Romans 6:12-18
12 Do not let sin control the way you live;[a] do not give in to sinful desires. 13 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 (SOMEBODY SAY NEW LIFE). So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. 14 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.
15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. 17 Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. 18 Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.
I want to use for a topic today,
Who’s Yo’ Master?
Now, when I say that, I'm sure some of us that grew up in or were around in the 80's think of the classic line from the movie The last Dragon, in which Bruce Leroy’s enemy sho nuff, in an effort to prove he was the HNIC in the hood repeatedly asks Leroy the question, "Who's yo master". In other words, who’s running the show, who’s in control, who’s the greatest, who do you bow down & submit to.
And so on today beloved I want you to think of the life in which you are living day in & day out, consider the things in which you serve, the things that are most important to you, the decisions you make & ask yourself the question, Who's Yo’ Master".
In our text this morning the Apostle Paul reminds us that you are either serving sin or you're serving God & whichever of the two you choose to serve that is your master.
Paul reminds us here that when we we’re in the world, in the year 1900 & 97 BC, 1900 & 88 BC 2000 & 15 BC (Before you met Christ). You were a slave to sin.
In other words sin controlled your life.
Oh you can sit there & act all holy if you want to but trust me BooBoo you ain’t fooling nobody because every saint has a past.
for the bible teaches that all have sinned & come short of God’s glory.
So before you met Christ, before something got a hold of you, before you went down in the cooling water to be baptized you were a slave to a life of sin.
Truth be told satan made a fool out of each & everyone one of us back when we were in the world. Back when we were in love with the things of the world, the fast cars & money, drugs & alcohol. You were so in love with a life of sin.
Don’t trip, We’ve all been a fool in love.
Rather you were in love with Ray-Ray or Shanay-nay.
Rather you were in love with mad dog 20/20 or them dime bags on the corner, 2 for 20. You were a fool in love.
We’ve all been a fool for love.
The sins of the world & the lust of the flesh controlled you & told you what to do, when to doit , how to do it, how much of it to do & who to do it with with. SIN CONTROLLED YOU.
You were it’s servant.
Ah but I thank God today for salvation, thank God for deliverance.
Somebody in here ought to bless God for His Saving Grace.
And so Paul tells us here in V12
12 Do not let sin control the way you live;[a] do not give in to sinful desires.
See sin controlled the old me, sin controlled the old you. sin was yo’ master. But that’s why when I baptize I tell you it’s new day for you, it’s your spiritual birthday. We bury the old you & a new you emerges out of the water.
Paul says here DO NOT LET SIN……. See, when you gave your life to Christ, you took control back over your destiny. So now you have a choice as to wether or not you give in to the temptation of sin.
Understand Beloved that before Christ you were as good as dead, you had a death sentence, you were a dead man walking.
How you figure that Pastor D, because the wages of sin is DEATH!!!!!
Oh but somebody prayed for me, had me on there mind took a lil time & prayed for me. And had enough sense one day to call on the name of Jesus, and my life has never been the same.
Paul says now we have a new life, a fresh start, a new beginning.
So yeah the wages of sin is death & the old me died.
But the gift of God is eternal life.
Beloved, He says DO NOT LET SIN CONTROL THE WAY YOU LIVE. Sin is no longer your master, which means you don’t have to do the things you use to do.
And see the thing about it is that satan knows this, he knows that you no longer belong to him, he knows he’s lost the battle but he’ll continue playing mind games with you as long as you let him.
What you talking about Pastor D?
let me help somebody today….
Look TINK TINK, You too grown to still be dealing with peer pressure.
You going places you ain’t got no business going because you don’t want nobody talking about you acting funny.
WHO’S YO MASTER??
You spending money on stuff you can’t afford, because you don’t want nobody to know you can’t afford it.
WHO’S YO MASTER??
You sleeping with somebody that won’t put a ring on your finger, because you don’t want them talking about you acting funny since you started going to that church.
WHO’S YO MASTER??
Come on, yawl better talk back to me up in here.
Sin no longer controls you, so stop giving in to satan & his minions, trying to impress a bunch of folks that couldn’t care less about you.
Stop trying to convince a bunch of folks that may never change, that you haven’t changed. No, I have changed
I’m crucified with Christ, neverthelesss I live yet not I but Christ lives through me & the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the son of God who loved me & gave himself for me.
Yeah I’ve changed, since I met Jesus my life hasn’t been the same. I’ve got a new walk, I’ve got a new talk. I’ve got a new Master.
WHO’S YO MASTER??
Paul goes on to say in V14
14 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.
