Reckon--that is count on--the crucifixion and resurrection as accomplished facts (v.11)

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1 Introduction I vividly remember visiting one of the boys elementary school classroom. They were practicing fire drill; in case you are on fire the teacher warned; Stop. Drop. Roll. Paul warns in chapter 6 for the Christian enslaved by sin; Know. Reckon. Yield. Know--you have been crucified with Christ (vv.1-3). You have been resurrected with Christ (vv. 4-5). You are now both dead and alive (vv.6-10). You are no longer slaves to sin. You are alive in the Savior (vv.8-10). Reckon--that is count on--the crucifixion and resurrection as accomplished facts (v.11) Yield--(vv.12-23)--your members as tools of righteousness. What does the right kind of yielding entail? Since God s grace has set us free from the law, does that we mean we have the freedom to sin? The answer is no! Yielding to the Lord produces favor, freedom, fruit. Paul uses the expression present yourself some five times (Rom.6:13; 16; and 19). The Apostle of Grace is also the Attorney of Grace. Paul has successfully argued that we are saved by grace, at the end of chapter 5:21; so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Wiersbe:...justification by faith is not simply a legal matter between me and God; it is a living relationship. It is a justification that brings life (Rom.5:18; literal translation p.531). As a Pastor and minister I often hear people--even other ministers argue; I know it s wrong; but I am a child of God--God will forgive me--that s His job. I am not under law but under grace. Freedom in Christ is never freedom to sin. F.F. Bruce says; To make being under grace an excuse for sinning is a sign that one is not really under grace at all (see R. Kent Hughes p.130). Paul argues we have been set free from sin to serve Jesus. We have favor--freedom--fruit. We Have Favor From The Lord (v.15) Romans 6:15 23 (NKJV) 15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Paul warns us; beware of excuses. Some people are terrified by grace. Do some people use grace as an excuse to sin? Paul has something to say to those who use grace as a license to sin. Stop. 1

2 We are free from the law--but we are not lawless. Grace means freedom to serve the Lord instead of self. I can live with my arthritis, And my dentures fit me fine. I can see with my bifocals. But I sure do miss my mind! Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 2:1). Paul has already argued our loyalty is to God not to sin. We are under grace (v.14). That means sin has lost its ability to dominate our lives. We Have Freedom In The Lord (vv.16-20) 16Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? The word slaves appears three times in verses The word is doulos--and is found some 125 times in the Greek NT. Sometimes the word is translated servant (118 times in KJV). In our culture a servant works for wages; but here the meaning is a slave--owned by the master. John 8:34 (NKJV) Jesus answered them, Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. I suspect at least half of the people reading Paul s letter or hearing Paul s letter were Roman household slaves. During the American Civil War Jefferson Davis said, Slavery was established by decree of Almighty God. Abraham Lincoln said, Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel the strong impulse to see it tried on him personally. To be a slave in Paul s day was more than mere servitude. Slaves lost their identity. It didn t matter if you were Greek or Hebrew or male or female. Ethnicity didn t matter. Slaves were chattel, property. In Paul s day--a person could obtain their freedom financially or as a gift but even then they were called freedmen. The purpose of the term was to accentuate their former slave status. 17But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. though you were slaves of sin This is exactly what we were--but now--we are made free in Christ Jesus the Lord. 2

3 Apart from the Lord Jesus Christ we are slaves, prisoners to our whims, passions, addictions, and selfishness. Trench points out the basic connotation of doulos when he writes; The doulos...is properly the bondman from deo...one that is in a permanent relation of servitude to another, his will altogether swallowed up in the will of the other (see Word Meanings In The New Testament; Ralph Earle; p. 169)....yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. Paul is saying; you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. The heart is the well-spring of life. The Roman s obedience was rooted in their hearts--it came from the center of their being. We might call this--core value. This is the example of slavery that Paul holds up to the world and us--heartfelt obedience to Jesus Christ the Lord and to His Word. Their obedience is to Jesus (v.18)--consequently they could no longer be slaves to sin. 18And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. The passage is interesting on so many levels; the language reads having been set free from the sin --the exact verb and preposition used as technical expressions in legal documents in the first century for freeing slaves (see Deissmann; Ralph Earle; etc). Paul s Roman readers would recognize the language of manumission or emancipation. Some of Paul s readers were slaves--some were actual freedmen. They had experienced this very thing. But Paul introduces something--incredible--we are freed from one form of slavery--in order to enter a new form of slavery-- slaves of righteousness ; slaves to God (v.22). Paul points out this freedom--from sin--results in a new form of bondage or slavery--we are slaves to righteousness. Now we return to the definition; swallowed up in the will of the other. We are Christ s slaves. We are swallowed up in the will of Jesus. We have a peek into the Pastor s heart--who writes; Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ (Rom.1:1). 19I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. What is Paul doing in this verse? Paul is explaining the slavery principle--at the heart of slavery is obedience. Now Paul continues to stretch the human illustration--into a radical call to righteousness and holiness! 3

