“Freed from Sin, Enslaved to God”
(Romans 6:15-23)
Series: Not Guilty!
Rev. Todd A. Linn, PhD
First Baptist Henderson, KY
(7-12-09) (AM)
- Take your Bibles and join me in Romans, chapter 6.
We are continuing our verse-by-verse expository preaching series through the book of Romans, a book largely about the Gospel. What is the Gospel all about? Well that is what we are studying and today we finish chapter 6, a chapter that teaches us about sanctification, or our how Christians grow in holiness, becoming more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ.
The passage begins in verse 15 with a question very similar to a preceding question. Verse 15, “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?” And the answer, “Certainly not!” You see how similar that is to verse 1, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?” And again the answer, “Certainly not!”
Paul anticipates that his teaching about the Gospel may be misunderstood. He has been so heavily stressing the security of our salvation that he fears some may misunderstand. He has been greatly stressing that we are justified—declared righteous—solely by faith in Christ and not by any merit of our own, any work of our own, any contribution of our own, that we do nothing to earn our salvation or to remain in our salvation, it is all of grace, a free gift of God. And so Paul anticipates that some may hear this teaching and conclude, “Well then, I suppose it is okay for a Christian to just go on sinning then, since he is under grace and forever saved and nothing can change that.” Listen to how Paul addresses that kind of reasoning.
- Stand for the reading of the Word of God.
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not!
16 Do 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?
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.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
- Pray.
Introduction:
Growing Christians ask pastors many questions, but perhaps the most frequent question is, “How can I have victory over sin and temptation?” That is a very good question to ask because the questioner reveals a desire to become more and more like Jesus Christ. The word for becoming more like Christ is the word “holiness” or “sanctification.” Holiness or sanctification is a process of becoming purer in our behavior, a lifelong process that begins the moment a person receives Jesus as Savior and is regenerated or born-again. Holiness or sanctification is a day-to-day process where the Christian becomes stronger and stronger in defeating sin and temptation.
So many of us want that! We want to be strong in the face of sin and temptation. In fact, if we don’t want that, if we don’t desire to grow in holiness, to sin less and love Christ more, then we are not saved at all, for salvation changes a person. “If anyone is in Christ he or she is a new creation. Old things have passed away. All things have become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).”
The first half or chapter 6 introduced us to some keys to victory over sin and temptation. Verse 11 says “Reckon—or consider—yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” We learned that when we face temptation to sin, we respond by saying, “I’m dead to that.” We spoke of very practical temptations, such as, when you’ve been hurt by what someone says rather than returning evil for evil, you say to yourself, “I’m dead to that” and you walk away. Someone gossips about another or the conversation becomes carnal and worldly, say, “I’m dead to that” and walk away. The computer link flashes on your screen inviting you to take a peek at pornography, you remind yourself that you are dead to that and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Old habits, smoking, drinking, lusting, overeating, bitterness, un-forgiveness, reckon yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The continual repeating of this phrase, “I’m dead to that and alive to God in Christ Jesus” is not merely wishful thinking, it is not the psychology of self-talk where one says something he or she wishes to be true, it is the continual reminding ourselves of something that is true. We are dead indeed to sin in the sense that we’ve died to the old realm, the old person we once were “in Adam.” We don’t live there anymore. We’ve had a radical change of address. We’ve had a “realm transfer.” We are now “in Christ.”
I really want to help each and every one of us in this matter of growing in our sanctification, becoming more like Christ, increasing in our holiness with each passing day, increasing in purity of life and godliness of behavior. Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:15-16, “as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, “‘Be holy, for I am holy.’”
Paul teaches some things here in the second half of chapter 6 that we absolutely must know about holiness. First:
I. Holiness requires Evangelism (15-18)
We are not Christians in any sense of the word apart from hearing and receiving the truth of the Gospel. You cannot grow in Christ until you are birthed in Christ. You cannot talk about growing in holiness until you become holy through faith in Jesus Christ. Then, and only then, can you even begin to talk about growing in holiness. So it all begins with evangelism. We must hear the Gospel and be saved from sin.
In the first four verses of our text, Paul paints a vivid picture wherein he reveals only two options for all of humanity. Do you remember back in chapter 5 where Paul talked about two men and we learned that every single person is attached to either one or the other? Every single person is either “in Adam” or “in Christ.” Every person is either “in sin” or has been “freed from sin.” Well, Paul gives these two options again this time with the illustration of slavery. Verse 16:
16 Do 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?
Every one of us in this room is either a slave of sin leading to death, or a slave of obedience leading to righteousness. That’s another way of saying we’re all either “in Adam” or “in Christ.” Every one of us is either a slave to sin or a slave to God. Whose slave are you?
Paul’s using the illustration of slavery may sound odd to us, but in 1st Century Rome, slavery was something that resonated with nearly every person in the church. It’s been estimated that slaves made up as much as 1/3 of the Roman Empire. Initially, someone thought it’d be a good idea for all the slaves in the Roman Empire to wear some kind of distinctive clothing like every slave wearing the same shirt, but some said that if they did that, then the slaves would realize just how numerous they were and might be emboldened into revolt. The Roman Christians well understood slavery. It is possible that perhaps as many as ½ of the Christians in each church either were slaves or previously had been slaves. So Paul’s using this illustration was a good move. It got their attention.