We’ve been studying the book of Leviticus in our TNT bible study, one thing that we now know is that the laws were strict weren’t they. God gave very direct laws in regards to way the children of Israel were to live & govern themselves. But after all the offerings, & blood sacrifices, after all the warning of being cut of from the land & being stoned to death, the people were still controlled by sin, the law still could not save the people of God
But what the law could not do as a result of sin, Jesus Christ came an accomplished. The law required a blood sacrifice in order for the people to be restored back to right standings with God. And Jesus one day looked & said, I’ll do it daddy, send me I’ll go. I’ll give myself as sacrifice for the world. See when Jesus was crucified, He conquered death, He conquered sin. He took away satans control. He took away the curse of the law
And because you’ve accepted Jesus Beloved, you're no longer under the law, You’re under Gods grace. Sin is no longer yo’ master.
VS15
15 Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! 16 Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey?
Paul know what he’s taking about here too, I like Paul because he keeps it 100 with us. Paul says to us here, just because you’re no longer under the law which said that if you sin you’ll be stoned to death, just because you now have God’s grace which offers forgiveness that don’t mean you can just go on do whatever you want to do, talking aboutGod knows my heart, he’ll forgive me, no it don’t work that way. Beloved you have a choice to make.
Paul says in chapter 7 of Romans that, “when I would do good, evil is always present.”
I’m willing to bet that we can all understand what Paul is talking about right there. See I don’t want to give in to sin & temptation, I try to do the right thing but the wrong thing things is always hanging out right next to it.
Beloved, you have a choice to make, nobody said it was going to be easy.
Paul said “you become a slave to whatever YOU CHOOSE TO OBEY”.
Now it seems only right that since God has freed you from the penalty of death that you should therefore CHOOSE to obey God. Buy understand He won’t force it you & He won’t make the choice for you.
Joshua chapter 24:15 says, Choose, you this day whom you will serve.
You have a choice to make.
WHO’S YO MASTER??
Now if we choose to obey God, that means you are to become God’s slave or servant.
In our culture today the concept of being a servant is really looked down upon. The word “servant” is interpreted from the perspective of our nation’s past with the idea of slavery in mind. So we now have a generation of Americans who have the attitude that “Nobody is going to tell me what to do!”
As a result
Children won’t obey parents…
Students don’t listen to teachers…
People have no respect for police officers…
And we wonder how our nation has spiraled to where we are at this time!
But the source of the problem is that people do not want to be submissive to God. To the world today, the word “submit” is repulsive. Very rarely will you hear the word in wedding vows. The concept is outside the normal thinking of society today.
There is a difference between “servanthood” and “slavery”. The Greek word translated as “slave” here refers to a “bond-servant”. A bondservant is one who willing places himself under submission to another. Slaves are forced into their position by another.
Bondservants are loyal to their masters because they understand that in this slave/master relationship the Master wants what is best for the servant and the servant wants whats best for the master.
This is nothing like the slavery in our past history when slavery was for the benefit of the slave owner only and slaves were just property.
But see the thing about it is that many times we watch slave movies, we read the history books & we watch movies & documentaries about how things were 50 years ago & we say stuff like, that couldn't have been me. I wouldn’t have survived them old days. And we wonder how anyone can be a slave to something or someone else.
But truth be told as Paul tells us here we’ve all been a slave to something.
In V 16 Paul says
Don’t you realize that you become the slave of WHATEVER you choose to obey?
But God doesn’t force Himself on you. You offer yourself and if you do so you have a responsibility to be obedient.
Beloved, If you chose you can be a servant or a slave to sin, where all you want to do is feed your sinful nature. Or you can chose to be a servant to the Most High, wanting nothing more than to just please Him and do His will.
In serving there are no expectations of a return. Bond servants just do what is expected of them not because of who they are but because of who their Master is And they know that the Master only wants what is best for them.
Who’s Yo’ Master
If you chose sin it will hold you in bondage because it can never satisfy. Slavery to sin begets more sin. It’s like going on a roller coaster. You ride one and it becomes so ordinary after a while that the thrill is gone and you can’t wait to find one that is just a little more thrilling. And then the next one and the next… and you become a slave to the next thrilling moment you can find. Oh, but when you place yourself under submission to the LORD it’s all satisfying. There is nothing greater than knowing that you just did something that you know was in the perfect will of God.
Beloved,
Who’s Yo’ Master
Who will you choose to obey?
Will you be a servant to the Most High God?
Will you present your whole body as sacrifice?
Will you walk in the will of God?
Will you be the example somebody needs to see that God is good, God is faithful, God can save from the gutter most to the uppe most.
Who’s Yo’ Master
Will you open up your mouth & speak life today.
Who’s Yo’ Master
Satan no longer controls you REJOICE today you’ve been bought with a price.
Sin no longer controls you, I belong to God, from the crown of my head, to the sole of my feet, I belong to God.