4 Paul is inviting the reader to become slaves of Jesus Christ! 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 ever increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness. This is the will of God, even your sanctification (1 Thess.4:3). Your holiness Your sanctification (same expression in the Greek language). Paul uses the metaphor slaves of righteousness for holiness (sanctification). What does that mean? The expression holiness or sanctification shows up some 300 times in the New Testament and some 760 times in the Old Testament. The basic meaning is to set apart. In the OT days and seasons were set apart or sanctified. Physical objects could be set apart. People could be set apart. For I am the Lord your God; you shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth (Lev.11:44). Don t eat bugs. Sanctification is different from justification. Justification deals with our standing Sanctification with our state Justification is something God does for us Sanctification is that which God does in us Justification is an act Sanctification is a work Justification is the means Sanctification is the end Justification makes us safe Sanctification makes us sound Justification declares us good Sanctification makes us good Justification removes the penalty of sin Sanctification checks the growth and power of sin. Justification furnishes the track to heaven Sanctification furnishes the train to heaven Let s think it through: Paul has told us; to know-we are buried with Jesus--by baptism into death--jesus died for me-- and as me--we have been planted together in the likeness of his resurrection; we have become dead to sin; freed from sin (Rom.6:7) death cancels obligations; We reckon (see 11-12); by faith we act on these facts apart from personal feelings; We yield--we stop yielding (present tense) our bodies as members of unrighteouness We once for all (aorist tense) yield our bodies as instruments of righteousness We obey--who do we obey--our new master Jesus--who do we ignore--our master sin We can only obey one master at a time Why do we obey--because we are freed from sin--(see v.23!). Why do we obey--because God desires--the fruits of justification from believers which can come only by obedience (see vv.21-22). 4

5 20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. We Have Fruit From The Lord (vv.21-23) 21What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. What is the fruit of disobedience? Shame. Death. Just ask the man who has cheated on his wife. Just ask the man who is caught with pornography on his computer and loses his job and puts his marriage at risk. Just ask the homosexual who has been diagnosed with HIV Aids. Just ask the housewife who has contracted the sexually transmitted disease from her husband. Just ask the mother--who s daughter took ecstasy--one time--one time--and now she has to make arrangements to pick up her body from the morgue. Our past slavery to sin has brought us shame, disease, addictions, failed marriages, failed relationships--and for some death. 22But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. What does it mean having been set free from sin? But our enslavement to Jesus brings freedom from sin; sanctification and eternal life. Theologians use three terms; non posse non pecare--not able not to sin. This refers to believers before their salvation. posse non pecare--able not to sin. This describes them after their salvation. They now have the power to live lives of victory. non posse pecare--not able to sin. This describes their existence after the rapture or glorification. We have favor We have freedom We have fruit 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 5

6 Paul concludes with a powerful statement of punishment and reward. The reward for serving sin; and the free gift--found in Jesus. Sin pays its wages--death. The offer of God in Christ--eternal life. The term for wages (opsonion) originally meant the pay or provisions for soldiers. It later came to mean compensation for anyone who worked. The expression the gift of God is charisma--from charis-- grace. The expression means something freely and graciously given. Conclusion There is a perverse comfort in slavery. We are comfortable in our addictions. But Paul calls us to a radical righteousness prompted by profound slavery. Two slaveries; one leads to death; the other to life. The abiding truth is this: obedience is the key to our liberation. Irenaeus said, The glory of God is a man fully alive! Our spiritual life comes, of course through our union with Christ. But the fullness of that life comes through obedience. G.K. Chesterton said, Obedience is but the other side of the Creative will. Obedience looses the creative power of God in our lives. God will do great and wondrous things in and through the life of an obedient soul. Samuel said, Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams (1 Samuel 15:22 (see R. Kent Hughes p. 135). Favor Freedom Fruit 6