Lesson 14 – Romans Chapter 6:12-22
So far in chapter 6 we’ve seen that we don’t have the freedom to sin just that God’s grace might increase.
We are no longer slaves to sin, in fact, we’ve died to sin in that Jesus died to sin. And to show the world that it’s Christ we have faith in, we get baptized. In the experience of baptism we rise up out of the watery grave to new life in Christ, placing our hope in the coming Resurrection.
Rom. 6:12
“Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.”
“Do not let sin reign in your mortal body”…what does it mean to let sin reign? It means, to allow sin to exercise the highest influence within you, to control you.
To allow sin to reign within you, is to revert back to your old ways. In verse 2 Paul said, “How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?” This wouldn’t be the way to walk in “newness of life.”
Sin will always be a powerful force for the believer to contend with, but God’s word instructs us that sin is no longer our master… Jesus is. Sin no longer has the power to control the believer, unless he chooses to do so.
“That you should obey it in its lusts.”
This would be giving into sinful desires. Don’t be fooled into thinking that just because you’re saved through the blood of Jesus, that sin is a non-issue; it is, and it has a very strong pull.
Peter has some very encouraging words of wisdom for us;
I Peter 2:9,11
“But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.” (NLT)
The moment the believer becomes a new creation in Christ, their “immortal” soul is forever beyond sin’s reach. The only place where sin can get its hooks in is through the “mortal” body. But once we receive our glorified bodies, then sin will be non-existent for all eternity.
Can I get an amen?
Rom. 6:13
“And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.”
“Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So, use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.”
Perhaps you’ve heard the term, “give yourself body and soul to God.” Know this, that God has bought you with a price… a very high price I might add, so now God wants the “whole package” from us, He wants “the full meal deal.”
We’re not our own anymore, we belong to God.
Martin Luther famously said, “When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said ‘Repent,’ He intended that the entire life of believers should be repentance.”
Heb 6:4-5
“For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come—”
It’s my opinion that this verse is talking to those who haven’t received Christ yet… but for the believer, they have been enlightened. Once being enlightened, it would be so dishonoring to God to allow any part of your body to be an instrument of unrighteousness to sin.
Very simply put: don’t use your hands to steal or your tongue to lie, otherwise you’re allowing your body to be an instrument of sin.
I Cor. 6:20
“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
• What did it cost God to claim us as His own?
With that in mind…
Rom. 12:1
“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.
An earlier translation of this would read, “When you think about all He has done for you, is this too much to ask?” In my opinion, salvation cost us nothing, but we owe God everything.
“Present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead”
God wants a real relationship with us, not a casual relationship!
Rom. 6:14
“For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.”
“Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.” (NLT)
Here is another declaration from Paul, picture him standing in a pulpit pounding his fist and saying, “Sin is no longer your master, please be paying attention and learn this!”
God knew that the law could never save anyone, and it was never His plan to leave us alone with the law to fend for ourselves. From eternity past, God had His plan to bless us with His grace.
The believer is now living under the freedom of God’s grace. Remember, we are now living in “newness of life.”
Jonathan Edwards; “Grace is but glory begun, and Glory is but grace perfected.”
When sin had dominion over us, we were on our own living in sinful ways. Our lives changed for the better when God covered us with His grace. With the privilege being a recipient of God’s grace, there comes with it a responsibility… obedience.
Charles Spurgeon; “Don’t buy the lie that cultivating condemnation and wallowing in your shame is somehow pleasing to God, or that a constant, low-grade guilt will somehow promote holiness and spiritual maturity. It’s just the opposite! God is glorified when we believe with all our hearts that those who trust in Christ can never be condemned.
It’s only when we receive His free gift of grace and live in the good of total forgiveness that we’re able to turn from old sinful ways of living and walk in grace-motivated obedience.”
The phrase “grace-motivated obedience” is a good way to describe the believer’s actions, bringing us back to Romans 12:1, “because God has done so much for us, the only reasonable way for a Christian to live is to serve God with an attitude of sacrifice,” and with sacrifice comes obedience.
Gal. 2:21
“I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”
Grace never ignores the awful reality of our sin. In fact, it emphasizes it. Paul said if men were good enough, then “Christ died for nothing.”