And it gets our attention today. I don’t know whether you’ve ever really thought about it this way before. Every one of us is either a slave to sin or a slave to God. Either sin is our master or God is our master.
The Bible teaches that we are born into this world slaves of sin. Sin is our master. That was Paul’s greatest point in Romans 5:12. Sin entered the world through Adam and death spread to all because all sinned. We are sinners by nature. We are born slaves of sin. And Paul reminds every Christian that through the power of the Gospel, through the evangelistic work of preaching, reaching, and teaching the Gospel, Christians have been liberated from their slavery to sin. Verse 17:
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 (or, “entrusted”).
The “form of doctrine” to which he refers is the full teaching of the Gospel as Paul has been detailing it from chapter 1 to this point in chapter 6. It is the Gospel which Paul has carefully explained in great detail, the whole teaching of how our sins may be forgiven, through justification, through being declared righteous and “not guilty” before God. This—and nothing but this—is what frees a person from slavery to sin and brings that person to a new master.
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
So if a person is a Christian, he was previously a slave to sin, but he has believed the Gospel and now is freed from sin and now a slave of righteousness. He has a new master.
We must understand that we are born into this world slaves of sin and that nothing delivers us from this condition except careful evangelism of the full Gospel, which must be believed by the slave to sin before he or she can become a slave to righteousness. There are so many implications here! This teaching means that no one is really born “free.” Non-Christians may feel as though they are free, freely choosing this or that, but the Bible teaches we are born into bondage. We are born into slavery. We are sinners by nature and sinners by choice. Sin has power over us. Sin reigns in our lives. We are “in Adam.” He is our father and we are bound to sin. Our Lord Jesus teaches this in John 8:34-36 where He talks about our being slaves to sin and then He says, however, “if the Son shall set you free, you shall be free indeed.”
Do you see, then, how foolish it is to talk of morality and ethics apart from the Gospel? The form of doctrine that sets us free from sin’s consequences and power is the Gospel. Nothing else can do it, not even the moral commands of Scripture. We are not Christians because we are good people who practice the 10 Commandments and apply the teachings of Jesus. We can be good people and still be in bondage to sin. We can practice the 10 Commandments and still be slaves of sin. We can endeavor to live out the ethical teachings of Jesus Christ and still be lost. Why? Because we have not believed the Gospel. Because we are still in bondage to sin and the only way to be set free from sin’s reign, rule, and power is by believing that form of doctrine Paul has been detailing from Romans chapter 1 to Romans chapter 6.
This is why Paul sounds so elated in verse 17: “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.” And I want to remind every one of us that this is the only way for us to be saved at all today. We don’t become Christians by keeping the law, by keeping the 10 Commandments, by being “good little boys and girls” or good and gallant gentlemen and women. We can be good little boys and girls and still be lost because we have never been set free from our bondage to sin and its consequences and we have not been set free because we have not believed the Gospel. We must believe that Jesus died on the cross for us and for our sins. We must believe that He rose from the dead that we might be declared righteous by what He did in our place, taking our sins upon Himself and giving to us His righteousness. This is how we are freed from sin.
Now someone says, “Well, I have believed the Gospel. I believe that Jesus died on the cross for my sins. I believe all of this, but I don’t feel free from sin. I mean, I still struggle with sin. How can I be said to be free in any sense?”
Well, we must remember that Paul is talking about freedom from sin not in the sense of sinless perfection, as though our being set free from sin means we never struggle with sin again. Of course we struggle with it. This is why Paul says back in 6:12, “Do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” Don’t let it rule and reign. Remember that you are dead to the old way of life. That’s what your baptism pictured. When you went under the water, that pictures your death to the old way. You’re dead to sin’s reign, rule, and power over you.
Think of your life as two volumes of a story. Volume I was your life before Christ. Volume II is your life in Christ. Or think of your previous life without Christ as once living on the wrong side of the tracks and your new life in Christ as living on the right side of the tracks. Those images help us understand that when Paul says, “you have been set free from sin,” he does not mean that you no longer struggle with sin, or that Satan cannot yell at you from the other side of the tracks, tempting you to come back to your old neighborhood. Paul simply means that you have been set free from that realm and you shouldn’t go back there. You’re dead to that.
“Well,” someone says, “I struggle so with sin!” How can I ever become holy as God is holy? I mean, I get the fact that I have “moved out of the old neighborhood.” I understand that I am no longer living in Volume I of my life. I get that I am now living in Volume II. But the tempting pull of Volume I is strong.”
Perhaps some of you feel that way. You struggle with a recurring sin of some kind. You say, “If everyone knew how I struggle with this sin over and over again they would kick me out of this church! What am I to do? How will I ever grow in holiness?” Well, here’s a revelatory truth for you. Are you ready? Here’s the second thing we must understand about holiness:
II. Holiness requires Effort (19)
19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.
