#11 Romans 6: 15-23 Slaves? yes but whom do you serve?

So tonight I want to pick up where I left off Sunday morning in our study of Romans 6

Slavery is a concept that’s totally out of place in 2010

·         And iI the vast majority of reasonable people would recoil

·         at the thought of owning a slave,

·         the thought of being a slave would a total anathema

But, as I showed you on Sunday morning - slavery is alive and well tonight

·         In fact, there are slaves in this very room tonight!

See, it might surprise you to learn that we’re all slaves!

·         And the only difference between some of us here

·         and much of the rest of the population of Sanford lies

·         in which master we serve.

So, in these last verses of Romans 6,

·         Paul’s carries on talking about the difference between being dead in sin

·         and being alive in Christ.

·         And he gives us a series of contrasts that point out some important stuff

Not only are we all slaves.

·         But we’ll keep on being slaves for the rest of our lives,

So, the only question left

·         is a choice that each and every one of us have to make for ourselves

·         And that’s the choice of which master we’re gonna serve.

And, that’s I what I want to talk about tonight.

·         I want you to be able to see clearly just who you’re serving,

·          and if you find you’re serving the wrong one

·         I want you to have the opportunity to change masters

So lets look at the 4 comparisons that Paul makes in this passage.

 ¹⁵ Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! ¹⁶ Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

So there we have the choice – set out very clearly for us.

·         To help you to understand what’s going on,

·         I want to read v16 from the KJV

 ¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Paul tells us that we have the privilege of "yielding" ourselves to a master.

·         The Greek word the KJV translates as "yield" literally means

·         "to stand as a servant, near ones master, awaiting orders.

It’s the idea of a man or a woman who’s at the beck and call of his master.

Now while the whole point of these 2 verses

·         is that we have a choice as to who we yield our lives to.

Here’s the deal:

·         there are only 2 alternatives to choose from.

·         There is no fence to sit on

·         There is no middle ground

·         It’s a straight choice

·         Its one or the other

EITHER  We Can Walk In Rebellion –  that’s choice #1

·         We can take grace for granted,

·         That’s v. 15,

15   Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning?

That means that we assume that God’s going to accept us just as we are

·         and because of that assumption

·         we can carry on just living like we want to.

 That’s the life of sinful rebellion.

·         Now a whole load of people live like this

·         and they think that they are free,

·         But Paul makes it clear that they are slaves!

·         It’s the literal meaning of the word servant!

Now, before we Christian folk get all holy, high and mighty

·         Just remember that the definition of a rebellious life

·         Is any life that’s lived outside the will of God.

·         Cos if your life is lived outside the will of God

·         Then you have a life that’s yielded to the master of sin.

On the other hand  We Can Walk In Righteousness – that’s choice #2

we can choose to walk in the will of God

·         and to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord.

Instead of yielding our bodies to sin,

·         we can present our bodies to the Lord for His use and for His glory,

·         Rom. 12:1-2.

¹ And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. ² Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

So very literally were faced with a choice

·         And the choice is ours to make on a daily basis

·         You can serve whomever you please!

¹⁶ Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living.

Notice the word "obey".

·         This word literally means "to answer a knock at the door."

It gives me a mental picture of a butler hurrying to open the door

·         after he hears  the door bell ring

Guy, choices and decisions about how we live our lives come knocking every day!

·         When we open that door,

·         we can either be a slave to sin

·         or we can be a slave to Jesus.

·         It is a choice that you have to make!

Now, once you’ve made your choice,

·         we need to look at the changes that come into our lives

·         as a result of the choice we made.

And Paul talks about the changes that come about in our lives

·         when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior.

V 17-18 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. ¹⁸ Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

He starts off by talking about our past failures:  –  Once you were slaves of sin

 He’s talking about a time before we trusted our lives to Jesus

·         about the times when we were the servants of sin,

Eph. 2:1-3.  ¹ Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. ² You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. ³ All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.

In both Ephesians and Romans Paul reminds us

·         of the bondage we endured before we came to know Jesus as Saviour.

Now, if you can remember what your life used to be like

·         before you got involves with Jesus,

·          it was a time when life was dictated by desires, impulses and passions.

·         It was a time that was ruled by satan,

·         It was a time when you felt you had no control over life

Then we get  the contrast

17 Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. ¹⁸ Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.

Paul reminds us of the day we trusted Jesus!

• The day when we "obeyed"
• or "answered God's knock at our heart's door" (Rev. 3:20),
• the day when everything changed!

See, it was at the very second that we we’re saved

• that we were changed forever by the power of Jesus

the best illustration I can come up with is that of a form – or a mold

·         it’s the thing that when you pour molten metal into it

·         it causes the metal to take a pre-designed shape.