Rom. 6:15
“What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.” (Certainly not!)
This brings us back to verse 1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” Verse 15 is very similar. Should we continue sinning because now we’re under the flag of “Grace,” may it never be, as Paul would say. Don’t abuse God’s grace, making it cheap grace.
A.W. Tozer; “Grace is the pleasure of God that inclines Him to bestow benefits upon the underserving… to save us and make us sit together in heavenly places to demonstrate to the ages the exceeding riches of God’s kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
I Cor. 1:18
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
The cross is the cornerstone of where grace begins, to ever sin freely is to despise the cross.
You might be saying to yourself, “I sin, am I disrespecting the cross?” No, everyone sins, what I’m saying here is if you’re sinning on purpose, or you refuse to let go of a particular sin in your life because you’re enjoying it… this is wrong.
When Paul says, “shall we sin,” that’s like saying, “Hey guys, let’s go out tonight and do some back-sliding”, or “Let’s go to Vegas, remember whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.”
God’s grace is there for us to use, not abuse. When we sin;
I Jn. 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
When the Christian falls down and sins, they’re not to stay down and wallow in their sin, they’re to confess their sin, receive God’s grace, get up and dust themselves off and proceed to live in “newness of life.” (That’s grace)
There’s a difference between sinning and sinning on purpose.
Rom. 6:16
“Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slave whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?”
“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.”
A message from Bob Dylan;
“Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody”
There’s no way around it, in this life no matter who you are, you have a choice to make; are you going to serve satan or are you gonna serve the Lord, are you going to continue to be a slave to sin, or are you going to let God’s grace wash over you and make you His? You’re gonna serve somebody!
“You can be a slave to sin…” For the wages of sin is death, (Vs.23)
II Peter 2:19
“They promise freedom, but they themselves are slaves of sin and corruption. For you are a slave to whatever controls you.” (NLT)
If a person’s life is typified by a sinful lifestyle, which is opposed to God’s will for their life, then that person is a slave to sin. They might describe themselves as a free-spirit, but they are indeed a slave to sin.
“Or of obedience leading to righteousness?”
Being a slave to obedience is a good thing. I think what hangs people up is the word “slave,” especially in the “woke” culture we have in our country today.
We’ve talked about Paul being a “bond-servant”, a “bond-slave” or just a “slave” to Jesus Christ. A bond-slave was a person who was a slave at one time, and was set free, if that person decided to stay on with their “master” then he was labeled as a bond-slave. The reason most slaves wanted to do this was because they felt safe and secure with their master, they knew he would take of them.
And so it is for the Believer, they feel secure in the Lord, they know He will always take care of them and He will give them “a future and a hope.”
Therefore, being a slave of obedience leading to righteousness… gives the believer a bright future walking with God in righteousness, the certain mark of eternal life promised.
Eph. 2:10
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (NLT)
Rom. 6:17
“But 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.”
You… Paul says, making this personal now.
Every believer was a slave to sin, it’s just a fact of life, “For all have sinned,” every one of us has experienced this.
“Yet you obeyed from the heart,”
Before Christ, (in our life) we were just living life, being totally into the world, maybe having a thought of God once in a while, or maybe having no thought of Him at all. Whether we realized or not (probably not), the Holy Spirit was alongside each one of us, ministering to us.
John 16:7
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.”
The Helper in John 16 is the Holy Spirit, (paraklētos) the One who comes alongside. It is the Holy Spirit who enlightens us, teaches us, He brings the “Good News” to our heart. When we listen and respond to the Holy Spirit through confession and repentance, He goes from being alongside us, to being “in” us.
This is what Paul means when he says, “Yet you obeyed from the heart.” When the Holy Spirit speaks, it’s up to each one of us to listen. Everyone has a choice to make.
Matt. 13:9
“He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
“That form of doctrine to which you were delivered.”
Form means “pattern,” “type,” or “example.” The gospel message is the pattern. It is the message that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead.
I Cor. 15:3-4
“For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,”
This message demands a response from the “hearer” and with it, must be the faith to believe.