That’s Paul’s way of saying, “This analogy I have been using here of slavery is simply an illustration. I don’t want you to misunderstand my meaning, so I’m using this illustration.”
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.
You used to present your members as slaves of uncleanness. “Members” there refers to parts of the body. Before you were a Christian, you offered the parts of your body—your hands, feet, mouths, eyes, even your minds—to sin. You were slaves to sin. With your hands you took things that were not yours. With your feet, you visited places you should not visit. With your tongues, you said things you should not have said. With your minds, you thought things you should hot have thought, and so on. You presented your members—the parts of your body—as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness. You were in sin. That was before Christ. That was your life “in Adam.” That was Volume I. That was where you used to live on the other side of the tracks.
But then Paul says, “Don’t do that anymore and, in fact, to the extent your old self was committed to sin, so now commit your new self to your new life in God.” See that there in verse 19: “Just as you presented your members—parts of the body—as slaves of uncleanness, etc., so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” Do you see the “just as” and the “so now?” Paul says you used to use your time and energy this way, now use your time and energy this way. Can that be said of you? Are you as committed to living for Christ as you were once committed to living for the world? The Christian life is a life of activity, of growing in Christ, of growing in purity and godliness.
We once used our mouths to criticize, now we use our mouths to edify. We once used our eyes to lust, now we use our eyes to love. We once used our minds for sin, now we use our minds for our Savior. That’s the idea. It doesn’t happen all at once. We grow in holiness.
So when we are saved we do not become stagnant. We don’t fall into neutral gear. We are to do something. God saved us to offer ourselves to Him. We grow with each passing day, becoming more and more like our Lord Jesus. Holiness requires effort.
Some people erroneously teach that holiness is the result of our just falling into neutral gear. They say things like, “Well, you’ve just got to ‘let go’ and ‘let God.’” That sort of teaching doesn’t help anyone grow in holiness. Holiness is not “just let go and let God.” Holiness requires effort. If we want to experience victory over sin and temptation, it will require some good, old-fashioned work—not work to earn our salvation or keep our salvation—not that kind of work. We are not saved by works of righteousness, keeping sacraments, and so forth.
Paul puts it plainly in Ephesians 2:8-10: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”
We don’t work to get saved, but we work once we are saved. Good works are the natural by-product of our salvation. Good works are our “thank you note” to God for His salvation. This is what Paul is talking about here in verse 19, “So now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.” Holiness requires effort.
I read this yesterday. It’s called, “Autobiography in 5 short chapters.” I want to appropriate it and use it as it applies to sanctification and growing in holiness.
Day one. I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost. I am helpless. It isn’t my fault. It takes forever to find a way out.
Day two. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I pretend I don’t see it. I fall in again. I can’t believe I am in the same place. But, it isn’t my fault. It still takes a long time to get out.
Day three. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I see it is there.
I still fall in . . . it’s a habit. My eyes are open. I know where I am. It is my fault. I get out immediately.
Day four. I walk down the same street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I walk around it.
Day five. I walk down a different street! (original by Portia Nelson)
We have said that holiness requires evangelism and holiness requires effort. Thirdly:
III. Holiness results in Eternal Life (20-23)
Let me read verses 20-23:
20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
That is, you were “free from allegiance to righteousness.” But slavery to sin is not an enviable position:
21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
That’s another way of saying, “Sin has its consequences.” The end of slavery to sin is death in every way, spiritually and physically.
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.
Sin has its consequences and holiness has its consequences. Having been “set free from sin,” you are now a slave of God. And what is the result? You bear fruit to holiness. You grow in holiness. You become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ. And what is the ultimate end, the ultimate result of holiness? Last part of verse 22, “Everlasting life.” And then this verse many of us have memorized, verse 23:
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
You see in verse 23 two masters: sin or God. You see two possible outcomes: death or eternal life. You see two ways to get to those two outcomes: wages earned or a gift received. There is no either option. You are either a slave to sin or a slave to God. One leads to death. One leads to life.
How ironic that Christians are slaves and yet free at the same time! But it is a different kind of slavery, isn’t it? It is a slavery bound up in love for our Lord.
You remember the boy being bullied and teased on the playground. The boy was being tempted to do some evil deed along with the other boys. And they were putting a lot of pressure on him. “Come on,” they said, “Come do this thing with us. What’s the matter, are you afraid?!” And they just kept on bullying and teasing the boy and tempting the boy and finally one of them said, “I know what it is. He’s afraid of what his father will do to him!” And the boy looked up and said, “No. I am not afraid of what my father will do to me. I am afraid of what my actions will do to my father.”
And isn’t that it, loved ones? Isn’t that what it truly means to be a slave of God? It is not that we are afraid of Him. It is rather that, because of our great love for Him and for His freeing us from sin through the power of the Gospel that we want to serve Him. We love Him for who He is and what He has done for us in Christ and so we are motivated to live holy lives as a thank you note to Him for His love.
- Stand for prayer.
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