That’s just how it is when we gave our hearts to the Lord

·         in that very instant, we were reshaped by the power of God.

·         As he refined us and redefines us

·         And molded our character into His image.

·         He changed us when we believed,

2 Cor. 5:17. ¹⁷Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

So, never forget that the dividing line between the old life of bondage and death

·         and the new life of liberty and life

·         is our faith in the Gospel  

·         It is His salvation that makes the difference!

We can never forget

·         that what Jesus did for us

·         was to purchase our freedom from slavery to sin.

Rev. 5:9 -  ⁹And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

Jesus "redeemed" us.

·         The word redeemed in this verse means "to buy in the market place".

·         It’s talking about the the purchase of a slave from the slave block.

Gal. 4:5 -  ⁵To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

 This time the word "redeem" goes a bit further.

·         It means "to buy in the market and remove from sale."

·         In other words its talking about the idea of a slave purchased

·         never to be put up for sale ever again

So, when you put all of this stuff together,

·         it’s clear that in Jesus, our redemption not only bought us

·         but it also secured us and freed us up to serve the Lord.

When did all this happen?

·         At the very instant we trusted Jesus as our Savior!

So, we’ve looked at the Choices and The Changes

What about THE CHALLENGES?

¹⁹ Because of the weakness of your human nature, I am using the illustration of slavery to help you understand all this. Previously, you let yourselves be slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led ever deeper into sin. Now you must give yourselves to be slaves to righteous living so that you will become holy.

The 1^st challenge is to remember what you used to do

We have to remember how we "yielded" ourselves to sin

And the reason we have to remember the past

·         Is so that we can see how we’re supposed  to live in the present.

What I mean by that is this:

·          just as we used to serve sin with their entire person,

·         now we’re to yield ourselves to the will of God.

see, a sinner’s not usually too ashamed or embarrassed by his sin.

·         He does what he wants and lives like he wants to live.

·          In other words, he makes no apologies for who or what he is!

And exactly the same should be true of those who love the Lord

·         We shouldn’t be ashamed of the changes Jesus made.

·         We shouldn’t be embarrassed by our new Master.

·         We should serve Him with the same commitment we once served sin.

Just as we placed our lives at the disposal of sin and the devil,

·         now we should place our lives at the disposal of the Lord Jesus Christ,

·         and allow Him to have total dominion over every aspect of our lives!

So, here’s the question: Do we demonstrate the same commitment to Jesus Christ that we demonstrated to our sin when we were living in sin?

In reality, our commitment to Jesus should be far deeper and far greater

·         than any we ever made to a live of wretched, wicked living!)

The 4^th comparison Paul makes is in the compensation:

Just as there are contrasts between the old life and the new

·         in terms of the way they’re lived,

there are contrasts in what each lifestyle produces

The life of sin pays off in three ways and Paul lists them for us right here

²⁰ When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the obligation to do right. ²¹ And what was the result? You are now ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom. ²² But now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

the best the sinner can produce is a pile of filthy rags in the sight of the Lord, Isa. 64:6.

·         The flesh has no power to produce anything other than evil!

·         It is thoroughly wicked, Rom. 7:18.

·         The sinner is trapped and cannot even see it!

It Is A Wasted Life –

·         Paul's questions is this:

·         What did that life of sin produce?

·         What good came our of your evil?

·         The answer is plain!

·         There is no good that can come out of it at all!

·         The sad fact is that a sinful life is a wasted life!

·         It can produce nothing that will endure, but a legacy of sin and of evil!

This wasted life may produce children,

·         but they are often caught in the same traps and vices that their parents were caught in! I

·         it is bad enough to live in sin,

·         but when you teach your children to live like Hell,

·         you are a wicked, wretched person!)

The life of sin pays off in death!

·         Not just the death of this physical body,

·         but the idea here is of the "second death."

·          It refers to the separation of the body and the spirit

·         and to the eternal damnation of the lost spirit in Hell!

Nothing could be worse that living a wicked, wasted life here

·         and then dying without Jesus

·         and spending eternity in Hell!

But, that is exactly what will happen to every person who dies outside of faith in Christ! Will that be you?

Notice that the wicked person receives "wages".

·         This is fair compensation for a life lived in evil!

We may think it unfair for a sinner to have to go to Hell,

·         but God tells us that they are just receiving what they have earned!

·         If you stop for a minute and let this sink in,

·         it becomes clear that Hell is not a place bad people are sent by God,

·         but it is a place they have worked hard to get into,

·         and they will receive everything they have earned.

the sinner must work hard to get to Hell!

·         To go there, he must get over several obstacles God has placed in his way.