Acts 16:31
“So they said, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,”
Rom. 6:18
“And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.”
(17) “Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you.” (NLT)
If verse 17 defines your spiritual condition, then verse 18 defines you as well.
Life works out a whole lot better for the person who is a slave of righteousness rather than being a slave of sin.
Rom. 6:19
“I 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.”
“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.” (NLT)
Warren Wiersbe;
“Romans 6:19 suggests that the Christian ought to be as enthusiastic in yielding to the Lord as he was in yielding to sin. A friend once said to me, “I want to be as good a saint as I was a sinner!” I knew what he meant because in his unconverted days he was almost “the chief of sinners.”
A good example of what is being said here is; if we observe how excited we could get over some kind of sporting event (perhaps over the Denver Broncos), then “juxtaposed” it to the way we worship God in church on Sunday, we would see a vast difference.
To simplify what Paul is saying; now that you’re a Christian, get into it, become fully devoted to God. Don’t let satan and the world intimidate you… you’re on God’s side now, let your light shine for Him.
“Slaves of righteousness for holiness.”
Being a slave of righteousness will result in holiness.
I think too many Christians shy away from the word “holiness” or “being holy,” they think it’s beyond their capabilities. God’s word tells us to be holy.
I Peter 1:15-16
“But now you must be holy in everything you do, just as God who chose you is holy. For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”
Jerry Bridges, in his book “The Pursuit of Holiness,”
“The concept of holiness may seem a bit archaic to our current generation. To some minds the very word holiness brings images of bunned hair, long skirts, and black stockings. To others the idea is associated with a repugnant “holier than thou” attitude. Yet holiness is very much a scriptural idea. The word holy in various forms occurs more than 600 times in the bible… to be holy is to be morally blameless. It is to be separated from sin and, therefore, consecrated to God. The word signifies a “separation to God, and the conduct befitting those so separated.”
For us to be separated from sin is a no brainer for the Christian, after all, this is God’s will for our life.
Rom. 6:20
“For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.” or
(NLT) “you were free from the obligation to do right.”
When we were slaves of sin, I guess you could say we were a free agent, a free spirit… on the surface that might sound good to some, but at the that same time we were also considered God’s enemy… not a good place to be. But with that, we weren’t obligated to walk in righteousness.
Rom. 6:21
“What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.”
So as a “free” agent, what kind of lasting fruit did you have in your life? As a non-believer, you don’t even know what fruit means, let alone have any.
Isa. 64:6a
“But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags;”
For the unbeliever, they might consider the things they’ve done in life as being good, but God only sees it as “filthy rags,” making it meaningless.
“For the end of those things is death.”
God’s judgment on man-kind is coming, and it could be very soon.
When it’s all said and done, when God’s Day of Wrath is over, there will come the “final” judgment… known as the White Throne Judgment. This is the judgment reserved for everyone who’s name is not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Each person will have to stand before God, and will have to give their own defense without any advocate beside them.
They will present their own pathetic story about all the “good things” they’ve done in their life and that they deserve to go to heaven. I say pathetic because, everything anyone has ever done apart from having a relationship with Jesus Christ, will be seen as nothing more than “filthy rags.” And then it will be too late, case closed.
Rom. 6:22
“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”
“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.” (NLT)
Now as a former “free agent” Jesus has signed you on to His team with a life-long contract, in fact an Eternal-life contract, that will never be up for negotiation, you’re locked in. When you hear that, it should make your heart beat a little faster… in a good way.
“You have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.”
Now, everything you do for God’s kingdom counts.
To keep the sports analogy going…
As you’re out on the playing field, instead of seeing scouts on the sidelines checking out your performance, it is the Holy Spirit watching over you, guiding, directing, and blessing you. He is your seal… promising never to leave you nor forsake you. That’s great news!
We’ll close with this…
The Christian life can be like being on a sports team. There will be times that you will get banged up, bruised, or even cut, but you’ll get back up, you’ll get back in the game. The Coach (the Holy Spirit) will train you up the way you should go, helping you to grow and become stronger. Your position on His team is very important. He will teach you many things… why? Because the Coach has a plan for your life, “for good and not disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” Your future on His team is golden.