Living Freed From Sin’s Power

Transcript

GR 1430
05/09/10
Living Freed from Sin's Power
Romans 6:8-14
Gil Rugh

We're studying the book of Romans together and we're going to continue that study today. And we'll be in Romans 6. The book of Romans is talking about the wonder of God's salvation, the work of God in bringing salvation to lost, sinful human beings. It is unfolded in some detail so that we can understand clearly that subject which is most important of all—how can we as sinful human beings be brought into right relationship with God. And we have to start out by having a correct and proper understanding of sin, not the place we like to start but the place where God says we must start. So the opening portion of the book of Romans was about sin and Paul clearly set before us the fact that every single person is a sinner in the sight of a holy God. As he drew that to a conclusion in chapter 3 he said there is none righteous, no not one. There is not even one that does good. Everyone has turned aside from God and gone astray. As a result of that we are under the condemnation of a holy God. But God is not only a God of justice, He is a God of mercy.

So the next section in Romans talked about justification, how God has provided His righteousness for sinful human beings. That was through the provision of His Son to come to this earth, suffer and die on the cross to pay the penalty for sin. There is no other way for us to experience forgiveness before God but through faith in the finished work of His Son, Jesus Christ. And when we understand we are sinners and that Jesus Christ is the only Savior and let go of everything else and place our trust in Him alone, we are forgiven, we are declared righteous by a holy God. Remarkable.

When that happens our lives change. So we start out talking about the matter of sin and condemnation. We move on to talk about the matter of justification, God's righteousness. When we come to chapter 6 we begin to talk about the matter of how do those who have experienced justification through faith in Christ now live their lives. And how is it possible to live a life that is pleasing to a holy and righteous God. Even after He has provided His righteousness for us, forgiven us our sins, the answer is as it is unfolded in the opening verses of Romans 6, is that when you believe in Jesus Christ God identifies you with Christ spiritually. And so when Christ died you are viewed as having died; when Christ was buried you were buried; when Christ was raised from the dead you were raised from the dead. When that happened the power and control of sin over you was broken. Up until that time every single person in the world lives under the control and domination of sin and they always serve sin. They never do anything pleasing to a holy God. But when we believe in Christ the power and control of sin over us is broken and we are given new life so that we can now live pleasing to Him.

Verse 7 says, those who have died have been freed from sin. And that's the picture. How do you get free from the bondage and control of sin? You die. Spiritually the power of sin is broken. So verse 8, now if we have died with Christ we believe that we also will live with Him, knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again. Death no longer is master over him. For the death that he died he died to sin once for all, the life he lives he lives to God. Jesus Christ came to this earth, a world consumed by sin, dominated by sin and death, for the penalty for sin is death. He came, He lived a righteous life, battled against sin. Even at the beginning of His public ministry the devil came and tempted Him as recorded in Matthew 4. But He was without sin. He suffered and died to pay the penalty for our sin. The Lord made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that through faith in Him we might receive the righteousness of God. He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness, Peter wrote.

So that's God's plan of salvation and redemption and freedom from sin so that we can live lives that are pleasing to Him. So just as Christ died with reference to sin and death and never has to deal with sin again, never has to die again, so we, too, when we believe in Him are set free from sin, its power and authority and ultimately the penalty which is death.

Those are all facts that have been accomplished. And now interestingly when we come to chapter 6 verse 11 we come to the first exhortation in the book of Romans. The Apostle Paul has set out clearly the facts of our sinful condition, the facts of the provision of righteousness in Christ. He has set forth in the first 10 verses of Romans 6 how that freedom from sin, its power and authority in our lives is carried and how we can live new lives by having been made new in Christ, being resurrected with Him.

Now in verses 11-14 he's going to give a series of command, exhortations, things that we as believers in Jesus Christ must do. This is built, and the order of Romans is important. That's why we need to be careful in our study of the word of God to examine the details of it and take it as God has unfolded it. These commands come as a result of what God has done in us in Christ. These commands are not given to people who have not experienced salvation in Christ. These are commands for you and me, how do we live now that we have new life in Christ.

There are four commands, let me note them for you, then we'll pick them up as we move through. The first command is in the word consider in verse 11. That's a verb, it's an imperative, it is the way of giving a command. So that's the first command, and that's the first command given to us in the book of Romans. The second command is found in verse 12, do not let reign. We have do not let sin reign. The verb there giving the command, do not let reign. And it is sin that is not to reign. The third command is in verse 13, do not go on presenting. And the fourth command is in the middle of verse 13, present yourselves to God. So we start out with a positive command, then we have two commands, and then we'll close with a positive command. And then verse 14 will go back to an indicative, not an imperative, a statement of fact to pull it all together. Just telling us why we must do these things.

