ROMANS 6: 15-20
FINDING FREEDOM FROM SIN
The previous verses taught that each man has one of two masters. Man will serve God, or man will serve sin. Sin is the most devastating, debilitating, degenerating power that ever entered creation. Sin is the terrible, life wrecking, soul-damning reality that resides in man's heart like an incurable cancer. Even when men try to escape from sin, they cannot, they simply move to another facet or form of sin.
One of the greatest gift God could give to fallen man is freedom from sin. He offers that very gift in His Son, Jesus Christ. Freedom from sin is the gift God gives to those who will present themselves to Christ. Christ frees us,[ the Christian,] from our past enslavement to sin by providing us a new enslavement to righteousness through trust in Jesus Christ. Because we have died in Christ to sin, and risen with Him to righteousness, we are no longer under the lordship of sin, but under the Lordship of Christ or righteousness. Because of our relationship with Christ, we are enabled to live righteously and able not to live in sin (CIT). Thanks to the grace of God we are forgiven, freed, and enabled to yield our selves to Him and His service [and held accountable for doing so].
I. ENSLAVED BY OBEDIENCE, 15-16.
Our text contains various contrasting or one or the other [or antitheses] statements. Because of the misuse of the doctrine of grace verse 15 repeats the warning given in 6:1 so that we do not lose the clear and firm distinction of right and wrong which the law provides. "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!"
"What then" indicates another turning point in the argument about super-abounding grace (5:20). If "we are no longer under the law, but under grace," should we sin and disregard the ten commandments? Does grace undermine moral responsibility and promote reckless sinning?
Paul answers with an indignant, outraged, even horrified may it never be! or God forbid such a ghastly thought. The Bible does not grant any concession, any room for sin or sinning, even if one is under grace. The [aorist subjunctive] verb tense for sin indicates occasional acts of sin as opposed to a life of sin indicated in 6:1.
The people of EASTERN EUROPE are extremely grateful for their new privileges after years of Communist oppression. But now that they can speak more freely, run for political office, and establish private businesses, some are misusing their new freedom.
There are people in the television industry, for example, who are taking advantage of their new opportunities and producing shows that promote immorality, materialism, and the illicit use of drugs.
Many Christians make a similar mistake by misusing their freedom in Christ. Because they are not under law and have been set free from sin's condemnation, they have the idea that they can sin without suffering the consequences. Paul said emphatically, "Certainly not!" People who think this way may be giving evidence that they have never really chosen God's way - that they are still slaves of sin. But even for those who are saved, 1 Corinthians 11:32 and Hebrews 12:6 make it clear that God chastens His children when they are disobedient.
Yes, we are free from Old Testament rules and regulations. Yes, we are free from the burden of trying to earn our way into heaven. But this freedom does not give us license to sin. It obligates us to a life of grateful obedience. May we never misuse or abuse the amazing grace of God.
Verse 16 points out the constraining influence under which freely pardoned sinners are brought that seeks to keep them from becoming servants of what was formerly their master. "Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?"
"Do you not know" means that it is self-evident if you think about it. It should be obvious that you become the slave of what you do and can identify your master by what you do or your habits. What ever we continue to yield to becomes our master (Jn. 8:34). If you obey the cravings of sin, then sin is your master and death is your destiny. If you obey the commands of righteousness then righteousness is your master and life is your reward.
Sin enslaves the sinner. Those who obey sin become its slaves, moving on from one degrading service to another, until it works their ruin resulting in moral death. Those who yield themselves to God are under the influence of holiness which will secure constancy of service to God.
The opposite of obedience to God is obedience to sin. Loyalty to Christ will not provide for even occasional crossing over to Satan's side. For the slave does not serve his master's enemy.
What the apostle has been saying is that no one is absolutely independent or totally his own boss. No one is his own man. He has a master and that master is either sin or God. Those mastered by sin are separated from God, those obedient to God become righteous or Christ-like. True freedom is found in full surrender to Christ.
II. FROM SIN TO SANCTIFICATION, 17-20.
There are two masters, grace and sin vying for control of individuals and the world. Verse 17 voices praise for those who choose the way out, the way of yielding our heart to the grace of God in Jesus Christ. "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed."
