.