Romans 6 is very important because it brings a balance together on what we would call the indicatives and the imperatives. The indicatives are just statements of fact. Verse 4, we have been buried with Him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we, too, might walk in newness of life. There are some statements of fact here. Verse 7, he who has died is freed from sin. That's a statement of fact. And the fact of the death of Christ as the payment for sin, the reality of salvation through faith in Christ, reality of our being identified with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection when we believe in Him. Those are all facts that are stated. What is our responsibility in light of these facts? And so we have the imperatives. And we must keep the balance. What God commands us to do is based on what He has done for us and to us in Christ. In light of that here is what we must do. We must see the connection. You don't give the commands as though they were something you could do in and of yourself. This is based upon the work that God has done in a life, that's what makes it possible. Nor do you just want to blur the distinction between the statements of fact and the commands that are given. We have responsibilities, we must live as those who have been set free from the power and control of sin. And that is a responsibility placed upon us. In some views of salvation they have an expression like, let go and let God. But that is a blurring of the distinctions here. We are clearly told what God has done, now on that basis here is what we must do. We have a responsibility, an obligation.

Let's look picking up with verse 11, we've looked down this far. The first command, even so. And that connection is in light of the fact that we have died with Christ, been raised with Christ, the fact that Christ died to sin and death, that we died to sin and death. Even so consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. We must have a view of ourselves that is biblical. Consider, the word came out of an accounting background. Reckon this, you evaluate the facts and you come to a conclusion. So here in light of the fact that Christ died and was raised from the dead, and in His death all dealings with sin are taken care of, death is dealt with. He now lives the new life, the resurrection that has been given, He has had as He rose from the dead.

So we were identified with Him in that death, burial and resurrection. So don't let sin reign in your mortal body. You must not let it reign because we died. So consider yourself dead. That's the first consideration, consider yourself dead. That will mean we don't let it reign and we don't use our bodies for sinful purposes, as he is going on. Consider, take the facts into account. You know we blow right by this. People profess to become a believer in Jesus Christ, I'm placing my faith in Him, I'm trusting Him. Weeks, months, years down the road their lives are all tangled in sin. They are enslaved to sin and they say, I don't know what's wrong. I'm sure I trusted Christ and I'm a slave to sin, I need counseling. How many calls do we get, do you do counseling? Christians think, I'm having a problem with sin, it's controlling me, enslaving me. I must need counseling. And so we say, I guess so. And then of course this counseling will take time, so if your problem is immorality or drunkenness or (fill in the blank) whatever it is, this will take time. Because you know the statement, time is money. And so you are paying by the hour and I think we'll get through this in six months, I'll give you a cut rate of $100 an hour. Well is it worth it? Well, do you want to get free? Wait a minute. You know what happens? We don't consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. We've just abandoned what the Bible teaches and we're adrift out here not knowing where we are, what the solution is or what to do. We are in confusion. What do we do? Here is a person enslaved to sin but they say they are a believer. I wish they weren't even a believer because then I could tell them, Christ will set you free. But they say they've trusted Christ and they're not free. Now what do I do with them? What do I do if it's me?

So you see what you have to do, you have to be clear on what salvation is and what it accomplishes. And the starting point with the first command he gives is consider, reckon yourselves dead to sin. That's how you think, that's the conclusion that you agree upon. You've evaluated the fact, you've looked at the numbers, here is the conclusion. I consider myself as dead to sin. Not only dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. I now have a new relationship, I have a new master. Before it was sin and the devil, now it is God and righteousness. I'm alive to God in Christ Jesus. None of this works, if I can say it that way, if you're not in Christ Jesus. This is not telling people to clean up their lives. We have the power of positive thinking and all kinds of psychological training and developing to try to get people ............ If anger is your problem you can go into anger management; if drinking is your problem you can get into a group for those who are drunks. And we have all these things to try to manipulate your thinking, and these are the things you learn and you say. Here is what the Bible say, consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. That means the power and control of sin over me has been broken. That means I never again have to yield to sin.