The apostle gives thanks to God that as His believing readers we are no longer subject to the slavery that brings death. He thanks God that we became obedient. To be obedient "from the heart" means obedience which is voluntary and sincere. It is not passive obedience but active obedience of the will. To what did they become obedient? To the teachings of God's Word. The pattern of teaching is the teaching of Scripture whose intent is to lead the understanding one to sanctification. Thus we must be committed to the teaching of Scripture.
To obey wholeheartedly means to give yourself fully to God, to love Him "with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). And yet so often our efforts to know and obey God's commands can best be described as "half-hearted." How do you rate your heart's obedience? God wants to give you, to grace to you, the power to obey Him with all your heart.
There comes a time in many Christians lives that they begin to listen from the heart to the Word of God. Not simply listening to gather information, or as a formality, but they listen with a view to obeying the Word. And when they do, verse 18 says they become "freed from sin and become slaves to righteousness."
How did I become the slave of the Lord? On His part He bought me, and on my part I presented myself to Him. By right of redemption I am God's property, but if I would be His slave I must willingly give myself to Him, for He will never compel me to do so.
The trouble with Christians is that they have an insufficient idea of what God is asking of them. How glibly we say: "Lord, I am willing for anything." Do you know that God is asking of you your very life? There are cherished ideas, strong wills, precious relationships, much-loved activity, that will have to go.
When the Galilean boy BROUGHT HIS BREAD to the Lord, what did the Lord do with it? He broke it. God will always break what is offered to Him. He breaks what He takes, but after breaking it He blesses and uses it to meet the needs of others. After you give yourself to the Lord, He begins to break what was offered to Him. Everything seems to go wrong, and you protest and find fault with the ways of God. But to stay there is to be no more than just a broken vessel - no good for the world because you have gone too far for the world to use you, and no good for God either because you have not gone far enough for Him to use you. You are out of step, or out of line with the world, and you still have a controversy with God. This is the tragedy of many a Christian. [Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life, Tyndale, Wheaton:IL. 1977. p 106-107]
My giving of myself to the Lord is an initial act. Then, day by day, I must continue giving myself to Him, not finding fault with His use of me, but accepting with praise even what the flesh finds hard. That is the way of true enrichment.
I am the Lord's, and now no longer reckon myself to be my own, but acknowledge in everything to be under His ownership and authority. That is the attitude God delights in, and to maintain it is true consecration. I do not consecrate myself to be a Christian businessman or a preacher; I consecrate myself to God to do His will where or whenever He in His wisdom may send me. Whatever He ordains for me is sure to be the very best, for nothing but good can come to those who are wholly His. [Watchman Nee, The Normal Christian Life. Tyndale. Wheaton, IL. 1977. p. 107].
Verse 18 teaches what God had done [through the death and resurrection of Jesus] frees and empowers us to do what we ought. "and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness."
When you determine to be completely a "servant of righteousness" you start listening from the heart, or listening with the intention of being obedient to the Word of God. Then you are "freed from sin." Not justified as in verse 8, that is done by Christ's death, but freed.
Freedom from sin comes when we decide to become obedient to Christ. You have passed from the service of sin into the service of God. Your business now is to do what God desires not what sin dictates.
So for the believer freedom never means laziness. It means an opportunity for rendering service. When one is delivered from sin, in its place, into the void or vacuum, righteous service must come, or one will be sucked back into sin again. This is the reason when so many sincere people walk the aisle and make a decision to break from the old life, they never do. They are under conviction that what they are doing is wrong and want to stop. God by His grace sets them free, but they do not replace the negative sin with the positive service and are drawn back into sin again. If you want to be continuously freed from sin you must give yourself over to righteous service to God, for you will serve one or the other; either God or sin.
You are either a slave to the tyrant sin or you are slaves to God and His righteousness. There is no middle ground in this war.
Since it is impossible to be neutral verse 19 calls us to choose our master, sin or God. "I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification."
Paul says it is difficult to put divine principles into human terms. Our fleshly beings do not readily relate to spiritual truth. Thus the analogy of masters and slaves was used.