1. The Bible

2. The Church

3. The Cross

4. The Blood

5. The Holy Spirit

6. The Prayers of God's Children

7. The Will of God - And the list could go on!

The fact is, God doesn’t  want you, or anyone else for that matter, to go to Hell,

2 Pet. 3:9. The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent

But Hell is where anyone will go – who chooses not to come to Jesus!

In one last comparison,

·         Paul makes it clear that a life lived in the Jesus is far better than a life wasted

Here’s the stumbling block:

·         Too many people think that living the Christian life is a difficult proposition,

·         but they’re wrong!

·         What people fail to grasp is that the true Christian life

·         is not lived out, it is lived through!

It’s not about me doing my best for Jesus.

·         It’s about me simply yielding to Him

·         and allowing Him to live His life through me

If I can just learn to abide in Christ,

·         He’ll pour out His life through me

·         by producing His fruit through my life!

·         and that will glorify God

so then we get the promise

·         While the sinful life pays the wages of death,

·         God's gift to those who trust Him is everlasting life!

Notice the difference!

·         Wages are something we work for,

·         a gift is something we simply receive and then it belongs to us!

Paul said, “The wages of sin is death.” 

• But here’s the thing
• I don’t know anyone who sins in the expectation of  dying. 
• No they sin for other reasons

Ø  People sin to fulfill the wants of their flesh. 

Ø  People sin for pleasure. 

Ø  People sin for a “good feeling.”

And so we have to deal with the unexpected consequences of our sin

If a person steals – his motive is to benefit himself,

• not to be incarcerated.
• Incarceration is the unintended consequence of his sin.

If a person lies -  he does so to make himself look better in the eyes of others.

• The unintended consequence is that people no longer trust him.

But heres the thing:

• The Law of Unintended Consequences doesn’t only apply to sin.
• It also applies to good.

In fact, many times the way you can differentiate between good and evil

• Is by analyzing the unintended consequences.

many things we do result in improved circumstances.

• People have been won for the Lord because of someone else’s lifestyle.
• People have been blessed because of someone  else’s behavior.
• And often– the person doing the blessing is blissfully unaware of what he’s done

Saul’s servant sent him to see Samuel in the hope of finding his donkey.

• Instead Saul was anointed to be the first king over Israel.

Jesse sent David to the battle to check on his brothers.

• But the unintended consequence was that Goliath was slain.

We all fail

• We all have had those times when we’ve let God down
• The question is WHAT DO YOU DO WITH FAILURES?

Trouble is our mistakes are like pebbles. 

• Small stones that acts as souvenirs of our sins

And we carry them around in our hands – until our hands get full

• So then we put them in our pockets - and soon our pockets are full

And so we empty our pockets and put all those small stones in a big sack

• And before we know it
• the bag of yesterday's failures is so heavy we can carry it
• we have to drag it along behind us
• and nothing drags more stubbornly than a sack of failures.

Oh I know, if you could do it over

• You’d probably do it differently !

You’d be a different person

• you would be more patient,
• you'd control your tongue.

• You'd finish what you started, y
• ou'd turn the other cheek instead of slapping his,
• you'd be honest,
• you'd resist temptation,
• you'd run with a different crowd.

BUT YOU CAN'T--what's done is done!

• What you did can't be undone.

That's a part of what Paul meant when he said "the wages of sin is death."

·         He didn't say "the wages of sin is a bad mood"

·         or "the wages of sin is a hard day"

·         nor did he say "the wages of sin is depression."

• He said the wages of sin is death.

A therapist would tell you to talk about it

• so you pull the bag into his office and pour the rocks out on his floor
• and analyze each one
• and it seems to help.

It feels good to talk

• but when the hour is up
• you still have to carry the bag out with you.

Some say don't feel so bad

• everyone slumps a bit in this world.
• Thye tell you to feel great about life’s ups
• And just ignore the downs…!

Which works until you’re alone again

• then all the pain and remorse comes again.

The legalist will tell you

• to work it off simply do good deeds
• the religious crowd says burn a candle for every rock
• or a pray prayer for every pebble.

So, who is your master?

·         Is it sin?

·         If so, the wages of your service to him are death and Hell.

But, I am glad that I can tell you

·         that we all have the opportunity to change masters this evening!

Is your master Jesus?

·         if so, then rejoice!

·         For in Him, you have found all you need.

The difference is plain to see!

·         And, it all lies in those last few words of verse 23:

·         "through Jesus Christ our Lord."

·         He is the Door!

·         He is the only way into eternal life.

·         He is the only way out of bondage into freedom.

Are you a slave?

·         Yes you are!

·         But, who is your master?