So sin will present itself, sin hasn't gone away, I died to sin. That means its power and authority over me has been broken, remember. But sin doesn't go away, it's an old master. I was a slave. And it appeals to me. This will be enjoyable, it's delightful, it's pleasurable. You will get satisfaction and enjoyment from it. Those things have an appeal to all of us in one way or another. I have to stop and say, here is how I evaluate things. I died to sin, I'm alive but I'm alive to God in Christ Jesus. That's the consideration I give, that's how I have to think. So you see I have to come back to the word of God and put things in perspective. I take into account what God has said and the truth there. I'm dead to sin, I don't have to do that, furthermore I must not do it because the new life I have now belongs to God and I have that by virtue of being in Christ Jesus.

Turn over to I Corinthians 6:9, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. Is that clear? These are not all the sins, we've looked at these kinds of lists other places. I died to sin and that includes all of its various manifestations such as immorality, idolatry, covetousness and so on. Those who practice such things, the unrighteous, are not going to be part of the kingdom that Christ will establish on this earth. The other side of that as scripture reveals is that they will spend eternity in hell. Verse 11 is the beautiful statement, such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the spirit of our God.

You know we begin to pick up terminology and we confuse ourselves and it gradually moves us off the foundation of the word of God. We say, I'm a recovering alcoholic, I'm a non-practicing homosexual. But that's not biblical. When I die with Christ I'm not what I used to be. The old man, remember, was crucified. So he says, such were some of you. He includes drunkards there. Those who have come to believe in Christ have been set free. What's this recovering? So you are never anything else. I'm a homosexual, but since I'm a Christian I'm not a practicing homosexual. What does that mean? How do you get saved and be left in that condition? God says some of you were these things, but when the power of His salvation came in you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and in the Spirit of our God. It took the power of God, the work of Christ to set you free. But that's not what you are now, that's not what I am now.

If we're not clear on these things we begin to think, they are a Christian but they are homosexual. That's their orientation, that's the way they were born. Like someone else was born heterosexual, so they will always be that. Well you know that's included in the list here, too. I mean, sin is sin and when you believe in Jesus Christ the power of sin over you is broken. That's no longer what you are. Now that doesn't mean sin no longer has an appeal. You don't have to indulge in this every day, but a little bit won't hurt you. It's like a candy bar, you don't want to live on candy bars but a little candy bar brings some spark to life. Well you don't want to live in the muck of sin, but a little bit of sin can bring a little more pleasure and enjoyment. And we get drawn to it.

Now I have to consider myself, I'm dead. There is no doubt there would be pleasure in doing that. We don't want to pretend, you wouldn't enjoy that. I think you would. Don't people get started on drugs because it gives them a pleasurable feeling? Don't they indulge in immorality because it gives them pleasure? The book of Proverbs says, bread eaten in secret is pleasant, stolen waters are sweet. But there is an afterward that is not so pleasant. But the reality of sin still has an appeal. So I have to say, wait a minute, I died to sin. The power of sin and its control over me has been broken. I don't have to do that. I must do that, I'm alive to God in Christ Jesus. That's the way I have to think.

So you come back to Romans 6:11, when he says consider yourself I have to take into account. If I don't have a good, clear understanding of God's work of salvation in a life, I'm muddling along. How do I deal with sin now? First of all, consider yourself dead to it. That means I don't have to practice it, I don't have to yield to it, I don't have to do it because He set me free and has given me new life.

Verse 12, therefore, and because we have died with Christ and been made alive to God, therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its lusts. So have the right evaluation and consideration, and then act on it. Don't let it reign. Well that's easier said than done. Well I take it when God commands us to do something He expects us to do it. The provision has been made. Do not let sin reign in your mortal bodies so that you obey its lusts. Period. People come in and they say, don't go talk to them, they're hard-hearted. They just tell you, don't do it. I don't tell everybody that, I only tell believers that. Why should I say, let's talk about it. Okay next week we'll get together and talk about it some more. And then the next week we'll get together and talk about it some more. I mean, I don't want to go to the doctor's office and just talk about it. Can you do anything about it or can't you? Is there a solution or isn't there? The solution—do not let sin reign. Don't let it reign, don't let it manifest its authority and power in your life. You don't need to call me this week, there is the answer. We can do it on the phone. In fact, don't even call for that answer, just write it down right now. Don't let sin reign in your body. I'm in sin, I need to do something about it. You're right, don't let it reign in your mortal body. Your mortal is this physical body, because how do we express our sinful conduct? Through our bodies. Our minds and our bodies used for sinful things.

