Pastor Billy Doray. Romans 6:14-23 Series 3: Pathway to Freedom Title: Not a Slave to Sin. Where We Have Been?

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1 Where We Have Been? Series 1 - The Wrath of God Revealed (Romans 1:1-3:20) Sermon 1: Introduction to the Book of Romans: No Excuses Sermon 2: God s Wrath against Unrighteousness: Worship and Sex Exchanges Sermon 3: God s Wrath against Self Righteousness: Hypocrisy Sermon 4: God s Wrath against Everybody: Descriptions of Hell Series 2- The Righteousness of God Revealed (Romans 3:21-5:21) Sermon 1: Justified The Great God Exchange! Sermon 2: Justified Cha-Ching! Your Account is Full! Sermon 3: Justified You re in Right Standing! Sermon 4: Justified God s Gift to You! Series 3 Pathway to Freedom (Romans 6:1 8:39) Sermon 1: Dead to Sin Sermon 2: Not a Slave to Sin Review of Last Week Sermon: A. In order to experience the initial Pathway of Freedom, you must understand what happened spiritually on the inside of you at the point of salvation. B. When you said, yes to Jesus your inner man experienced a double whammy! Spiritually, on the inside, you became dead to sin. Spiritually, on the inside, you became born again and alive to God. 1

2 C. This double whammy signifies that you have been baptized into Jesus (Rom. 6:3-5). 1. Paul says that you were buried with Christ into baptism of death (Rom. 6:3,5). By receiving Jesus, you understand that you dyed right there with Him in that you realize your sin buried Jesus and sent his dead body to the grave. This personal and spiritual reality is beautifully expressed when you are physically and publically baptized by water immersion. Here, you are making a public statement that you are not ashamed of Christ and His death and that on the inside of you something has also died and has been buried! 2. Now that you realize you are dead, your spiritual baptism also reflects that you have been born again and now inwardly you have a new life with God (Rom 6:4-5) As Jesus, was raised back to life, you spiritually have been raised to life! Again, water baptism by emersion beautifully expresses this spiritual fact. Here, you are being raised out of the water expressing that spiritually you have a new life with God. If you have not been baptized it s time to get baptized! D. This double whammy gives you a new Spiritual Identity 1. This is who you are and how God sees you You are spiritually dead to sin. 2. This is who you are and how God sees you You are spiritually alive to God. Sin, ultimately has lost all of its rights to control you because you have died to it! 6:12 - Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. We need to force our physical bodies to come into alignment with the reality our inner man which is the righteousness of God (Rom. 3-5) 6:13 - Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness. 2

3 Transition: Rom 6:14 For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. Appreciate the fact that your righteousness is not found in trying to obey the law, rather it is by faith through Jesus blood by grace alone. When we try to live to please rules, we are under law and are guilty as being law breakers. However, when we live by grace, the measurement of the law is not used against us. Grace lifts the weight of guilt and shame off our shoulders. Rom 6:15-17 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? I. We Need to Clearly Distinguishing the Two Masters A. Sin is one Master. B. Righteousness is another Master. We are all slaves to the Master in whom we voluntarily give ourselves too. This entails that we have a free will in the act of choosing a Master. Those who offer themselves to sin have voluntarily chose to be a slave to sin. By voluntarily becoming a slave to Sin they obey their Master. Before Christ, we were all slaves to sin. As a result, we become hooked (in bondage) and pulled around wherever their Master leads them which will ultimately be death. 3

4 II. New Decision = New Master Rom 6:17-18 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness. A. You are in a new camp. By accepting Christ s righteousness, you become righteous. This is your Spiritual Identity. Your Spiritual DNA is chained to righteousness. As a result, you have been set free from sin. B. Because your Spiritual Identity is one of Righteousness, your Master is Righteousness. Your Master Righteousness is now hooked inside your consciousness. By accepting Jesus, there is something inside of you that wants to please your Righteous King. We are all slaves. Righteousness is in our consciousness. C. As a slave, you have your Master always in the forefront of your thinking. In other words, the King of righteousness is always on your Consciousness, as a good slave you want to obey wholeheartedly. D. Obeying your Master with your wholeheartedly, leads to bodily action by forcing the members of your physical body to not live in sin, but to live for righteousness. Rom 6:19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to everincreasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. Your hands should not be used for stealing, but for giving. Your tongue should not be used for cursing, but for blessing. Your private parts should be used not for sexual immorality, but for sexual purity as God defines sex on his terms. 4

5 III. Righteousness Confines You to a Different Lifestyle that Leads to Holiness and Eternal Life Rom 6:20-23 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. A. Those who are slaves of sin, live to please their flesh without any thought about it. There is no righteousness in their consciousness. They enjoy the freedom of living whatever lifestyle they please. They look at the righteous lifestyle of Christian and cannot see the joy in living a confined, restricted lifestyle. B. However, their sin will become their shame, and will lead to eternal death. 6:22-23 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. C. The pleasures of knowing God are experienced when we truly give our hearts and bodies over in total obedience to our New Master of Righteousness. 5