Before salvation, believers were like the rest of fallen mankind, having no other desire or ability but to follow their natural bent "to impurity and to lawlessness." Those two terms respectively refer to inward and outward sin. The unregenerated person is both internally and externally sinful and as he lives out his sinfulness it results in further lawlessness. Like a cancer that reproduces itself until the whole body is destroyed, sin reproduces itself until the whole person is infected.
A Christian may sin but does not need to be a slave to sin. Because it is possible for us to resist sin and to live righteously, believers should now present their members as slaves to righteousness. And just as the life of sin leads to further sin, so the life of righteousness leads to further righteousness, whose ultimate end is complete sanctification. (J. MacArthur, NT Com. Romans, Vol 1. Moody. p 350).
As you continue living this righteous life, practicing it with all your soul and strength, you will become cleaner and cleaner, purer and purer, holier and holier, and more and more conformed into the image of God's Son. The goal of our Christian life is sanctification which is Christ-likeness. Sanctification is not an instant act, but a life long process. God's purpose in redeeming men from sin is not to give them freedom to do as they please, but freedom to do as He pleases, which is to live right before Him.
Our text indicates that the enthusiasm we once gave in yielding to sin now ought to be found in enthusiastic yielding to the Lord.
Verse 20 states that if one is a slave to sin he is free from the control of God's righteousness. What a tragic freedom. "For when you were slaves to sin, you were free in regard to righteousness."
"Before you were saved, neither your relationships nor your perspective was right," "Therefore, you couldn't enjoy the righteous kind of living God intended for you.
The unsaved person is "free" - free from "righteousness." But his bondage to sin only leads him deeper into slavery so that it becomes harder and harder to do what is right. The Prodigal Son is an example of sin's hold (Luke 15:11-24). When he was at home, he decided he wanted his freedom, so he left home to find himself and enjoy himself. But his rebellion only led him deeper into slavery. He was the slave of wrong desires, then the slave of wrong deeds; and finally he became a literal slave when he took care of the pigs. He wanted to find himself, but he lost himself! What he thought was freedom turned out to be the worst kind of slavery. It was only when he returned home and yielded to his father that he found true freedom. (Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Com. Vol. 2. Victor Books. p 533).
Is that what you need to do this evening: return to your heavenly Father and find freedom by yielding yourself to Him? One cannot serve two masters. Each is so jealous and exacting that they require one's full commitment.
CONCLUSION
In certain skilled crafts, an apprentice works under a master, who trains, shapes, and molds his apprentice in the finer points of his craft. In life we also present ourselves for apprenticeship. Without Jesus, we would have no choice - we would have to apprentice ourselves to sin, and the results would be slavery and separation from God. Thanks to Jesus, however, we can now choose God as our Master. Following Him, we can enjoy new life and learn how to work for Him. Are you still serving your first master, sin? Or have you apprenticed yourself to God? It is impossible to be neutral. Every person has a master - either God or sin. Listen to the words of Jesus, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and look down on the other" (Mt. 6:24).
Are you continuously, consciously yielding yourself to serve Christ? Will you make the decision to do so tonight? If not you will serve sin, the other master of man.
[The H1N1 pandemic focused the world's attention on viruses. Viruses are living organisms that need a host to survive and wreak their havoc. In some cases, a virus can be present for many years before the host is even aware of it. During that time, the virus can inflict widespread and untold damage. Take it away from the host, and it remains dormant or dies.
In a similar way, sin needs a host to stay alive. By themselves, sins such as pride, greed, anger, and selfishness are mere words. But when sin overpowers a human host, it works to destroy it for as long as the host is alive.
Thankfully, because of Jesus' sacrificial death on the cross, Christians have been positionally or "set free from sin" (Rom. 6:18). Even though we still sin, the Holy Spirit who lives in us helps us to resist that "sin virus," the lust of the flesh (Gal. 5: 16; l John 3:9). Now we walk in dependence upon the Spirit, and one day we will stand "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24).
Isn't that a great comfort for you as you step out today into a world infected by the "virus" of sin? Sin is the disease, Christ is the cure.]