And up in verse 6, knowing this that our old man was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin, our body is controlled by sin, might be done away with, might be rendered inoperative, powerless. The power and authority of sin to control my body has been broken. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts. Do you realize the salvation of God is awesomely powerful. Whatever the sin that has a stranglehold on your life, whatever it may be, it may have controlled you for years and years, that power is broken when you believe in Jesus Christ. And you're given a new life. Now you'll note, this is the tragedy again, another way where we as believers begin to undermine the gospel we claim to believe. We go out and tell unbelievers they ought to clean up their lives, stop drinking, stop being immoral, don't practice homosexuality. You understand they are controlled and enslaved by sin. I know people who were drunks who quit drinking and they never became believers in Christ. That's right, but they never stopped being controlled by sin. You understand there is a difference. We're talking about being free from the power of sin. I never was a drunk, but I was every bit as sinful as drunks. Just because my particular manifestation of sin through my body wasn't the same as someone else didn't make me less sinful. The Pharisees and Sadducees, the religious leaders of Jesus' day couldn't grasp this. They wouldn't think of practicing homosexuality. They were against immorality of all kinds. What did Jesus say to them? The tax gatherers and prostitutes are going into the kingdom before you.

We go around in moral reform movements and getting on the bandwagon of this is going to clean up our country. We are denying what God says the only solution to sin is—the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it is the solution for sin of any kind because we deal with sin as sin. And that deals with all its manifestations. The world thinks if you're a drunk you need this kind of help; if you have anger problems you need this kind of help; if you have sexual addictions you need this kind of help. They are all manifestations of one basic problem—sin. We deal with it. How? Faith in Christ doesn't, it's done, free. I don't have to sit and say, tell me about your addiction, how it manifests itself. I'm enslaved to sin. That's right, I don't need to know all about the details of your sin. I can tell you the solution. And there are not 34 steps to learning to deal with anger or immorality, or anything else. There is one step—recognizing you are a sinner, you place your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and you die to sin. Once you have, don't let sin reign in your mortal body any longer so you obey its lusts. That's it. Well how do I do that? Well you reckon, you consider yourself dead to sin and alive to God. So if I'm dead to sin and alive to God I'm not going to let sin reign in my body any longer. I'm done with it. It will not reign. Before salvation sin reign.

Back in chapter 5 verse 14, nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses. Death reigned because sin reigned. Look at verse 17, if by the transgression by the one death reigned through the one, much more those who received the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one. You see the contrast. Death reigned because sin reigned, now life and righteousness reign. You come down to verse 21, so that as sin reigned in death so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin reigns. We're not called to clean up the world, we're not called to bring moral reform to our society. We're called to bring the message of death and life to those without hope in the world, to those enslaved to sin, living a life of lawless rebellion against God, doomed to an eternal hell. But there is a Savior, you believe in Him you'll be set free. Now a believer, don't let sin reign in your life. There is not a believer sitting here, whether your sin is going on in secret and you thing no one knows, there is not a believer here who sins ever who doesn't choose to sin.

You know I sometimes have excuses for my sin. Someone pulls in front of me and goes slow. This never happens, this is just hypothetical. I say, fool. I stomp on the gas, pull around and cut him off. I couldn't help it, they made me do it. No, they didn't. I got satisfaction and pleasure. I taught them. You know the idea, well, they made me. My wife does this, it just gets under my skin and she knows it gets under my skin and I can't help it, I lose my temper. Now you just told a lie on top of losing your temper because your wife didn't make you do it after all. So we come up with these ideas. Don't let sin reign in your life. That's encouraging, that's a blessing to know this is what God says. I am not to have sin reign in my life as a believer. I can't control what other people around me do, but I am responsible for me and God says I am not to let sin reign in my life. But you don't know what my husband is like, what my wife is like, what my boss is like, what people are ........... Don't let sin reign in your life. Nice to know I can be free, I don't have to let sin ........... I never sin because I have to as a believer.

So people come in to see me and they talk and they say, I'm in sin, I'm having an affair, I can't stop, I can't give it up, I can't ............ But I know I'm a believer. Well I say, I know one thing about you, you're a liar because there are two possibilities. You are not a believer and so you are enslaved to sin and you are unable to quit. Or you are a believer in sin but you don't want to quit. But it's not possible you are a believer and can't quit. So a person says, I'm a believer but I can't stop. That's a lie. Either you are not a believer and you can't stop or you are a believer and don't want to stop. Those are the options. We like to muddy the waters so we feel like, it's poor me. I really want help, I really want to do something about this, I want to deal with it. I just can't do it. Can't you help me? No, I can't help you, but I know someone who can.

So anybody who comes and tells me that first thing I want to start with is are you really a believer? Everybody professes, I know I'm saved, I know I'm saved. Well wait a minute, something is wrong. Believers are set free from the power of sin. It doesn't mean it is easy, but it is true. So stop it. Do you know you died with Christ when you believed in Him? You were raised with Him to newness of life? If you truly believed in Him that's what happened. Consider that to be true and don't let sin rule in your life any longer.

Turn over to I Corinthians 9. One of our young people was in a Christian college back when we were doing some discussions on psychology and talking with the professor about what I had shared. He said, well the problem is Gil Rugh has a black and white view of life and life isn't like that. Well you know it's not my view of life that matters, it's God's view. As I read death and resurrection take place. That's pretty black and white. That doesn't mean there aren't battles for us as believers. Look what Paul writes in verse 27, but I discipline my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others I myself will not be disqualified. Paul had a battle with his body. You know what? Sin appealed to Paul like it appeals to us. There is pleasure in sin, there is enjoyment in sin. That's why people do it. Paul said I discipline my body, you may have in your margin, a word that literally means bruise. It was used of hitting someone under the eye so they turn black and blue. So I beat my body black and blue and bring it into submission.

Don't let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts. That takes bodily discipline, I'm not going to do it. I feel like losing my temper, I'd like to lose it, but I don't have to do it and I'm not going to do it because I'm one who died in Christ to sin. I'm a new person in Christ. I don't let sin reign in my body. Period. It's done. This is a great opportunity, I could have an affair with this person, I know they could meet my needs, I don't think it would cause much damage and it would bring great pleasure to me. And I might have a chance to witness to them, as one person told me. Wait a minute, let's consider reality. If I'm a believer I died to sin, I'm alive to God in Christ. I am not allowed to allow sin to assert its authority and rule in my life.

So I discipline my body, bring it into subjection, make it my slave, as Paul says.. So I don't want to get the idea that when you become a Christian everything is easy, sin is not appealing any longer. Why do you think Paul started out this chapter, shall we continue in sin. Well I used to think, grace takes care of the penalty for sin and I can enjoy the fruits of sin. No, no, no. You know nothing about God's salvation if that's what you are thinking.

Come back to Romans 6. You don't let sin reign in your mortal body, that means you do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as unrighteousness. Life changes, you don't present your body and the parts of your body for sinful purposes. Another command, the third command we have. Consider, do not let sin reign, do not go on presenting, or do not present the members, the parts of your body—your mind, your hands, your feet, your eyes, whatever—as instruments, weapons, tools of unrighteousness. I mean, I've been made alive to God in Christ and I would use my body and the parts of my body for unrighteous purposes? I'm not to do that any longer. These are not tools and weapons for the purpose of unrighteousness.

But the fourth command, present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, your members as instruments of righteousness to God. This is a word, one commentator on this Greek word translated present says, you know we ought to be careful about not giving it a passive mood of yield, even present. The idea is more active and concrete, to give yourself in service to someone. I present my body, I give it to Him for His purposes. How is my body to be used, the parts of my body? As instruments of righteousness to God. I have been justified in Christ and the righteousness of Christ has been credited to me. I didn't do that by my efforts, but now one who has been justified in Christ is to live a life of righteousness.

So you'll note the follow through here, as those alive from the dead, the middle of verse 13, you present your members as instruments of righteousness to God. We're not telling the unbeliever about quitting certain sin, we're talking about believers, how they now use their bodies, what they do. Righteousness is to characterize what we do. We're a new people, we've been made new in Christ Jesus. Present yourselves to God. I don't present the parts of my body to sin, to be used for sinful things. I present it to God to be used for righteous purposes.

Turn over to Romans 12:1, therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, on the basis of God's mercy which has been poured out upon us in Christ, present. There's our word. Present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God which is your spiritual service of worship. That means do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the making new of your mind. That's what we do, my body now belongs to God.

Turn over to I Corinthians 6. In this context here Paul is talking about the sin of immorality and it must have no place in a believer's life. It is totally contrary to God's purposes in salvation. You'll note statements that he makes like verse 15, do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ. We talk about those who are in Christ, that are identified with Christ. We come down to verse 18, gives a command, flee immorality. Verse 19, do you no know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you have been bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body. A little different analogy and picture but the same point. Your body is used in the service of God, you don't belong to yourself. Your body has become His, your life is His and His character is to be manifest in you.

Come over to I John 3, we've been here before in our studies. Pick up with verse 4, everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness, it is acts of rebellion against God. You know He appeared, Christ, in order to take away sin and in Him there is no sin. Similar to what we saw in Romans 6. No one who abides in Him, lives in Him, sins. No one who sins has seen Him or knows Him. Sins here in the present tense. Doesn't mean we can never commit an act of sin, inconsistent as it is, but we do. But we don't live in that realm any longer. Little children, make sure no one deceives you. The one who practices righteousness is righteous just as He is righteous, the one who practices sin is of the devil. Begins to clarify things. There is something to be said for that black and white understanding of the word of God. This is true, this is false; this is right, this is wrong. We act as though we can deal fast and loose with what God says about salvation. Yes, we believe in Christ, we believe in the basic doctrines, but our view of how we deal with sin, that's a little different. There's no such thing as a little difference in how you deal with sin. If you're not dealing with it the way God says He deals with it in the gospel of Jesus Christ, you're not dealing with it biblically.

Look at I John 3:9, no one who is born of God practices sin because His seed abides in him, the seed of God. Peter put it this way, that we have become partakers of the divine nature. Not that we have become divine, deity, but we have become partakers of God's character which is righteousness. So no one who is born of God practices sin because God's seed abides in him and he cannot practice sin, live in sin because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious. Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brethren.

Come back to Romans 6. We are to consider ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God. We are not to allow, we must not allow sin to reign in our lives, in our mortal bodies. We are not to be presenting the parts of our body to sin, to be used for unrighteous. But we must present our bodies and all their parts to God as instruments, tools, weapons to be used for righteousness, doing righteous things, things that are consistent with the character of God.

All of this is possible, verse 14, we leave the commands and come back to a statement of fact. For sin shall not be master over you. This is a fact, sin will not be master over you. You might be interested in that word master. We talk about the Lord Jesus Christ, that word Lord, Kyrios, this is just the verb form of that word. Shall not be lord over you. We have a lord, He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Sin shall not be lord over you, master over you. Why? We are not under law but under grace. He's going to go on and elaborate on that further through the rest of the chapter. Not under law but under grace. Why? Well verse 20 of chapter 5, the law came in so that the transgression would increase, but where sin increased grace abounded all the more. The Mosaic Law could command the Jews what to do. The problem is because they were enslaved to sin they couldn't do it. That's why even under the law they had to be saved by grace through faith. It was the fullness of the manifestation of God's grace in the provision of His Son. Verse 21, grace would reign instead of sin, through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

We don't tell people you need to get right with God, you need to be saved, you need to keep the Ten Commandments. That just takes the air out of it. Trying to keep the Ten Commandments, failure; trying to keep the Mosaic Law and its 613 commandments, failure; trying to keep the commandments of the church and what people make up to be pleasing to God, failure. That's why you have to start with the seriousness of sin. There is only one solution to sin, there is only one solution to the slavery to sin and that's dying with Jesus Christ, being raised with Him to new life. That happens when you understand your sinful condition, place your faith in Him. When you have you are obligated before the God who saved us to consider ourselves as dead to sin, evaluate the facts. I'm dead to sin, I'm alive to God; therefore I must not let sin reign in this mortal body. I will not allow it to reign. Sin does not have authority over me, its power has been broken. It can appeal to me, it cannot rule me. I must not allow it to assert its authority in my life, I must not use my body in any way for unrighteous purposes. I present it to God to be used for His purposes.

This is all possible because we are under grace, not law. Not doing it in my strength because what I have accomplished, because of the formulas I have learned in taking control. I've come to experience the grace of God in my life. That grace has brought me salvation, that grace has brought me freedom through faith in Christ and dying with Him so that now I can live the new life that He has provided, and obey what He has commanded.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for the truth of your word. Thank you for this powerful section of your word. We are free. What a glorious truth, free not only from the penalty of sin but from the power of sin, its dominating control, its sovereign rule. We have died with Christ and must consider these facts as true. We must not allow sin to reign in our bodies, we must not use our bodies for unrighteousness. And what an honor and privilege to yield our bodies in service to you because we live in your grace. We give you praise. I pray for any who may be here, Lord, who are in bondage to sin. They know it controls them, it sovereignly rules their lives. May they come to know the Savior who sets them free. For any of your children who find themselves ensnared in sin again, may they take the truth of your word and put it into practice. We give you praise in Christ's name, amen.